Indigenous peoples in Uruguay

[9] Thousands of years ago, a local culture developed in nowadays northern Uruguay, known as Hombre del Catalanense.

Afterwards, in pre-colonial times, Uruguayan territory was inhabited by small tribes of nomadic Charrúa, Chana, Arachan and Guarani peoples.

With little immunity to diseases brought by European settlers, native peoples and culture were gradually diminished.

The remaining 300 Charrua women and children were divided as household slaves and servants among Europeans.

[11] According to the history professor and journalist Lincoln Maiztegui Casas, “the disappearance of the Charrúa people was a gradual process that took more than 200 years, and the root cause was territorial occupation by Europeans”.

The traditional range of the Guarani people is in what is now Paraguay between the Paraná River and lower Paraguay River, the Misiones Province of Argentina, southern Brazil once as far east as Rio de Janeiro, and parts of Uruguay and Bolivia.