Charrúa people

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.

History

It is thought that the Charrúa were driven south into present-day Uruguay by the Guaraní people around 4000 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.