The Ranquel or Rankülche are an indigenous tribe from the northern part of La Pampa Province,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

.Tapia, Alicia Haydée
"Archaeological Perspectives on the Ranquel Chiefdoms in the North of the Dry Pampas, in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Abstract."
''International Journal of Historical Archaeology.'' (retrieved 5 July 2011) With Puelche,

Pehuenche Pehuenche (or ''Pewenche'', people of the "pehuen" or "pewen" in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people of South America. They live in the Andes, primarily in present-day south central Chile and adjacent Argentina. Their name derives from their de ...

and also Patagones from the Günün-a-Küna group origins, they were conquered by the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...

Name

The name ''Ranquel'' is the Spanish name for their own name of Rankülche: ''rankül'' -cane-, ''che'' -man, people- in Mapudungun; that is to say "cane-people"

History

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Ranquel controlled two chiefdoms in Argentina. Between 1775-1790 a group of Pehuenche advanced from the side of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

mountains east to the territory they called ''Mamül Mapu'' (''mamül'': kindling, woods; ''mapu'': land, territory) as it was covered by dense woods of ''

Prosopis caldenia ''Prosopis caldenia'', commonly known as the caldén, is a species of Flowering plant, flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, The tree is endemic to subtropical regions of Argentina. It thrives in sandy and arid soil and resists drought, developi ...

'', ''

Prosopis nigra ''Prosopis nigra'' (synonym ''Prosopis algarrobilla'') is a South American leguminous tree species that inhabits the Gran Chaco ecoregion (in particular, the transition zone between the Wet Chaco and the Southern Chaco), in Argentina and Paragua ...

'', and ''

Geoffroea decorticans ''Geoffroea decorticans'', the chañar, kumbaru, or Chilean palo verde (green wood), is a small deciduous tree, up to 8 meters (25 ft) tall that inhabits most arid forests (montes or espinales) of southern South America. The chañar is cold ...

''. They settled along the Cuarto and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

rivers, from the south of today's Argentine provinces of San Luis, Córdoba, to the south of

La Pampa La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it ...

. They were hunters, nomads and during a good part of the 19th century they had an alliance with the

Tehuelche people The Tehuelche people, also called the Aónikenk, are an indigenous people from eastern Patagonia in South America. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Tehuelche were influenced by Mapuche people, and many adopted a horseriding lifestyle. Once a ...

, with whom they traveled east into the western part of today's Buenos Aires Province and southern end of Córdoba Province, and also to Mendoza, San Luis and Santa Fe. In 1833 Juan Manuel de Rosas led the Desert Campaign (1833–34), in which he attempted to eliminate the Ranquel. Their leader at that time was

Yanquetruz Yanquetruz (or Llanquetruz) (died 1838) was a famous Ranquel people, Ranquel warrior who fought the Europeans in the pampas of what is now Argentina in the early nineteenth century. Early years Yanquetruz's family had ruled over the region from t ...

, and they put up a skilled defense, making good use of the desert terrain. Yanquetruz was succeeded around 1834 by Painé Guor. Their last chief was Pincén, who was confined to the prison at

Martín García island Martín García Island ( es, Isla Martín García) is an island in the Río de la Plata. The island is in Uruguayan waters but in 1973 Uruguay and Argentina reached an agreement establishing Martín García as Argentine territory and a nature r ...

(1880). They allied themselves with the forces of Felipe Varela during the rebellion against the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

and the Central Government in Buenos Aires. After Pincén's capture, the Ranquels were further reduced in population during the

Conquest of the Desert The Conquest of the Desert ( es, Conquista del desierto) was an Argentine military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s with the intention of establishing dominance over the Patagonian Desert, inhabited primar ...

, with their lands being occupied by the army. A reservation, the Colonia Emilio Mitre, was established for them in today's La Pampa province, where their descendants lived today.

Recent developments

On 14 August 2007 the government of San Luis province returned to the Ranquel people, including two small lakes, about south of the town of Fraga.San Luis government

Notes

External links

A Visit to the Ranquel Indians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranquel People Indigenous peoples in Argentina Indigenous peoples of the Southern Cone Mapuche groups