Chango people

Chango people, Chinchorro cultures

Chango
Total population
Extinct
Regions with significant populations
Atacama desert
Related ethnic groups
Chinchorro, Atacama people

The Changos, also known as Camanchacos or Camanchangos, were an indigenous people who inhabited a long stretch of the Pacific coast from the Atacama desert to the Coquimbo Region in what is now southern Peru and northern Chile.

History

Definition and context of the Changos

The culture originated in the 8,000-year-old Chinchorro tradition. Due to a combination of conquest and integration into other cultures and ethnicities, the Chango culture is now considered extinct.

Distribution of the pre-Hispanic people of Chile. Click to enlarge.

The Changos were not a distinct tribe or ethnic group; rather, the term is used to refer to many disparate communities of indigenous people living along the northern Chilean and southern Peruvian coast in the Pre-Columbian era. The term "chango" was first documented in the 17th century by Spanish conquistadors who perceived little in the way of cultural difference between the local native communities. Therefore, "chango" describes a loose grouping of maritime peoples who shared a similar way of life rather than a common history or ethnicity. In general, Chango culture is considered more primitive than neighbouring cultures such as the Atacameňos. Chango culture is part of the Chinchorro tradition. The Chinchorro were hunter-fisher-gatherers with a particular reliance on the sea, who lived along the Atacama coast from at least the 8th century BC. They are of special interest to modern anthropologists due their practice of mummifying the dead.

Chango economy

Chango rafts in the Chilean port of Huasco in the 1850s.

Chango communities were organised into either nomadic or sedentary groups based on nuclear family units. Each group was independent of the others, providing food and other resources for itself. The Changos were experts at exploiting the resources of the sea. Each group specialised in a particular type of fish, including tuna, conger eels, mullet, dart fish, mackerel and octopus. Rafts used for fishing developed from primitive reed constructions to craft made from three wooden planks, and later to seal skins fastened to wooden frames. Fish were caught using nets, hooks and harpoons. The capture of seals was of crucial importance to the Chango way of life, with every part of the animal having its uses. The meat, fat and bones were used for food and tools, the skins were used to make rafts and the intestines to make fishing equipment. As well as seal skins, the Changos used vicuña wool, feathers, bird skins, shells and the bones and teeth of sea creatures as materials to make practical and decorative items such as clothing, blankets, tools, cutlery and jewellery. They also made and painted ceramic utensils. Despite their geographical isolation, the Changos traded with inland tribes, exchanging shellfish, dried fish, animal hide, guano, fat and shells for wool, fruit, maize and coca. Chango cave paintings include images of men hunting and fishing and sea creatures such as seals, turtles and whales.

See also

• Indigenous peoples in Chile
• Atacama desert
• Chinchorro culture