The Achagua (also Achawa and Axagua) are an Indigenous people of Colombia and Venezuela."Achagua." Encyclopædia Britannica. (retrieved 1 December 2011) At the time of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, their territory covered the present-day Venezuelan states of Bolívar, Guárico and Barinas.James Stuart Olson (1991), The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group. p2 In the late twentieth century there were several hundred Achaguas remaining.
Municipalities belonging to Achagua territories Name Department Altitude (m)urban centre Map Támara(shared with U'wa) Casanare 1156 Nunchía(shared with U'wa) Casanare 398 Yopal Casanare 390 Aguazul(shared with Tegua) Casanare 290 Tauramena Casanare 460 Recetor(shared with Tegua) Casanare 800 Chámeza(shared with Tegua) Casanare 1150 Paya Boyacá 970 Labranzagrande(shared with U'wa & Guahibo) Boyacá 1210
Culture Achagua people live in large villages. Clans live together in communal houses. Polygamy is commonplace. They farm crops, such as bitter cassava. They traditionally poison their arrows with curare.
Language Achagua people speak the Achagua language, a Maipurean Arawakan language.
See also
U'wa Guayupe, Tegua
References
External links Achagua artwork, National Museum of the American Indian