Omaguacas
The omaguacas or humahuacas are a group of indigenous peoples whose mixogenized descendants inhabit the area of Tilcara and Humahuaca in the province of Jujuy in Argentina, coinciding mainly with the ravine of Humahuaca.
History
In the pre-Hispanic period, the Omaguaca or Humahuaca region comprised the vast area of the tributaries and rivers of the basins of the Grande, Lavayén, San Francisco (in the province of Jujuy), Zenta, Iruya, Lipeo, Bermejo (in the province of Jujuy) the province of Salta); Villazón and Tupiza (in the department of Potosí, in Bolivia) and coincided with the so-called Humahuaca culture seen with less influences from the Inca Empire. As the area was a transit area for caravans and migrations, they received all kinds of influences, including that of the Inca Empire that in the XIV century invaded, in alliance with the aimaras, the omaguaca territories and settled in the strategic omaguaca cities (such as Tilcara). For this reason, everything that has come from them to this day is strongly influenced by the Quechua culture.
Technology and economy
The Omaguacas or Humahuacas were part of a confederation of ethnic groups dedicated to agriculture (mainly corn), with a great development of weaving and pottery. They melted metals such as bronze, with which they made weapons and other instruments. They built crop terraces in the Inca way, since the region they inhabited had stony soil. They tamed the llamas. Their houses, quadrangular in shape, were built with stones and roofed with straw and mud.
Political organization
Among many others, various factions belonged to the confederation, such as the Humahuacas proper, the Uquías, the Purmamarcas, the Tilcaras, the Tumbayas, the Tilianes, the Yalas, the Yavis, the Chuyes, the Quilatas, the Casabindos and the mortars.
The northern sector of the omaguacas bordered to the west and northwest almost north with the Atacama partiality of the Lípez, to the west they also bordered the Atacamas (or Atacameños), the southern sector was a transition area in which there were partialities like those of the jujuyes, ocloyas and pulares that were included almost clearly in the pazioca (or diaguita) group. The Omaguacas have been partially differentiated from the Diaguitas by having a cultural (and genetic) conjunction with Atacameño and even Arawacan populations of what is now called Chanés and perhaps remotely with the Tomatas.
The Yufis (and also the Hutangers) were groups of girls who rebelled against the chief of the tribe (tambuka) and went to live in the plains, far from his domain. Raids and wild beasts decimated these splinter groups and finished them off.
Mitimaes in omaguaca land
When the Spanish arrived, in the Humahuaca ravine there were also some nuclei of mitimaes, a partiality of the chichas such as the paypayas, and also the lowland peoples such as the churumatas, these served as a containment barrier against the Guarani Chiriguanos who had subdued the Chorotes and the Chanés. In turn, these groups of peoples subjected after the Quechua and Aymara invasion, upon being reduced to mitimaes, served as disseminators of the Quechua languages.
Omaguacan language
It is estimated that the pre-Columbian population of the Humahuaca ravine spoke a language specific to the valley and differentiated from the nearby regions, which is usually called humahuaca (or omaguaca). However, there is hardly any linguistic information about the language of the Omaguacas, who apparently were divided into smaller units such as the Fiscaras, the Jujuyes, the Ocloyas, the Osas, the Purmamarcas, and the Tilianes. The anthroponym Viltipoco, ruler of Tilcara, who resisted the Spanish in the 16th century and the local surname Vilte suggest a connection to the kunza of the atacamas, since bilti in kunza means 'falcon'.
Current Omaguacas
The Omaguacan communities have been recovering their cultural identity, differentiating themselves from the Kolla group. The Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples (ECPI) 2004-2005, complementary to the National Census of Population, Households and Housing of Argentina 2001, resulted in the recognition and/or first generation descent of the Omaguaca people in Argentina, of whom of which 1,374 lived in the province of Jujuy.
Since 1995, the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) began to recognize indigenous communities of Argentina through registration in the National Registry of Indigenous Communities (Renaci), but no Omaguaca community was recognized.
In 2004, the Indigenous Participation Council (CPI) was created within the scope of the INAI, with the omaguacas of Jujuy being responsible for the election of 2 representatives elected in assemblies of community authorities every 3 years. The following communities (40) participated in the 2011 election: Chorrillos and El Churcal Community, Miyuyoc Community, Esquinas Blancas and Chijra Community, Hornocal Community, Rodero Community, Pueblo Viejo Community, Santa Rosa Community, Santa Lucía de Calete Community, Chucalezna Community, Hornaditas Community, Cofradías de Las Ánimas Community, Chorcan Community, Ocumazo Community, Varas Community, Coraya Community, Huasadurazno Community, Pinchayoc and the San Isidro Band, Iturbe Hipólito Irigoyen Community, Finca Valiazo Community, Ovará Community, Río Grande Community and La Poma, Pucará Community, Azul Pampa Community, Uquía Community, Negra Muerta Community, Palca de Aparzo Community, La Cueva Community, Vicuñayoc Community, Pisungo and Río Grande El Aguilar, Aparzo Community, Pueblo Los Omaguacas Community, San Roque Francisco Limpitay Community, Community Ticaguayoc, Cuchillaco Community, Coctaca Community, Cianzo El Zenta Community, El Morado Community, San Roque District, Achicote Community, Chaupi Rodeo and Peña Blanca Community, Casillas Community, Tres Cruces Community, Casa Grande, Vizcarra and El Portillo Community.
The 2010 National Population Census in Argentina revealed the existence of 6,873 people who recognized themselves as omaguacas throughout the country, 6,146 of whom were in the province of Jujuy.