The Massacre of Salsipuedes () was an organised campaign to eradicate the last remnants of the now extinct

Charrúa people The Charrúa were an indigenous people or Indigenous Nation of the Southern Cone in present-day Uruguay and the adjacent areas in Argentina ( Entre Ríos) and Brazil ( Rio Grande do Sul). They were a semi-nomadic people who sustained themselve ...

. It was executed by the

Uruguayan Army The National Army of Uruguay ( es, Ejército Nacional del Uruguay) is the land force An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" ...

under the command of Uruguayan president

Fructuoso Rivera José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general and patriot who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, twice served as Uruguay's President and was one of the instigators ...

. The massacre took place in 1831 on the banks of the ''Salsipuedes'' Creek (Spanish for ''Get-out-if-you-can'').

Massacre

Although Rivera initially maintained good relations with the Charrúa, the increasing dominance of the whites and their desire to expand led to hostilities. He therefore organized an extermination campaign known as "''La Campaña de Salsipuedes"'' in 1831. This campaign was composed of three different attacks in three different places: "El Paso del Sauce del Queguay", "El Salsipuedes", and a passage known as "La cueva del Tigre". Legend has it that the first attack was a betrayal. Rivera personally knew the tribal leaders and called them to his barracks by the creek later named Salsipuedes. He claimed that he needed their help to defend territory and that they should join forces, however, once the Charrúas were drunk and off their guard, the Uruguayan soldiers attacked them. The following two attacks were carried out to eliminate the Charrúas that had escaped or had not been present. Since 11 April 1831, when the Salsipuedes campaign was launched by a group led by

Bernabé Rivera Disambiguation Bernabé Rivera may refer to * Bernabé Rivera (footballer), Paraguayan soccer player * Bernabé Rivera, Uruguayan soldier (Spanish-language Wikipedia) Bernabé Rivera is a village in the Artigas Department of northern Uruguay ...

, nephew to

, the Charrúa were then officially claimed to be extinct.

Aftermath

The official report declared a number of 40 Charruas killed and 300 taken prisoner. The prisoners were then forced to walk 260 km to the city of

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, where they were sold as slaves. The directory of the Oriental School of Montevideo thought a nearly extinct race would spark the interest of French scientists and the public, and so four of the prisoners were sold to a Frenchman called François De Curel. They were named Senacua Sénaqué, a

medicine man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

; Vaimaca-Pirú Sira, a

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

; and a young couple,

Laureano Tacuavé Martínez Laurent Vacouabé (born Laureano Tacuavé Martínez, on July 14, 1809 in Paysandú, Uruguay, died in Paris, France) was a young Native American from present day Uruguay. Son of Eustaquio Tacuavé and Francisca Martínez, younger brother of María ...

and

María Micaëla Guyunusa Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

, who was pregnant at the time. All four were taken to Paris in 1833, where they were exhibited to the public in a

human zoo Human zoos, also known as ethnological expositions, were public displays of people, usually in a so-called "natural" or "primitive" state. They were most prominent during the 19th and 20th centuries. These displays sometimes emphasized the sup ...

. The display was not a success and they all soon died in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, including the newborn daughter of Sira and Guyunusa, and adopted by Tacuavé. The child was named María Mónica Micaëla Igualdad Libertad by the Charrúa, yet she was filed by the French as Caroliné Tacouavé. A monumental sculpture, ''Los Últimos Charrúas'' was built in their memory in

, Uruguay.

References

{{Genocide-stub 1831 in Uruguay Massacres in Uruguay Massacres of ethnic groups Massacres in 1831 19th-century murders in Uruguay Genocides in South America