Guane people

Guane

Guane doubled-chambered, ceramic, stirrup-spout vessel, 10th–16th century CE, exhibited at Chicamocha National Park
Regions with significant populations
Santander, Boyacá,  Colombia
Languages
Chibcha, Colombian Spanish
Religion
Traditional religion, Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Lache, U'wa, Muisca, Muzo, Yarigui

The Guane were a South American people that lived mainly in the area of Santander and north of Boyacá, both departments of present-day central-Colombia. They were farmers cultivating cotton, pineapple and other crops, and skilled artisans working in cotton textiles. The Guane lived north of the Chicamocha River, around the Chicamocha Canyon in an area stretching from Vélez in the south to the capital of Santander; Bucaramanga in the north. Other sources state their territory did not extend so far north. Guane, a corregimiento of Barichara, Santander, is said to have been the capital of the Guane people.

The word guane in the Chibcha of the people means "tree" or "lower part of a leaf", or "skirt".

The Guane made their own weapons, including arrows and spears. They interchanged plants for the stewpot with the Chitarero on the east and the Muisca to the south of their territories. The mantle making of the Guanes was well known in pre-Columbian Colombia. Mantles made from cotton have been dated back to the 11th century AD. The Guane cultivated tobacco and made products of fique.

Like the Maya and many other civilizations in the world, the Guane deliberately deformed the skulls of their children.

In 1586 there were still some Guane left but there were no further references found after that date; nevertheless, the local archives indicated that they did not disappear completely. They mixed heavily with the Spanish colonizers, as the Guane were said to have European traits and very light skin.