GUARANI INDIANS IN BOLIVIA

THESE INDIANS SPEAK GUARARI. THEY LIVE IN ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, URAGUAY, AND BOLIVIA.THEY HAVE 250,000 PEOPLE THERE. THEIR POPULATION WAS REDUCED ONCE EUROPEANS CAME HERE. THE PARAGUAN POPULATION LEARNS GUARANI FROM THEIR NEIGHBORS AND FORMLLY IN SCHOOL.

THEIR NAME MEANS 'PEOPLE'. SOME CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY. SOME HAVE NOT INTEGRATED INTO THE DOMINANT SOCIETY, BUT ARE NATIVES. GUARANI MEANS WARRIOR IN THEIR DIALECT. THEIR HISTORY IS NOT WELL KNOWN. THEIR EARLY HISTORY IS BASED ON EARLY TRADITION. THEY WERE NOMADIC AND LITTLE WAS WRITTEN IN THE HISTORIC RECORDS. THEIR EARLY VILLAGES WERE 10 TO 15 FAMILIES. COMMUNITIES WERE UNITED BY COMMON INTEREST. COMMUNITIES WERE UNITED BY COMMON COMMON INTEREST. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE GUARANI NUMBERED 400,000. ONCE EUROPEANS CAME HERE THEY WERE SEDENTARY AND WERE AGRICULTURAL WAS MANIOC, MAIZE, AND GAME.

THEY PASSED DOWN MYTHS. THEY KNEW MANY DIETIES WHO RULE AT NIGHT OR IN DIFFERENT PLACES. THERE WAS A WEREWOLF DIETY, AND ANIMISTIC LEGENDS WITH HUMMINGBIRDS WHO BRING GOOD SPIRITS. THEY BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION.THEIR IS A SACRED YERBA. THERE ARE ELFS AND GOBLINS. THERE ARE EVIL MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES. THEY HAVE A SACRED WATERFALL THAT HAVE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE.

IN 1537 THE GONZOLO DE MENDOZA WENT THROUGH THROUGH PARAGUAY. HE ENCOUNTERED THE GUAYRA AND HAD THEIR GOVERNOR MAKE A POLICY THAT THEY COULD MARRY EUROPEANS. AND HE INITIATED ENSLAVEMENT OF THE INDIANS! THE DEPOT OF THE SLAVE TRADE WAS WHERE CRIMINALS REFUGED.

IN 1629 AN ARMY SURROUNDED A MISSION, SET FIRE TO A CHURCH AND OTHER BUILDINGS, KILLED THOSE WHO RESISTED AND CARRIED THE REST INTO SLAVERY. THEIR WERE SLAVE LABORERS WHO CAPTURED INDIANS AT MISSIONS. THEY BURNED CHURCHES. THE SLAVES WENT TO RIO DE JANEIRO. BY 1638 BY 1638 ALL THE MISSIONS WERE ABANDONED.

BY THIS TIME ONE FATHER WAS ABLE TO HAVE THE POPE FORBID ENSLAVEMENT OF THE MISSIONARIES. THEIR MISSIONS WERE TURNED OVER TO PRIESTS. BUT UNDER A CODE OF ORDERS THE MISSIONS DECLINED AND MANY EPIDEMICS HIT THE GUARANI PEOPLE.

TODAY NEARLY ALL THE FOREST TRIBES ARE ON PARAGUAY.

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