The Achagua (also Achawa and Axagua) are an indigenous people of Colombia and Venezuela.[1] At the time of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, their territory covered the present-day Venezuelan states of Bolívar, Guárico and Barinas.[2] In the late twentieth century there were several hundred Achaguas remaining.[2]
Municipalities belonging to Achagua territories
| Name | Department | Altitude (m) urban centre |
Map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Támara (shared with U'wa) |
Casanare | 1156 |  |
| Nunchía (shared with U'wa) |
Casanare | 398 |  |
| Yopal | Casanare | 390 |  |
| Aguazul (shared with Tegua) |
Casanare | 290 |  |
| Tauramena | Casanare | 460 |  |
| Recetor (shared with Tegua) |
Casanare | 800 |  |
| Chámeza (shared with Tegua) |
Casanare | 1150 |  |
| Paya | Boyacá | 970 |  |
| Labranzagrande (shared with U'wa & Guahibo) |
Boyacá | 1210 |  |
Culture
Achagua people live in large villages. Clans live together in communal houses. Polygamy is commonplace. They farm crops, such as bitter cassava. They traditionally poison their arrows with curare.[1]
There is a small town in Apure called Achaguas.[clarification needed]
Language
Achagua people speak the Achagua language, a Maipurean Arawakan language.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Achagua." Encyclopædia Britannica. (retrieved 1 December 2011)
- ^ a b James Stuart Olson (1991), The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group. p2
External links
- Achagua artwork, National Museum of the American Indian Archived 9 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
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