 Flag of the Diaguita people | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Approximately 155,884 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Chile | 88,474[1] |
 Argentina | 67,410[2] |
| Languages | |
| Cacán (extinct) • Quechua • Spanish | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Atacameño • Quilmes | |
TheDiaguita people are a group ofSouth AmericanIndigenous people native to the ChileanNorte Chico and theArgentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in theTransverse Valleys that incisesemi-aridmountains.[3] Eastern or Argentine Diaguitas lived in the provinces ofLa Rioja andCatamarca and part of the provinces ofSalta,San Juan andTucumán.[4] The termDiaguita was first applied to peoples and archaeological cultures byRicardo E. Latcham in the early 20th century.[5]
Ancient Diaguitas were not a unified people; the language ordialects used by them seems to have varied from valley to valley and they were politically fragmented into severalchiefdoms.[3][4] Coastal and inland Chilean Diaguitas traded, as evidenced by the archaeological findings ofmollusc shells in the upper courses of Andean valleys.[6]
According to the 2010 census there are 67,410self-identified Diaguita descendants in Argentina.[2] In Chile, Diaguitas are the third-most populous Indigenous ethnicity after theAymara and theMapuche, numbering 88,474 in 2017.[1][7] The Diaguitas have been recognised as an Indigenous people by the Chilean state since 2006.[7]
Early Spanish accounts, includingJerónimo de Vivar'sCrónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile, claim the Diaguitas inhabiting the differentTransverse Valleys spoke different languages.Jesuits active in western Argentina also report a large number of languages for the region. Nevertheless, the Chilean Diaguitas scholar Herman Carvajal Lazo claims that they could very well have spoken different dialects instead, which would have differed among each other mainly regarding theirlexicon.[4]
Cacán was proposed by Rodolfo Schuller andRicardo E. Latcham to be the single language of the Diaguitas.[4][8] This proposal has been questioned by some scholars but is accepted by others, likeSergio Villalobos.[8]
There is notable scarcity of Diaguita toponymy in Norte Chico, including the area ofElqui Valley where most Indigenous toponyms has been attributed to eitherQuechua orMapuche.[9]
The origin of the Diaguita culture is traced back to an archaeological culture known asEl Molle complex which existed from 300 to 700CE.[3] Later, this culture was replaced in Chile by theLas Ánimas complex that developed between 800 and 1000 CE.[3] It is from this last culture that the archaeological Diaguita culture emerged around 1000 CE.[3][5] The classical Diaguita period was characterized by advanced irrigation systems and bypottery painted in black, white and red.[3]
Mapuche communities in the southern Diaguita lands – that isPetorca,La Ligua,Combarbalá andChoapa – may be rooted in pre-Hispanic times at least several centuries before the Spanish arrival.[10][9] Mapuche toponymy is also found throughout the area.[10] AroundElqui Valley almost all Indigenous toponymy belongs either toQuechua orMapuche.[9] There is no Diaguita (Kakan) toponymy known in the valley.[9] While there was an immigration of Mapuches to the southern Diaguita lands in colonial times, Mapuche culture there is judged to be older than this.[10][9] Indeed, in 1954Grete Mostny postulated the idea of a link between Mapuches and the archaeological culture ofEl Molle.[11]
It has been claimed that the Inca Empire expanded into Diaguita lands because of its mineral wealth. This hypothesis is currently under dispute.[12] Another possibility is that the Incas invaded the relatively well-populated Eastern Diaguita valleys to obtain labor to send to Chilean mining districts.[12] It is generally accepted that Diaguita incorporation into the Inca Empire was through warfare that caused a severedepopulation in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico.[13] According to scholarAna María Lorandi the Diaguitas, and specially theCalchaquí Diaguitas, would not have been conquered easily by the Inca Empire.[12] Once conquered, the eastern Diaguitas did not unanimously accept Inca rule.[12] The Incas appointedkurakas and establishedmitmas in the Chilean Diaguita lands.[3] The Diaguitas took influences from the Incas, adopting pottery designs fromCuzco, and Inca techniques in agriculture and metalworking.[13]
The Chilean Diaguitas were conquered by Spaniards coming from Peru. The eastern Diaguitas lands were explored by Spaniards coming from Chile, theParaná River and Peru.[14] In what came to be called theCalchaquí Wars, the Spanish initially failed to conquer the fertile valleys inhabited by the Eastern Diaguitas, and could only control the eastern valley ends.[12] By founding the cities ofSantiago del Estero (1550s),Tucumán (1565),Salta (1582),La Rioja (1591) andJujuy (1593) the Spanish established an effective fence around the rebellious Eastern Diaguita valleys.[12] To further dominate the Diaguitas, the city ofLondres was founded in 1607 in the middle of the Eastern Diaguita territory.[15]
During the government ofGarcía Hurtado de Mendoza in Chile (1557–1561) Chilean Diaguitas that had rebelled were decimated by the Spanish.[16] TheCalchaquí Diaguitas of the eastern side of the Andesrose against Spanish rule in 1630 and the last rebels fought until 1642–1643.[17] In this rebellion, the Spanish city of La Rioja came close to being destroyed.[12] The Calchaquí Diaguitas only entered Spanish rule after 1665.[12]
The Diaguita languages in Chile may have been largely lost during a process ofmiscegenation with Mapuche-speaking populations.[9]
| Period[18] | Culture[18] | Pottery[18] |
| Late (1000 CE–1550 CE) | Hispanic | Diaguita, Inca and Colonial |
| Diaguita culture | Diaguita III and Inca | |
| Diaguita II | ||
| Diaguita I | ||
| Middle (700 CE–1000 CE) | Las Ánimas culture | Las Ánimas ceramics (I, II and III) |
| Early (300 BCE–700 CE) | El Molle culture | El Molle ceramics |
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