East Zone: Sogrome, Donachwi, Timaka, Aruamake, Seynimin and Izrwa.
The population is dispersed, but gets together in these towns for reunions and ceremonies, with Nabusimake being the most important of them and with a special significance: it's composed of fifty squared shaped houses and circular temples named Kankurwa, for men and women.
The Arhuacos' main economic activity is subsistence agriculture, which traditionally was practiced by every family in the community in their own parcel by their houses. Each family owned two houses, one in the high lands where the weather is cooler and another in the warmer, lower lands of the mountains. Nowadays they can only practice this on the higher lands due to expropriation of land during the Spanish colonization.
The Arhuacos are profoundly spiritual and follow their own unique philosophy that tends to globalize their surroundings. They believe in a creator or "father" named Kakü Serankua, who engendered the first gods and material living things, other "fathers" like the sun and the snowy peaks and other "mothers" like the earth and the moon. They consider the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to be the heart of the world, and believe that the well-being of the rest of the world depends on it.
Nature and society as a unity are ruled by a single sacred law, immutable, pre-existent, primitive and survivor to everyone and everything. The material world can exist or cease to exist but this law is believed to continue without being altered.
This universal law Kunsamü is represented by a boy, Mamo Niankua. This law of nature is an explanation of the origins of matter and its evolution, equilibrium, preservation and harmony, that constitutes the fundamental objectives and the reason being of the Mamo; the spiritual authority of the Arhuaco society.
Each Mamo or Mamü is selected among different candidates, boys ranging eight to ten years old that will receive training for a minimum of nine years to fifteen years on average and are free to determine if they want to continue with it further the training period. To become a Mamo, they stay in a cave for nine years while the elders teach them everything they need to know. They specialize in certain knowledge areas such as philosophy, sacerdotalism, medicine and practical community or individual counselors. Their influence is decisive in their society.
Political organization
The Arhuacos are politically organized as the "Confederación Indígena Tayrona" (Indigenous Confederation Tayrona) or "CIT", which was founded in 1978. Their main goals include the preservation of their culture and traditional territory.[7]
In 1916 the Arhuacos asked the government of Colombia for teachers to learn to read and write and also learn about mathematics, but instead the government sent Capuchin Friars. The Friars prohibited the children from learning about their culture, and put them aside in an orphanage. They also established forced labor, ignoring the Arhuacos' plea to leave them alone.[8]
In 1943, politicians from Valledupar, missionaries and the Ministry of Agriculture, expropriated without compensation the best terrains of Nabusimake and built a State-owned, agricultural farm. The Arhuacos fought back and in 1944 created the Liga de Indios de la Serra Nevada (Sierra Nevada Amerindians League), but were outlawed later in 1956 by a military government.
100 years after the six month-long march from the heights of the Sierra to Bogota, in 2016 a delegation of 100 Arhuacos arrived once more in the capital to commemorate 100 years of Arhuaco diplomacy.
In 1962, the government imposed the construction of a communications tower for TV in Mount Alguacil, considered sacred by the Arhuacos. This outraged them because they believe mountain peaks to be sacred. The government also established a military post to intimidate them, and later ordered the construction of a highway from their territory to Valledupar. Ignoring the threats, the Arhuacos reestablished their league. In 1972 the Arhuacos created the cabildo Gobernador, a better structured and adequate organization to defend their values and land.
On August 7, 1982, they rebelled against the Capuchins and took over the mission's buildings. The Capuchins finally left in 1983.
In 1990, three Arhuaco indigenous leaders were kidnapped and murdered while travelling by bus to Bogota to register an official complaint about human rights violations by security forces against indigenous people in Santa Marta.[9]
In 2012 an Arhuaco leader, Rogelio Mejía, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when his car was stopped at a roadblock by a group of armed men and riddled with bullets.[10]
Prohibited cultivation
In 1975, Colombians started cultivating marijuana in the Sierra Nevada. This brought more problems to the community, like forced recruitment for plantations, assimilation of the drug dealers' culture by some, and violence. Many poor peasants from other regions of Colombia came to work in the Marijuana bonanza of the 1980s. Different from the traditional, non-commercial Coca planting, the drug dealers produced Cocaine through chemical processes. The money later attracted the Colombian Armed Conflict, and conflict among the different factions: mainly guerrillas and paramilitaries, who competed for the control of the area, and indiscriminately accused the Arhuacos and others of being collaborators of the rival party, assassinating and intimidating them, forcing many to leave. The government also started fumigations to eradicate illicit plantations, leaving the Arhuacos in the middle of a crossfire.
