The 36 Ethnic Groups of Bolivia

The 36 Ethnic Groups of Bolivia

Nothing identifies the country better than its diversity. And for the anthropologist Wigberto Rivero Pinto, this diversity constitutes Bolivia's greatest treasure. Afrobolivians, whites, mestizos and indigenous people season the diverse mosaic of cultural manifestations that coexist throughout the country.

"Our diversity expresses wealth. For example, each of the indigenous peoples that inhabit the national territory is the repository of a set of values ​​that manifest themselves in their own ways of seeing the world; the nature of organizing, of generating art, of producing, of living and feeling, "says Rivero, who for years studied the different ethnic groups of the country. The data of this wise work, added to the results of the Population and Housing Census 2001, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), are the basis of this journalistic note that tries to shed light on 34 of the 36 officially recognized native groups .

To this list must be added to the Nahua -of whom there is no documented data, only the oral word that places them in Pando- and to the Afro-Bolivians, who have not yet been recognized in the INE census, as their complaints complained. representatives before the members of the Constituent Assembly.

However, Rivero, who was Minister of Peasant Affairs, points out that in the South American context, Bolivia has the highest percentage of indigenous people, with 64 percent of the total population. Peru is next with 59 percent. "Brazil has 220 ethnic groups - the largest in the region - but these represent 1 percent of the population of that country."

Despite this wealth, the original groups are losing the customs of their ancestors, due to the lack of a state policy that gives them the necessary tools for their survival, Rivero complains.

1.- Araunah

Baba bizo (good god) is one of the many deities of the araonas. In the 19th century, this group dominated most of the Amazonian rivers. Then, during the boom of the rubber, this ethnic group served as a guide to the industrialists who exploited the precious rubber. Paradoxically, the businessmen expelled them from their lands and enslaved them. The natives who managed to escape lived as nomads until the middle of the 20th century. Currently, about 100 araonas live in the Iturralde province (La Paz). Read More >>>

2.- Aymara

The department of La Paz is the bastion of the Aymaras. However, Oruro and Potosí are also home to the more than 1,200,000 Andean indigenous people. The domain of the Aymaras or Collas began after the fall of Tiwanaku (XII) and was strengthened by the union of several surrounding villages of Lake Titicaca. After several years of frustrated attempts, the Incas dominated them. However, this people kept their language and culture intact. The Aymara religion is closely related to agricultural activity.  Read More >>>

3.- Ayoreo

The Germán Busch province is home to the majority of the 800 Ayores who live in Santa Cruz. The first contact of this ethnic group with the Spaniards was in 1537. However, the natives resisted for decades to be part of the Catholic missions. His nomadic life ended with the foundation of the first mission, in the eighteenth century. The chronicles indicate that they considered birds as divinities. In addition, they had knowledge of the cosmic system. His linguistic family is the zamuco. Read More >>>

4.- Baure

Up to 16,000 baures inhabited the current Iténez province (Beni) in the 18th century. Guardians of the Arawak language, now do not pass the 500. It was Father Cipriano Barace who contacted them around 1690. The religious introduced the cattle, unknown in the area, and taught them music and writing. However, after the expulsion of the Jesuits, the majority abandoned the Catholic reductions and entered the forests. For them, all nature is sacred. Read More >>>

5.- Canichana

The Mamoré river has been the vital space of the canichana, known in the Colony as warlike warriors. The less than 300 members of this ethnic group are in the municipality of San Javier (Beni). During the Spanish rule, the bells of all the Moxos missions were melted into their lands. Thus, the natives abandoned their weapons to learn the secrets of silverware and wood modeling. One of his typical dances is the "crazy machetero", the same one that is danced during Holy Week. Read More >>>

6.- Cavineño

The departments of Beni and Pando are home to some 900 Cavinians. Before the arrival of the evangelizing missions, this ethnic group was animist. Its main deities were among the elements of nature, especially those found in the water and in the forest. In the seventeenth century the Cavinians suffered several migrations due to armed conflicts with the esse ejjas. They are currently chestnut pickers. Another of its activities is agricultural production. His linguistic family is tacana.  Read More >>>

7.- maybe

A cross made with a splinter is the most precious object for the more than 500 cayubabas that are found in the Yacuma province (Beni). "It is a splinter of the Holy Cross that the Jesuits brought from Peru," say the inhabitants of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It was in 1704 that the missionaries began their evangelizing work in these lands. In addition to agriculture and livestock, the cayubabas have gained fame in the east for their chivé, a derivative of cassava. Read More >>>

