The Guahibo (also called Guajibo, or Sikuani, though the latter is regarded as derogatory) people are an
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
people native to the
Llanos
The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...
or savanna plains in eastern
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 ...
(Arauca, Meta, Guainia, and Vichada departments) and in southern
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
near the Colombian border. Their population was estimated at 23,772 people in 1998.
A related group, sometimes considered a sub-tribe of the Guahibo, are the Playero, whose population, estimated in the early 1980s at 200 people, live along the
Arauca River
The Arauca River ( es, Río Arauca) rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Col ...
.
Municipalities belonging to Guahibo territory
The Guahibo inhabited the Llanos of Arauca.
History
An 1856 watercolor by
Manuel María Paz
Manuel María Paz Delgado (July 6, 1820, Almaguer, Cauca, Colombia - September 16, 1902 Bogotá) was a Colombian cartographer, military officer, artist and watercolorist.
Biography
Manuel María Paz Delgado was born June 6, 1820 in the town o ...
is an early depiction of the Guahibo people in
Casanare Province
Casanare Province was one of the provinces of Gran Colombia.
History
It belonged to the Boyacá Department, which was created in 1824.
The capital was Moreno, now called Paz de Ariporo.
Watercolors painted in 1856 by Manuel María Paz provide ...
.
From the late 1700s until at least 1970s, Guahibos and the related Cuiva people suffered severe, if sporadic, violence at the hand of Colombian and Venezuelan colonists. Episodes of violence included an 1870 massacre of over two hundred Guahibos organized by Venezuelan hacendado Pedro del Carmen Gutiérrez.
Hunting parties were organized to target the indigenous people over this period, a phenomenon portrayed in
José Eustasio Rivera
José Eustasio Rivera Salas (February 19, 1888 – December 1, 1928) was a Colombian people, Colombian lawyer and author primarily known for his national epic ''The Vortex (novel), The Vortex''.
Early life
José Eustasio Rivera was born on Febru ...
's 1924 novel ''
La Vorágine
''The Vortex'' ( es, La Vorágine) is a novel written in 1924 by the Colombian author José Eustasio Rivera. It is set in at least three different bioregions of Colombia during the rubber boom. This novel narrates the adventures of Arturo Cova ...
''.
In 1912, Colombian military officer Buenaventura Bustos wrote a letter reporting the situation: "The ‘civilized’ decimate them with bullets and pursue them without mercy, wheresoever they are, because they have an intimate conviction, and this they say without Christian shame, that they can murder savages as if they were killing beasts."
Language
Guahibo (ISO 639: GUH) belongs to the
Guahiboan languages language family of South America. The existing dialects are: Guahibo (Sikuani), Amorua (Río Tomo Guahibo) and Tigrero. They each have their own languages but many are lost, now replaced by Spanish. Despite 55% illiteracy, there is a written form of Guahibo. There is a Guahibo newspaper, dictionary and grammar book.
See also
*
Achagua people
The Achagua (also Achawa and Axagua) are an indigenous people of Colombia and Venezuela.["Achagua."]
''E ...
*
Guayupe people
The Guayupe are an Arawak-speaking indigenous group of people in modern-day Colombia. They inhabit the westernmost parts of the department of Meta. At the time of the Spanish conquest, more than 250,000 Guayupe were living in large parts of Met ...
*
Hiwi people
The Hiwi call themselves the “people of the savannah” for the vast flatlands they inhabit between the Meta and Vichada rivers in Colombia. In Venezuela, the Hiwi live in the states of Apure, Guarico, Bolivar, and Amazonas. Seventeenth- an ...
*
U'wa people
The U'wa are an indigenous people living in the cloud forests of northeastern Colombia. Historically, the U'wa numbered as many as 20,000, scattered over a homeland that extended across the Venezuela-Colombia border. Some 7-8,000 U'wa are alive t ...
References
External links
Guahibo artwork National Museum of the American Indian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guahibo People
Circum-Caribbean tribes
Indigenous peoples in Colombia
Indigenous peoples in Venezuela