Government projects
Monument in Santa Marta depicting Arhuacos
The government of Colombia is trying to develop an irrigation system for the Valley of Cesar by constructing hydroelectric dams and ecotourism routes in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The Arhuacos are strongly opposed to all these projects and organized the Confederación Indígena Tairona (Tairona Indigenous Confederation).[11]
Santa Marta, officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta, is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fourth-largest urban city of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, after Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Soledad. Founded on July 29, 1525, by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, it was one of the first Spanish settlements in Colombia, its oldest surviving city, and second oldest in South America. This city is situated on a bay by the same name and as such, it is a prime tourist destination in the Caribbean region.
Cesar Department or simply Cesar is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with the Department of Magdalena and Department of Bolivar, to the south with Department of Santander, to the east with the Department of North Santander, and further to the east with the country of Venezuela. The department capital city is Valledupar.
Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, Valle de Upar, was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; Cacique Upar. The city lies between the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá to the borders of the Guatapurí and Cesar rivers.
Ciudad Perdida is the archaeological site of an ancient city in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia, within the jurisdiction of the city of Santa Marta. This city is believed to have been founded about 800 CE. If so, Ciudad Perdida predates Machu Picchu by about 650 years.
Tairona or Tayrona was a Pre-Columbian culture of Colombia, which consisted in a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which goes back at least to the 1st century AD and had significant demographic growth around the 11th century.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of 5,700 m (18,700 ft) just 42 km (26 mi) from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal range in the tropics, and one of the highest coastal ranges in the world, being 250 metres (820 ft) shorter than the Saint Elias Mountains in Canada. The Sierra Nevada encompasses about 17,000 km2 (6,600 sq mi) and serves as the source of 36 rivers. The range is in the Departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira.
Indigenous peoples of Colombia are the ethnic groups who have inhabited Colombia since before the Spanish colonization of Colombia, in the early 16th century.
The Kogi, or Cogui, or Kágaba, meaning "jaguar" in the Kogi language, are an indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Their culture has continued since the Pre-Columbian era.
Pueblo Bello, is a village and municipality in the northern region of the Department of Cesar, Colombia. It is located in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and is home to Amerindians pertaining to the Arhuaco ethnicity, whom consider Pueblo Bello a sanctuary but by the name of Arumake in their language. Pueblo Bello is the main producer of coffee in the Caribbean Region of Colombia.
La Guajira is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the department is Riohacha.
Dibulla is a town and municipality located in the Department of La Guajira, Colombia by the Caribbean sea and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains on the Guajira Peninsula. It was proclaimed municipality in 1995.
The Spanish conquest of the Chibchan nations refers to the conquest by the Spanish monarchy of the Chibcha language-speaking nations, mainly the Muisca and Tairona that inhabited present-day Colombia, beginning the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Art of Cesar Department refers to the expressions of art in the Colombian Department of Cesar in the Caribbean Region of Colombia. The diverse range of human activities and artifacts, painting, sculpture, printmaking, musical and dance expressions, literature and other forms of visual and auditory arts.
Tourism in Cesar Department refers to the tourism in the Colombian Department of Cesar. Tourism developed primarily in Valledupar during the middle of the 20th century after the creation of Cesar Department, but had its precedents in religious peregrination during the Holy Week, Catholic Church tradition with peregrines going to Valledupar to celebrate processions, religious masses, saint of Ecce Homo veneration, the Virgen del Carmen, among others, these peregrinations were also popular in Atanquez a small village enclaved in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, were the local culture inherited from the Spanish and Indigenous develop the "devil dancers".
Atanquez or San Sebastian is a Colombian town and corregimiento of Valledupar in the Department of Cesar. Atanquez is located on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range at approximately 2,000 m over sea level. Atanquez is known for being predominantly inhabited by the indigenous ethnic group Kankuamos among others and mestizo groups.
Arhuaco, commonly known as Ikʉ, is an Indigenous American language of the Chibchan language family, spoken in South America by the Arhuaco people.
The Chimilas or Ette Ennaka are an indigenous people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia. Their Chimila language is part of the Chibcha language family, of which there were estimated to be around 1000 speakers in 1998. At the time of the Spanish Conquest the Ariguaní River valley was the strategic centre of their territory. On the Serranía del Perijá mountains the Yukpas were also part of the Chimila confederation of tribes.
The mochila arhuaca, or tutu iku in Ika, is a popular Colombian artisan bag made by the Arhuaco people of the Sierra Nevada. In recent years, they have become a cultural symbol of Colombian identity.
Guatapurí is a Colombian town and corregimiento of Valledupar in the Department of Cesar. Atanquez is located on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range at approximately 2,000 m over the sea level. Guatapurí is known for being predominantly inhabited by the indigenous ethnic group Kankuamos among others and mestizo groups.
Taganga is a traditional fishing village and corregimiento of Santa Marta, located on the Caribbean coast of Colombia at about 10 minutes or 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Santa Marta. Both Santa Marta and Taganga were founded by Rodrigo de Bastidas on July 29, 1525, making them two of the oldest remaining colonial settlements in present-day Colombia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Colombia 
