[1] The Indigenous nation of the Yariguies was located in an extensive forested area of the Magdalena River Valley, in the western portion of the current department of Santander in Colombia.

The chroniclers, like friar Pedro Simón, referred to the Yariguies, using their macanas, arrows, poisoned darts, and surprise tactics to reduce the 16th-century army of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada from 900 to 169 men.

Three circumstances combined to weigh against the Yariguies' desires to keep their land free from intrusion: their low birthrate, the increasing number of colonists, and the diseases brought by Europeans, especially the flu, smallpox, and measles, against which the natives had no immunological defenses.

The blame for the final extinction of this community is due to the new mestizo colonists who invaded their territory in search of pastureland, quinine, tagua, wood, and, ultimately, petroleum.

Additionally, the construction of a road from Socorro, then capital of Santander, to the Magdalena River, brought further incursions into the region and authorized "hunting parties" against the indigenous peoples, destroying whole villages.