.jpg) Abipón warriors | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 817[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Mataco–Guaicuru languages,Abipón (Callaga)[1] | |
| Religion | |
| Animism,Shamanism,Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Toba,Pilagá, Mocoví, otherGuaycurú peoples |
TheAbipones (Spanish:Abipones, singularAbipón) were anIndigenous people ofArgentina'sGran Chaco region and Paraguay, speakers of one of theGuaicuruan languages.[1] They ceased to exist as an independent ethnic group in the early 19th century.[2] A small number of survivors assimilated into Argentine society.[1]
The Abipones initially occupied the Gran Chaco ofArgentina, in the lower portions of theBermejo River.[1] They were originally a seasonally mobile people of hunters, gatherers, fishers and to a limited extent farmers.[2]
By 1641, the Abipones had already obtained the horse from the Spanish settlers and abandoned farming for cattle and horse raiding. By that time they still lived north of theBermejo River[3] They became feared by their neighbours and theSpanish farmers, and even threatened major cities.[2][3]
It is likely they were driven south of their original range by the Spaniards[4] and other native tribes, such as theTobas.[3] They were finally concentrated in the Argentinian territory lying betweenSanta Fe andSantiago del Estero, within the Rio Bermejo on the north and theSalado River on the south.[3]
Before the introduction of the horse in the region, they subsisted by hunting, fishing, food gathering and only a limited amount of agriculture.[1] The addition of the horse caused a change in the regional and in particular the Abipon's way of surviving. They shifted away from agriculture and towards hunting from horseback, wildcattle,rhea,guanaco,deer, andpeccary. The horses also lead them to raid the Spanish ranches and even the cities ofAsunción andCorrientes.[1]
From 1710, a major military effort by the Spanish began gradually to impose authority on the Abipones.[2] By 1750,Jesuit missions were established among them (mainly byMartin Dobrizhoffer, who had been a missionary in Paraguay for eighteen years[3]), and they had been largely Christianized[3] and turned sedentary.[2] The colonies had incessant trouble with Spanish settlers, and were often raided by the Tobas and theMocovís, hostile Guaycuru peoples.[3]
By 1768, over half of the Abipones had succumbed to disease[2] and their numbers were below 5,000.[5] The expulsion of the Jesuits by the Spaniards in that year was fatal for the Abipones. When they attempted to resume their former lifestyles, they found their traditional lands occupied by settlers and other Indigenous nations.[2] The Tobas and Mocovís, aided by disease, destroyed them as a nation in the course of less than half a century.[3] The survivors assimilated into the general Argentinian population.[2] They learned to speakSpanish, and abandoned their old customs.
The last speaker of theAbipón language is believed to have died in the 19th century.[2]
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According to Martin Dobrizhoffer, who lived among them for seven years, the Abipones were a group of tall, well-formed, handsome people, with black eyes,aquiline noses and thick black hair, which they plucked out from the forehead to the crown as a tribal mark.[6] The faces, breasts and arms of the women weretattooed with black figures of various designs according to their age and social status, and the lips and ears of both genders were pierced.[5]
The men were brave fighters, their main weapons being the bow and arrow, the spear and the club. These weapons were carved out of a localhardwood tree known to them asnetergé–, as well as theboleadoras.[5] In battle, they wore an armour fashioned out of a tapir's hide, over which a jaguar's skin was sewn.[5] Even Abipón women were reputedly aggressive and held considerable power in their people's religious rites.[2]
The Abipones were good swimmers and horsemen. During the five-month-long flood season, they lived on islands or even in shelters built in the trees.[5]
They shared most customs of the Guaycurú, including the couvade.[3] They rarely married before the age of 30, and were singularly chaste.[5]Charles Darwin reported that "With the Abipones when a man chooses a wife, he bargains with the parents about the price. But it frequently happens that the girl rescinds what has been agreed upon between the parents and bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage. She often runs away and hides herself, and thus eludes the bridegroom."[7]Infanticide was common, never more than two children being reared in one family. The young were suckled for two years.[6]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abipones".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 65.