8.- Chácobo

Cáco fue el creador de los ríos, según los chácobo. Pano es la lengua originaria de este grupo asentado en el Beni y que hoy no supera los 300 miembros. Antes de la conquista española, esta etnia se movía en un vasto territorio entre los ríos Beni y Mamoré. Nunca fueron reducidos en las misiones, pero adoptaron elementos de la cultura occidental con el contacto con otros grupos. Sus aldeas cuentan con grandes habitaciones comunales y su alimentación está basada en la yuca y el plátano. Leer Mas>>>

9.- Chimán

The Benyan Amazon is home to the approximately 5,000 chimanes, who are dedicated to fishing and harvesting jatata (vegetable fiber). They have a vast knowledge of natural medicine and keep their culture almost intact, like their language, which can be written by a large part. An epidemic decimated them in the mid-nineteenth century. Read More >>>

10.- Chiquitano

Four Santa Cruz provinces nestle to more than 112,000 Chiquitanos. It was in their lands that Santa Cruz (the old one) was founded in 1550. In 1692 the first of the Jesuit missions was founded. These encouraged artistic development among the natives. After the expulsion of the missionaries, this ethnic group almost disappeared in the exploitation of rubber. Read More >>>

11.- Ese Ejja

For this Amazonian town, paradise is found in the currents of the rivers. His nomadic life ended abruptly after contact with Western culture. Today, these about 400 indigenous Pandinos live in Portachuelo. There they keep their language alive, which is made up of 5,000 words. Their women are skilled with the artisan fabric. Read More >>>

12.- Guarasugwe

It is the ethnic group with the least number of members. It is estimated that they do not reach the ten. The provinces Ñuflo de Chávez (Santa Cruz) and Iténez (Beni) inhabit and their linguistic family is the tupi guaraní. The myths of these expert hunters are based on yanerami, their greatest divinity. It was at the rubber boom that these Indians were decimated by diseases.

Guaraní

The search for the ivy imaraä, the "land without evil", caused three migratory flows of Guarani from Mato Grosso to the country. This group was famous for its resistance to the conquest of both the Incas and the Spanish. Currently more than 81,000 Guarani inhabit the Chaco region of the departments of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija. Read More >>>

13.- Guarayo

Los indios guaraníes que migraron desde la costa atlántica siglos antes de la llegada de los españoles, dieron vida al grupo étnico guarayo en Bolivia. Ubicados en su mayoría en la provincia Guarayos (Santa Cruz), su población supera en la actualidad los 5.000. El Coro de Urubichá, que interpreta música sacra, es una muestra de la riqueza artística que atesora este pueblo oriental. Además, los guarayos destacan por su elaboración de retablos, cofres y joyeros hechos de distintas maderas. Leer Mas>>>

14.- Itonama

In total state of nudity. This is how Father Lorenzo Legarda found in 1704 the members of this ethnic group, currently settled in the Iténez and Mamoré provinces (Beni). Its almost 1,500 representatives still stand out for being weavers and boat builders. In 1800 they surpassed 8,000 members, but the diseases brought by rubber tappers devastated them. In 1887, Andres Guayocho emerged from the itonama, who started a rebellion in all Moxos against the exploiters. Read More >>>

15.- Joaquiniano

The waters of the river Mamoré, in the Beni, constitute the living space of the joaquinianos. Corn, rice, cassava and plantain are the products harvested by the 169 members of this group. His linguistic family is Arawak, but Spanish, introduced by Catholic missionaries who came to his lands in the early 1700s, is the predominant language. Every year, the Beniana locality of San Joaquín receives the members of this ethnic group to celebrate the patronal feast of this oriental town. Read More >>>

16.- Leco

Nearly 2,500 Lecos inhabit the La Paz and Lazca Tamayo provinces. There, this indigenous town is dedicated to livestock, agriculture and forestry. Leco or lapa lapa is the name of its original language, which, as with many indigenous people in the country, is close to disappearing. Before the conquest of the Spanish, this group had a strong Aymara influence, which today is manifested in several of their spiritual traditions. The Madidi National Park is protected by them. Read More >>>

