Charruas

Charrúa

Charrúa's supposed attack on Juan Diaz de Solis expedition to the Rio de la Plata
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
Argentina 14,649 (2010)  Uruguay  Brazil
Languages
Charruan languages
Religion
Animism

The Charrúa are an indigenous people of South America in present-day Uruguay and the adjacent areas in Argentina (Entre Ríos) and Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul). They were a semi-nomadic people who sustained themselves through fishing, hunting, and gathering; some think they were related to the Tehuelche people.

It is thought that the Charrúa were driven south into present-day Uruguay by the Guaraní people around 4,000 years ago.

According to the Charrúa, the Charrúan people killed Spanish explorer Juan Díaz de Solís during his 1515 voyage up the Río de la Plata, but this was contradicted by researchers who said that the Charrúa people were not cannibalistic and that it was actually the Guaranis who did it. Later, it was proven that there was no direct testimony of this moment. Following the arrival of European settlers, the Charrúa, along with the Chana, strongly resisted their territorial invasion. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Charruas were confronted by cattle exploitation that strongly altered their way of life, causing famine and forcing them to rely on cows and sheep. Unfortunately, those were in that epoch increasingly privatized. Malones (raids) were resisted by settlers who freely shot any indigenous people who were in their way. Later, Fructuoso Rivera - Uruguay's first president, who possessed a hacienda – organized the Charruas's genocide. Since 11 April 1831, when the Salsipuedes (meaning "Get-out-if-you-can") campaign was launched by a group led by Bernabé Rivera, nephew of Fructuoso Rivera, it is said that the Charruas were extinct.

Four surviving Charrúas were captured at Salsipuedes. They were Senacua Sénaqué, a medicine man; Vaimaca-Pirú Sira, a warrior; and a young couple, Laureano Tacuavé Martínez and María Micaëla Guyunusa. All four were taken to Paris, France, in 1833, where they were exhibited to the public. They all soon died in France, including a baby daughter born to Sira and Guyunusa, and adopted by Tacuavé. The child was named María Mónica Micaëla Igualdad Libertad by the Charrúas, yet she was filed by the French as Caroliné Tacouavé. A monumental sculpture, Los Últimos Charrúas was built in their memory in Montevideo, Uruguay.