…females ruled the males, forcing them to work to provide subsistence while the women took their leisure. The story tells how the men discovered they had been tricked and then…
History
…operations of Peru, the introduction of contagious diseases, and the internal strife these events caused among the local people—decimated the island’s population to such a degree that by the end…
History
…shellfish collecting and hunting abilities. In 1843, the Government of Chile ruled over the Strait of Magellan region and began to found cities, bringing increased sea traffic through the strait…
History
Little information is available about the Chono people. It is not even known whether they were a single indigenous group or several. Early writers, sailors and missionaries referred…
Art
Arica ceramics display high technical quality and their painted polychromatic decorations feature anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric designs. The level of standardization this ceramic tradition achieved reflects a solid…
Environment and Location
…The Arica culture inhabited a region known as the “Western Valleys,” which extended from Mollendo in Peru to Taltal in Chile, although most lived in the Azapa and Camarones…
Arte
The Southern Canoe Hunters made a wide range of items from the bones of the marine mammals that they hunted, adding spiritual power to them with fine geometric…
Beliefs and funerary practices
Rapa Nui rituals would have begun at birth, with the cutting of the newborn’s umbilical cord. Rites of early childhood included the first haircut and the first wearing…
Art
The Rapa Nui people developed an advanced and sophisticated megalithic art tradition that emerged from their intense devotion to ancestor worship and is unparalleled in Polynesia. Over a…
Environment and Location
…a narrow strip of land running between the Coastal range and the world’s driest desert on the East, and the Pacific Ocean on the West, where the Humboldt Current carries…
Language
…is currently spoken by about 1.5 million people in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. In the altiplano, most people over 40 are bilingual, while younger Aymara tend to speak only Spanish….
Settlement patterns
…as the uta, used throughout the year in rural areas. This adobe residence is rectangular in shape and constructed on a stone foundation, with a pitched roof and beams made…
Economy
…for longer journeys and were more popular among the seafaring peoples of far Northern Chile and Southern Peru, whereas the sea lion skin raft was used more by tribes living…
The encounter
…ultimately be incorporated into what are now Peru and Bolivia. As the great European adventure progressed, our journey will continue by sea, first among the islands, canals and archipelagoes of…
Environment and Location
…subjugation by the Army of the Republic of Chile, many Mapuche migrated to the cities. In fact, today most Mapuche in Chile live in urban neighborhoods, not in rural areas….
Art
The Kawésqar adorned themselves mainly with necklaces made of feathers and seashells. Their clothing consisted of a short cape fastened at the neck and made of animal skin,…
History
…the term widened to include sea-fishing groups as far north as Southern Peru, peoples that had formerly been known variously as camanchacas, pro-anches and uros–although these names all seem to…
Settlement pattern
The Arica people lived in large villages, some containing more than an thousand enclosures. In these places, different functions were apparently ascribed to different sectors such as living…
History
…deformation and serpent motifs on their textiles tell us of a possible cultural relation with the Parakas culture of the southern coast of Peru. As agricultural activities gained prominence among…
Art
…The artistic development of the Cabuza culture was marked by the influence of the Tiwanaku Empire. Motifs from the ruling culture became features of different Cabuza artistic forms. Wooden…
Economy
…jicama, and coca, among other crops. Under the rule of the Tiwanaku Empire, the goods they produced were taken to the settlements of the Titicaca basin by llama caravan. The…
Environment and Location
These lithic groups were the first inhabitants of the Patagonia region of Chile and Argentina, at the southern extreme of South America, where they lived in the harsh…
Art
Through their contact with the agricultural and herding groups living in the desert and inland valleys, these hunter-gatherer-fishers obtained objects such as ceramics, metal and fine woven cloth…
Economy
…the imperial rulers. In this way they specialized the workforce, which in Chile led to more intense agricultural and livestock production to feed the mita laborers brought in to work…