The Chimilas or ''Ette Ennaka'' are an indigenous people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia. Their Chimila language is part of the Chibcha language family, of which there were estimated to be around 1000 speakers in 1998. At the time of the Spanish Conquest the

Ariguaní River Ariguaní River () is a river in northern Colombia's Caribbean Region born in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in the area of the municipality of Pueblo Bello. The Ariguaní is an affluent of the Cesar River and flows from north ...

valley was the strategic centre of their territory.Willem F. H. Adelaar, Pieter Muysken (2004),
The Languages of the Andes
'.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

p75 On the Serranía del Perijá mountains the Yukpas were also part of the Chimila confederation of tribes.

Pre-Columbian era

At the time of the

Spanish colonization of the Americas Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions ...

they were established in most of the Cesar River basin and its valley (including

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Caesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. T ...

in the

Cesar Department Caesar Department ( es, Departamento del Cesar, links=no) or simply Caesar () is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with ...

) between the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

and the Serranía del Perijá mountain ranges and bordering the Magdalena River. Cesar 30 Años de Progreso – Gobernación del Cesar (1997). Page 25 A Chimila

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a S ...

at the time of the Conquest lent his name to the city of Chimichagua, Colombia, while another, ''Upar'', lent his name to Valledupar, via the Spanish ("valley of Upar"). The "Cesar" name of the Cesar River and Cesar Department is an adaptation from the Chimila indigenous word ''Chet-tzar'' or ''Zazare'' ("calm water") into Spanish, in reference to the Cesar River. There were two major cities in the region; one was called ''Thamara'' (present-day Tamalameque) and the other was ''Upari'' named after their powerful chief. the cacique Upar. The Spanish scribes described Thamara as a very large city with more than a thousand huts. The Chimila society was structured in a pyramidal structure with a working class divided into fishers, hunters, artisans, miners, goldsmiths and merchants. The Chimilas used

Arhuacos The Arhuaco are an indigenous people of Colombia. They are Chibchan-speaking people and descendants of the Tairona culture, concentrated in northern Colombia in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Name The Arhuaco are also known as the Aruaco, ...

as their slaves. The Chimilas believed in an immortal figure called ''Masirguta'' and were monotheist believing in the god ''Narayajana'' (also referred to as ''Yao''). Chimilas were practiced musical rites with drums of many sizes, flutes with a tip made out of wax varying in between two and five holes, imitated the singing of the rufous-vented chachalaca birds with an instrument called ''

guacharaca Guacharaca is a percussion instrument usually made out of the cane-like trunk of a small palm tree. The guacharaca itself consists of a tube with ridges carved into its outer surface with part of its interior hollowed out, giving it the appeara ...

'' and

maracas A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

. The Chimilas cultivated the

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

in a technical manner and to a lesser extent other local species of vegetables and fruits for consumption and certain trees near their huts to produces shadows and freshen their area. Chimilas also harvested the ''

Gynerium sagittatum ''Gynerium'' is a monotypic genus of Neotropical plants in the grass family, native to Mexico and Colombia, Central America, South America, and the West Indies. It is classified in its own tribe Gynerieae. The sole species in the genus is ''G ...

'', a cane used to produce bows and arrows.

Conquest

Around 1720 the Chimilas began a guerrilla war against the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

. Violence continued well into the twentieth century. In 1990 a reservation called Issa Oristuna was created.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chimilas Pre-Columbian cultures Indigenous peoples in Colombia

Pre-Columbian era

Conquest

See also

References