The Huarpes or Warpes are an indigenous people of Argentina, living in the Cuyo region.

Some scholars assume that in the Huarpe language, this word means "sandy ground,"[2] but according to Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua general del Reino de Chile, written by Andrés Febrés in Lima in 1765, the word Cuyo comes from Araucanian cuyum puulli, meaning "sandy land" or "desert country".

[3] Huarpe people settled in permanent villages beginning in the 5th century CE.

About 50 to 100 people lived in a village, making them smaller than Diaguita settlements.

[5] They were never fully part of the Incan Empire, but were influenced by Inca culture and adopted llama ranching and the Quechua language after 1480.