17.- Machineri

Besides Bolivia, the machineri are in Peru and Brazil, countries that come together in the municipality of Bolpebra, in Pando, through the exchange of products. Beans, wild animals and fish are the products offered by the twenty indigenous people that make up this Amazonian group. Before the arrival of the white man to their lands, the Machineri maintained the tradition of having a cacique who, besides being the authority of its members, was the healer and the shaman. Read More >>>

18.- Moré

Less than 50 morés are currently in the Monte Azul and Vuelta Grande communities of the Beni department. His linguistic family is chapacura and his presence in the Colony extended through the Machupo, Itonama and Blanco rivers. In this area, remains of rock art and pottery were found that are believed to have been elaborated by the ancestors of the moré. In the 1930s, their elders remember, members of the army were used to force the moré to be "educated." Read More >>>

19.- Mosetén

The land of the Mosetenes was the obligatory passage of the Spaniards who unsuccessfully sought the great Paititi. That territory includes the municipalities of San Borja (Beni) and Palos Blancos (La Paz). Before Catholic evangelization, this group was nomadic and lived on hunting, fishing and gathering. Now the majority of the thousand Mosetenes work the land. Read More >>>

20.- Movima

The first references of the movements, which live in the Yacuma province and exceed 6,000 members, date from 1621. Then they added 20,000 Indians, covering most of the rivers of this eastern region. One of its characteristics is that they maintain the cult both of their ancestors and of the "owners" of the forest and of the animals. Read More >>>

21.- Moxeño

They are one of the largest indigenous groups in the Bolivian Amazon. They currently have over 46,000 members and are located in the department of Beni. The archaeological evidences found in the place show that before the Colony, in the XVII century, they developed a sophisticated system of agriculture with embankments, canals and ridges. Read More >>>

22.- Pacahuara

The first contacts of the Spaniards with the Pacahuara -who currently live in Beni and Pando- were not peaceful until 1785, when the missionaries finally managed to found the mission of Cavinas. The perforations in the nose, where they introduce pieces of wood, is one of the signs that identifies them even today. The pano is his linguistic family.

 Quechua

With more than 1,556,000 components, the Quechuas are the most numerous indigenous people in the country. After the fall of Tiwanaku, the Quechua language reached these lands in the hands of the Incas, who dominated the rest of the Andean cultures. The largest concentration of Quechuas is found in Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Potosí, Oruro and La Paz. Read More >>>

23.- Sirionó

The Benoan provinces of Cercado and Iténez are home to more than 150 Sirionos. They are guardians of their language, the tupi guaraní, and very little has been investigated about their origin. Some studies, however, indicate that they arrived from Paraguay. One of its characteristics is the practice of the cult to the hunted animal, as a form of gratitude to nature. The hunting of animals of the mount, the fishing and the harvesting of honey of bee are part of their productive activities. Read More >>>

24.- Tapiete

At least twenty tapietes inhabit the Gran Chaco province (Tarija), in the Samawate and Crevaux communities. It was in 1791 that the Franciscan missionaries gave an account of their presence in this Chaco region. Then they were defined as "dangerous barbarians", since for decades they fought against attempts to be bowed down by the faith of the Spaniards. Due to their small population, in order not to break the prohibition of incest, now they look for wives among the Weenhayek and Guarani. One of the traditions that the tapietes maintain is the dance of the wheel and the use of the bow and arrow to hunt. They also have several sacred places like the cemeteries of their ancestors. This indigenous group, which has the Guarani tupi as a linguistic family, is currently engaged in agriculture, fishing and gathering.Empty Mas >>>

25.- Tacana

The La Paz, Beniana and Pandina Amazonia hosts the nearly 4,000 members of the Tacana ethnic group. The archaeological studies give account of the presence of this group long before the arrival of the Spaniards. The Inca invasion, however, destroyed the Tacana social organization. The chronicles of the Franciscans in 1680 point to this town as peaceful and hospitable. At present, in some communities the ancestral celebrations continue on agricultural dates.

