Charrua

The Charrua are the Indigenous nation of the Southern Cone grasslands, of Uruguay and the neighbouring Entre Rios and Rio Grande do Sul. Semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, they moved with rain and drought, with deer and rhea, in the seasonal rhythm that earned them the name of nomads of the seasons. Bola, sling and lance took game on the open pampa; cane windbreaks and hide toldos sheltered the moving camps. The Charrua held the river frontiers against Spanish, Portuguese and then Brazilian and Argentine pressure for three centuries. In 1831 the new Uruguayan Army's Salsipuedes campaign massacred the gathered bands, an extermination meant to close history; survivors slipped into Argentina and Brazil. Histories erased them, but between 160,000 and 300,000 descendants in three countries now claim the name, and Charrua organisations defend the memory of the grassland people. Entre Rios and Rio Grande do Sul sheltered the bands that escaped Salsipuedes in 1831.