Comechingón (plural Comechingones) is the common name for a group of people indigenous to the
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
provinces of
Córdoba and
San Luis San Luis (Spanish for "Saint Louis") may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Luis Province
* San Luis, Argentina, capital of San Luis Province Belize
* San Luis, Belize, in Orange Walk District Colombia
* San Luis, Antioquia, a town and municipality ...
. They were thoroughly displaced or exterminated by the
Spanish conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
es by the end of the 17th century.
The two main Comechingón groups called themselves
Henia (in the north) and
Kamiare (in the south), each subdivided into a dozen or so tribes. The name ''comechingón'' is a deformation of the pejorative term ''kamichingan''—"cave dwellers"—used by the
Sanavirón
This is a list of indigenous languages of the Americas, Indigenous languages that are or were spoken in the present territory of Argentina.
Although the official language of Argentina is Spanish language, Spanish, several Indigenous peoples of th ...
tribe.
They were sedentary, practiced agriculture yet gathered wild fruits, and raised animals for wool, meat and eggs. Their culture was heavily influenced by that of the
Andes.
Several aspects seem to differentiate the Henia-Kamiare from inhabitants of nearby areas. They had a rather Caucasian appearance, with beards and supposedly a minority with greenish eyes. Another distinctive aspect was their communal stone houses, half buried in the ground to endure the cold, wind and snow of the winter.
Their language was lost when Spanish policies favoured
Quechua, an indigenous language they transplanted from
Alto Peru
Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...
. Nevertheless, they left a rich pictography and abstract petroglyphs.
A cultural contribution is the vowel extension in the
Spanish of the present inhabitants of Córdoba, but also not uncommon in San Luis and other neighbouring provinces.
According to the 2010 census there are 34,546
self-identified
Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person over time. Discussions regarding personal identity typically aim to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time can ...
Comechingón descendants in Argentina.
Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2010
Division
*''Kamiare'' (mainly north of San Luis Province)
**''Saleta'' (western Sierra de Comechingones and Villa de Merlo)
**''Nogolma'' (west of the ''Saletas'', Valle de Conlara)
**''Michilingüe'' (the best-known within San Luis; west and south of the previous groups)
*''Hênia'' (mainly the Sierras of the Córdoba Province)
**''Mogas'' (Sierras de Ambargasta)
**''Caminigas'' (south of the ''Mogas'')
**''Gualas'' or ''Guachas'' (south of ''Caminigas'')
**''Chine'' (west of ''Gualas'')
**''Sitón'' (Valle de Punilla, eastern Sierra Chica)
**''Aluleta'' (western Sierra Chica, Valle de Paravachasca, and southern Valle de Punilla)
**''Naure'' (southern and central Valle de Traslasierra; north of ''Saleta'' and ''Nogolma'')
**''Macaclita'' (Valle de Calamuchita, eastern Sierras de Comechingones down to Río Cuarto)
See also
*Indigenous peoples of Argentina
Argentina has 35 indigenous groups (often referred to as Argentine Amerindians or Native Argentines) according to the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous Peoples of 2004, the Argentine government's first attempt in nearly 100 years to recogni ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comechingon
Indigenous peoples of the Southern Cone
Indigenous peoples in Argentina
Córdoba Province, Argentina