The Mocoví ( Mocoví: ''moqoit'') are an

Indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

region of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. They speak the Mocoví language and are one of the ethnic groups belonging to the

Guaycuru peoples Guaycuru or Guaykuru is a generic term for several ethnic groups indigenous to the Gran Chaco region of South America, speaking related Guaicuruan languages. In the 16th century, the time of first contact with Spanish explorers and colonists ...

. In the 2010 Argentine census, 22,439 people self-identified as Mocoví. Not much is known about them before the Spanish arrived. They were nomadic and lived off of their fishing, hunting and gathering. They hunted deer and rhea and slept on animal skins and flimsy shelters. They did not farm because the soil conditions were poor where they roamed and there was flooding. Trade routes were discovered in the Chaco forest, indicating trading and it was assumed they traded skins and feathers for gold, silver and copper objects. When the Jesuits arrived, they taught the Mocoví to farm with cattle and they became sedentary. In 1924, at least 200 Mocoví and

Toba people The Toba people, also known as the Qom people, are one of the largest Indigenous groups in Argentina who historically inhabited the region known today as the Gran Chaco, Pampas of the Central Chaco. During the 16th century, the Qom inhabited a la ...

were slaughtered during the Napalpí massacre. Argentina declared it a crime against humanity in 2019 and opened a 'truth trial' in 2022.

References

External links

Countries and their Cultures: ''Mocovi'' by Johannes Wilbert
Indigenous peoples in Argentina Indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco {{SouthAm-ethno-group-stub