Indio

Nowadays there is recognition of indigenous peoples, principally after our constitution of 1991, that recognized their land, law, customs and their social organization. They get autonomy with regard to their school system, language and health system. In Colombia there are more than 80 (Eighty) ethnic group in different areas of the country, some ethnic are small.

These populations have many problems, similar to rest of the country: drug trafficking, civil war and large state.

The most important indigenous peoples in Colombia are Wayúu, Nasa, Senú and Emberá. They are biggest and occupy important territory.

I am going talking about Wayúu people. They live in the desert of Guajira, in the northeast of Colombia and northwest of Venezuela. There the weather is hot and dry, there is little rain. Wayúu is the most numerous indigenous people in Colombia and Venezuela (400.000- four hundred thousand people), 97% of them speak their traditional language and 34% speak Spanish. Their social organization is characterized by clans.

Wayúu people wasn´t conquer during the conquest Spanish of America. They were only conquer after independence of Colombia and Venezuela, in the republican period, because difficult conditions of the desert. However, they have lost land since the conquest Spanish.

They are shepherd, mainly, goats. Cattles and goats are considered their wealth and symbol of prestige, and are used for resolve conflict and arrange marriage. Also they have fishing and agriculture.