Picunche

Picunche

Illustration of a Picunche couple inDurch Süd-Amerika(1894) byTheodor Ohlsen
Regions with significant populations
Chile(from theAconcagua Riverto theBiobío River,inCentral Chile)
Languages
Mapudungun,Spanish
Religion
Mapuche religion,Inca religion,Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Mapuche,Diaguita,Chiquillanes,Pehuenche

ThePicunche(aMapudungunword meaning "North People" ),also referred to aspiconesby the Spanish, were a Mapudungun-speaking people living to the north of theMapuchesor Araucanians (a name given to those Mapuche living between theItataandTolténrivers) and south of theChoapa Riverand theDiaguitas.Until the Conquest of Chile the Itata was the natural limit between theMapuche,located to the south, and Picunche, to the north. During theInca attempt to conquer Chilethe southern Picunche peoples that successfully resisted them were later known as thePromaucaes.

The Picunche living north of the Promaucaes were calledQuillotanes(those living in theAconcagua Rivervalley north to the Choapa) andMapochoes(those living in theMaipo Riverbasin) by the Spanish, and were part of theInca Empireat the time when the firstSpaniardsarrived in Chile.

Among the peoples the Spanish called the Promaucaes, the people of theRapel Rivervalley were particularly called by this name by the Spanish.Those of theMataquito Rivervalley were called theCures.The people in theMaule Rivervalley and to the south were distinguished asMaulesand those to the south of the Maules and north of the Itata were known asCauquiby the IncaandCauquenesby the Spanishand that gave their name toCauquenes River.

They did not survive as a separate society into the present day, because of a general population decline and having been absorbed into the general Chilean population during the colonial period.

The indigenous Picunche disappeared by a process of mestizaje by gradually abandoning their villages (pueblo de indios) to settle in nearby Spanish haciendas. There Picunches mingled with disparate indigenous peoples brought in fromAraucanía(Mapuche),Chiloé(Huilliche,Cunco,Chono,Poyas) andCuyo(Huarpe).Few in numbers, disconnected from their ancestral lands and diluted by mestizaje the Picunche and their descendants lost their indigenous identity.

Distribution of pre-Hispanic people of Chile

Agriculture

The Picunches' primary crops consisted of corn and potatoes, and they lived in thatched-roof adobe houses.