Foragers and Farmers: Differential Consequences of Spanish Contact

Abstract

The effects of Spanish contact upon the foraging Guahibo and the horticultural Achagua of eastern Colombia and western Venezuela were quite different. The two groups are analyzed and compared from the earliest contacts of the sixteenth century up to modern times. The factors behind the disappearance of the Achagua and the persistence of the Guahibo are examined. Historical sources indicate that the Guahibo and the Achagua were the largest indigenous groups occupying the southeastern lowlands of Colombia and the southwestern lowlands of Venezuela at the time of European contact. This is a predominately savanna region, commonly known as the llanos. Numerous waterways flow through the grasslands and eventually empty into the Orinoco River. Along these streams are gallery forests which support most of the animal and plant life upon which the indigenous populations continue to depend. The climate is subtropical with a marked wet and dry season which materially affects the lives of the people. The dry season extends from December to mid-April; during the rainy season large sections of the savanna are flooded. Many groups occupied the llanos when the first Spanish entered the region in the 1530's. The Achagua were one of the largest and most affluent, and as such they earned a large place in the writings of the travelers and missionaries. The Guahibo were equally numerous and not at all affluent, but they caused such problems for the Europeans that they also received much attention in the written records.

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