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Uruguay’s Indigenous History — a note

Comparison

⚠ THIS ROW IS NOT SOFTENED. The CHARRÚA, CHANÁ, Minuán, Yaro and Bohán peoples lived on this land; Guaraní communities came through the Jesuit missions. On 11 April 1831 at SALSIPUEDES the Uruguayan army, under orders from the first president Fructuoso Rivera, massacred a large part of the remaining Charrúa; survivors were dispersed and four were shipped to Paris and exhibited. Uruguay then told itself for a century and a half that it had no Indigenous people. ⚠ THAT IS WHY THE INDIGENOUS CULINARY RECORD IS THIN — not because there was nothing, but because it was destroyed and then denied. Descendant organisations exist and a growing share of Uruguayans identify as of Indigenous descent. What IS documented: fishing, hunting, ñandú and deer, river and coastal shellfish, native fruits including butiá and pindó, and the pre-contact earthworks of the eastern wetlands.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Charrúa community documented
  • Chaná community documented

Languages: Charrúa, Chaná

What is recorded

  • On 11 April 1831 at Salsipuedes, Uruguayan forces under orders from President Fructuoso Rivera massacred a large part of the remaining Charrúa population; survivors were dispersed and four were taken to Paris and publicly exhibited. Uruguay subsequently maintained a national narrative of having no Indigenous population. The thinness of the Indigenous culinary record is a consequence of that destruction and denial and is stated rather than glossed. documented
  • The massacre at Salsipuedes, ordered by President Fructuoso Rivera, destroys much of the remaining Charrúa population; survivors are dispersed and four are shipped to Paris and exhibited. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Guaraní Foodways documented

    Guaraní communities reached the Banda Oriental through the Jesuit missions.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.