–16th c.
The lands of indigenous peoples
Long before the Spanish arrived, the vast lands that are now Argentina were home, for thousands of years, to many indigenous peoples. This was never an “empty land waiting to be discovered.”
Settled cultures of the north and west
In the Andean northwest, peoples such as the Diaguita (Calchaquí) practiced irrigated farming, grew maize, and built finely painted pottery and stone settlements. Touched by the southern edge of the Inca Empire, they had organized societies.
In the humid forests and great river basins of the northeast, the Guaraní lived by farming and fishing, with their own language and a rich world of myth.
Peoples of the plains and the south
From the central Pampas to Patagonia, the Querandí, Ranquel, the Mapuche (who later moved east from the Andean side) and the southern Tehuelche built societies based on hunting, gathering and movement. Once they adopted the horse brought by Europeans, they became riders who roamed the plains freely.
Each was an independent people with its own language, beliefs and trade networks. Without this “indigenous perspective,” the history of conquest and nation-building that followed cannot be understood honestly.
Key terms
- Diaguita
- Farming people of the northwest, known for irrigation and fine pottery.
- Guaraní
- Indigenous people of the northeastern forests and rivers.
- Mapuche / Tehuelche
- Mobile, horse-riding peoples of the Pampas and Patagonia.
Long ago, many indigenous peoples lived on this land.
In the north there were people who farmed; on the southern plains there were people who hunted and moved from place to place. Long before Europeans arrived, there was already a world of people here.
Key terms
- Indigenous peoples
- The people who lived on the land first.
- Pampas
- The great plains of central Argentina.