26.- Reyesano or Maropa

Some Bolivian researchers identify the 2,700 indigenous Reyesans as maropas. Located in the province of Ballivián (Beni), the history of this town is linked to the old mission of Los Santos Reyes, which was created with the purpose of evangelizing the indigenous groups of the natives of the area located on the Beni River and the lake. Rogaguado. Read More >>>

27.- Mormon

Its existence is surrounded by myths and legends. According to the oral tradition of the indigenous ethnic groups that surround the Madidi National Park (La Paz), the Toromona, led by the cacique Tarano, resisted the Spanish incursions during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, there is no documentation that provides reliable data on these facts. In this regard, the Araona elders-who inhabit the La Paz municipality of Ixiamas-assure that this ethnic group was formed after a division among the Araonas. A pair of scientific expeditions tried unsuccessfully to find the members of the Toromonas, who are still supposed to maintain the nomadic life of their ancestors. Thus, in addition to the land of northern La Paz, it is believed that this group of natives moves south of the department of Pando. Read More >>>

28.- Manage

La Paz and Oruro constitute the redoubt of the urus. It is estimated that its population exceeds 2,000 people. The urus are considered the first to inhabit the Bolivian altiplano. Its history began 2,500 years ago, but its roots are linked to the Wankarani, a previous culture. From the sixteenth century, this group was subdued by the Aymaras. Now, however, the Urus are one of the few indigenous groups that keep most of their customs intact, such as their language. Read More >>>

29.- Yaminahua

It was in the first 50 years of the 20th century that the Yaminahuas entered the Bolivian territory from the Peruvian Amazon. They did it fleeing from the incursions of evangelical sects. Currently, this group is located in the Pandina province Nicolás Suárez. The approximately 50 members of this ethnic group keep part of their traditions intact. One of them is to venerate the viper sicurí as one of its main divinities. The Yaminahua are divided into evangelists and non-evangelists. Read More >>>

30.- Yuqui

Tuberculosis is the greatest threat of this ethnic group that lives in the province of Carrasco, in Cochabamba. About thirty of its nearly 200 members suffer from this deadly disease. Despite this, these skilled fishermen keep part of their beliefs intact, such as believing that the human being has two spirits. Read More >>>

31.- Yuracaré

More than 1,300 yuracarés are distributed in the departments of Cochabamba and Beni. This indigenous group was discovered in the sixteenth century by an anthropological expedition. Its members were used as pawns in the opening of roads. Currently, its productive force is centered on citrus, coffee, squash, cassava, peanuts and plantains. Read More >>>

32.- Weenayek

The municipalities of Gran Chaco and Yacuiba (Tarija) host a thousand weenahayek, known in the colonial chronicles as matacos. The missions of the Jesuits saved this ethnic group from total extermination in the 17th century. Their traditional religion was animistic and full of rites. Crafts, fishing and gathering are now their means of subsistence. Read More >>>

33.- Quechuas

Population: 2,556,277 people (2001 Census) 

Location: Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Potosí, Oruro and La Paz 

Language: Quechua 

The social organization of the communities is based on the family, based on the structure of the ayllu. They live off agriculture.

Quechua (from qhichwa runa, "people from the valleys, from the temperate zone") is a term used by several ethnic groups of the Andes mountain range, mainly those that speak Quechua, and a collective name used for the entirety of these ethnic groups. There are Quechua ethnic groups in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Panama and Ecuador. In Ecuador, northern Peru and Argentina, the Quichua phonetic variant (kichwa runa - northern Quichua variants do not distinguish between kyq) and - in addition to the term kichwa - some ethnic groups from Ecuador and the Peruvian jungle are used. 

Some Quechua ethnic groups (some acquired the Quechua of the Incas): 

Inca 

Chanca (in Huancavelica, Ayacucho and Apurímac) 

Huanca (in Junín, they spoke Quechua before the Incas)

Cañaris (in Ecuador, they were quechuizados by the Incas) 

Linguistic group: Quechua. 

Quechua, although derived from Aymara, is a more evolved language, because during the Inca empire new terms and phonetic variations (arawacas and others) were incorporated into it. The language of the Incas further strengthened their presence in the Altiplano during the period of Spanish colonization, since the Spaniards used it for their relations with the Andean inhabitants, without differentiating them from their origin and, therefore, without taking into account the different languages ​​of these peoples.  Read More >>>

34.- Afro-Bolivians

Population: 20,711 people 

Location: La Paz 

Language: Castellano 

Their social organization is based on the nuclear family and their ties of kinship are very strong. They live on the agriculture of cassava, plantain, citrus, rice and cultivate coca. 

