The indigenous Gran Chaco people consist of approximately thirty-five tribal groups in the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato ...

of South America. Because, like the Great Plains of North America, the terrain lent itself to a

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic lifestyle, there is little to no archaeological evidence of their prehistoric occupation. Contributing to this near-absence of archaeological data is the lack of suitable raw material for stone tools or permanent construction and soil conditions that are not conducive to the preservation of organic material.

Geography

The actual cultural area of the Gran Chaco peoples differs from that of the geographic Gran Chaco. The northwestern boundary of the cultural area is the

Parapetí River The Parapetí River is a river in Bolivia that has its source on the eastern side the Andes, flows through the Gran Chaco of Bolivia and ends in the marshes of the Bañados de Izozog depression. The drainage basin is 25,300 km2, and with the ...

and the marshes of the Bañados de Izozog depression, beyond which were the lands of the cultural unrelated

Chané Chané is the collective name for the southernmost Arawakan-speaking peoples. They lived in the plains of the northern Gran Chaco and in the foothills of the Andes in Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. The historical Chané are divided i ...

and Chiriguano. The cultural boundaries have not been static, even during historical times. In the late 17th century the area expanded to the east across the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (Río Paraguay in Spanish, Rio Paraguai in Portuguese, Ysyry Paraguái in Guarani) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It flows about from its headwaters i ...

, when the

Mbayá The Mbayá or ''Mbyá'' are an indigenous people of South America which formerly ranged on both sides of the Paraguay River, on the north and northwestern Paraguay frontier, eastern Bolivia, and in the adjacent province of Mato Grosso do Sul, B ...

invaded the lands between the Apa River and the

Miranda River The Miranda River ( Portuguese, Rio Miranda, variant name Rio Mondego) is a river of Mato Grosso do Sul state in southwestern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Paraguay River. The river flows north and south, and forms the border between Brazil and ...

in Mato Grosso do Sul province in Brazil.

Languages

The tribal groups of the Gran Chaco fall into six

language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...

: # Matacoan languages or Mataco-maká ( Wichí languages, Chorote languages,

Nivaclé language Nivaclé is a Matacoan language spoken in Paraguay and in Argentina by the Nivaclé. It is also known as Chulupí and Ashluslay, and in older sources has been called Ashluslé, Suhin, Sujín, Chunupí, Churupí, Choropí, and other variant sp ...

s and the Maká language) #

Guaicuruan languages Guaicuruan (Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicuru, Guaycuruana) is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul). The speakers of the languages are often collectively called ...

Lule–Vilela languages The two Lule–Vilela languages constitute a small, distantly related language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language ...

# Mascoian languages #

Zamucoan languages Zamucoan (also Samúkoan) is a small language family of Paraguay (northeast Chaco) and Bolivia ( Santa Cruz Department). The family has hardly been studied by linguists (as of Adelaar & Muysken 2004), although several studies have recently app ...

Tupi–Guarani languages Tupi–Guarani () is the most widely distributed subfamily of the Tupian languages of South America. It consists of about fifty languages, including Guarani and Old Tupi. The words ''petunia, jaguar, piranha, ipecac, tapioca, jacaranda, a ...

Many of the languages are part of a '' Chaco'' linguistic area. Common Chaco areal features include

SVO word order SVO may refer to: * Saturn Valley Online, an EarthBound MMORPG * Sheremetyevo International Airport, one three major airports serving Moscow, Russia, IATA Airport Code * Social value orientations, a psychological construct * Sparse voxel octree, a ...

and active-stative verb alignment. (See also

Mataco–Guaicuru languages Mataguayo–Guaicuru, Mataco–Guaicuru or Macro-Waikurúan is a proposed language family consisting of the Mataguayan and Guaicuruan languages. Pedro Viegas Barros claims to have demonstrated it. These languages are spoken in Argentina, Brazil, ...

References

Bibliography

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Geography

Languages

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading