The Lache were an indigenous,
agrarian people in the highlands of what is now central
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
's northern
Boyacá and
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
departments, primarily in
Gutiérrez Province
The Gutiérrez Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The province is formed by six municipalities. The province is named after Colombian president José Santos Gutiérrez. The highest mountains of the Eastern Ranges of ...
and
García Rovira Province
The García Rovira Province is a province of the Colombian Department of Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department ...
.
[Los Laches y Chitareros y sus caminos a la llegada de los españoles]
/ref> They were part of the Cocuy Confederation and spoke Chibcha
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
, trading predominantly with other Chibcha speakers, such as the Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
, Guane
Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602.
Geography
The municipality is divided into the barrios of Cabo de San Antonio y La Fe, Catalina, Cortés, Hato de Guane, Isabel Rubio (Paso Real d ...
, Pijao
The Pijao (also Piajao, Pixao, Pinao) are an indigenous people from Colombia.
Ethnography
The Pijao or Pijaos formed a loose federation of Amerindians and were living in the present-day department of Tolima, Colombia. In pre-Columbian time ...
and Chitarero. Trade included salt and textiles, as well as food stuffs. The Lache farmed maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es, quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...
and cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
, among other crops.
In the 17th century, Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita
Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita (1624, Bogotá – March 29, 1688) was a Spanish Neogranadine Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Panamá (1676–1688) ''(in Latin)''
and the Bishop of Santa Marta (1668–1676).Arzobispo de Pa ...
wrote of the habit of the Laches in bringing up younger male children as culturally female.
The name Lache is preserved in a ''barrio
''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...
'' of Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
known as Los Laches.
Municipalities belonging to Lache territory
The Lache inhabited the highlands of eastern Santander and northern Boyacá and a small part of northwesternmost Casanare.[Lache people territories]
/ref>
- Banco de la República
The Bank of the Republic ( es, Banco de la República) is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress a ...
See also
*Muisca
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
* Conquest of the Lache, Chibcha
The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...
, U'wa
*Guane
Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602.
Geography
The municipality is divided into the barrios of Cabo de San Antonio y La Fe, Catalina, Cortés, Hato de Guane, Isabel Rubio (Paso Real d ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lache people
Andean civilizations
Indigenous peoples in Colombia
Extinct ethnic groups