The Afro-Bolivians were brought from Africa, to work in subhuman conditions in the silver mines of Potosi, withstanding the cold and the altitude of 4200 meters above sea level, a situation to which they were not accustomed. When the fall of mining migrated to the yungas of La Paz. They arrived at the yungas through 3 Inca roads: El Choro, Taquesi and Yunga Cruz.

In the Yungas they had to learn to cultivate the coca leaf. The landowners who owned haciendas in the Yungueña area required the services of the now Afro-Bolivians for agricultural work, where they also exploited them as slaves. 

In the year 1945, President Gualberto Villarroel promulgated Supreme Decree No. 319, which declared the services of Pongueaje and Mitanaje abolished. In 1952, free labor and servitude were eliminated. On August 2, 1953, through Decree Law No. 3464, "pongueaje" and "mitanaje" were abolished, which favored Afro-Bolivians because they were freed from slavery, and they were also granted land where they currently live and work.

In February of 1992 the First Assembly of First Nations and People was held, in which several addresses of the indigenous and indigenous organizations participated, headed by the CSUTCB and the CIDOB, it had the objective that the First Nations and the People have an instrument of power and unity, which constitutes a valid interlocutor for the whole people, that recovers its territory and bears the ideological contents of: class, nation, identity and culture, for the construction of a Multinational State, Pluricultural, Multilingual, Community Socialist, Democratic with dignity, participatory, with mutual respect among the indigenous peoples, impoverished middle class, mestizo peoples and black people. Read More >>>

35.- Guaranies or Chiriguanos

Population: 75,500 people 

Location: Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and 

Tarija Language: Tupi Guaraní 

The social organization is based on the nuclear family (father, mother and children). They used to marry cousins. They live off agriculture. Hunting is the task of men and the domestic tasks of women. The story begins with two twin brothers called Tupi and Guaraní. These brothers got married but their wives did not get along very well and they fought all the time and they had no choice but to separate. Each one started a new town but despite spending time they are still very similar in their language, in their customs. This is how the Guarani tell us about their origins.

The Guarani were based in southern Brazil, eastern Bolivia and Paraguay and northeast of Argentina; when the conquerors had not yet arrived. Some even got close to the current Buenos Aires and the Delta del Paraná. They were called chandules and another group came to the Bolivian Chaco denominating them chiriguanos. 

It is estimated that when the Spaniards arrived in the sixteenth century in Paraguay, they were about 1,500,000 in all of the territory.

Relations with the other groups in some cases were hostile but in others peaceful. They came to dominate many groups, as is the case of the Chanés. Its language was learned by different peoples and was useful for use in exchange and trade and eventually became the general language known by the tribes of southern Brazil, Paraguay, eastern Bolivia and Argentine northeast. 

Due to the migrations they were installed in different places and thus with the passage of time, although they kept part of their customs, they acquired others and weaving their own history. Today the main groups are the Chiriguanos and the Caingua. The chandules disappeared shortly after the Spaniards were installed. Read More >>>

36.- Nahua

Population: 15 people 

Location: Manuripi 

Language: Nahua 

It is not known how many there are, nor the exact area where they settle. It is probable that the Nahuas of Bolivia have been exterminated. It is said that they lived painted in groups of several families to defend themselves against aggressors.

The Nahuas are a group of native peoples of Mesoamerica whose ancestors were the Mexica (descendants of the Aztecs) and other ancient peoples of Anahuac who had in common the Nahuatl language. At the moment the Mexican term is its autodenominación and mexicanero (in the state of Durango). Its main link was its language, Nahuatl or Nahuat, as well as great similarities in its religion and worldview. The prehispanic peoples of Texcoco, Tlaxcala, Chalco, Cholula, Acolhuacán and the Mexicas among others are Nahuas, the latter stand out for the foundation of Tenochtitlán and its influence on the other peoples of the region and with the states of Morelos, Michoacán and Hidalgo.

At the time of the Conquest of America by the Spanish crown, the Nahuas had expanded to Central America and had important settlements on the Pacific slopes of Nicaragua. In addition, there were Nahua communities at the mouth of the San Juan River, as well as in the Bagaces region (Costa Rica) and the Sixaola basin, in the border region between Costa Rica and Panama. 

The Nahuas were named differently according to the region where they lived: in Mexico they were called Mexicas; in Guatemala, cachiqueles; in El Salvador, pipiles; in Nicaragua, niquiranos or chorotegas and in Costa Rica, guatusos.    Read More >>>