Indigenous peoples in Uruguay

Indigenous peoples in Uruguay or Native Uruguayans, are the peoples who have historically lived in the modern state of Uruguay. Because of colonial practices, disease and active exclusion, only a very small share of the population is aware of the country's indigenous history or has known indigenous ancestry.

Scholars disagree agree about the first settlers in what is now Uruguay, but there is evidence of human presence from 10,000 BCE. Indigenous Uruguayans disappeared in the 1830s and, with the exception of the Guaraní, little is known about these peoples and even less about their genetic characteristics. The Charrúa peoples were perhaps the best-known indigenous people of the Southern Cone in what was called the Banda Oriental. Other significant tribes were the Minuane, Yaro, Güenoa, Chaná, Bohán and Guaraní, and the Arachán. Languages once spoken in the area include Charrúa, Chaná, Güenoa, and Guaraní.

A 2005 genetic study showed 38% of Uruguayans had some indigenous ancestry. In the 2011 Census, 4.9% of the population reported having indigenous ancestry. A 2004 DNA study in the American Journal of Human Biology suggested that the Native American contribution to Uruguay's genetic composition may be far higher than is commonly assumed.

History
In pre-colonial times, Uruguayan territory was inhabited by small tribes of nomadic Charrúa, Chana, Arachan and Guarani peoples. They were semi-nomadic people who survived by hunting, fishing and gathering and probably never numbered more than 10,000 – 20,000 people. It is estimated that there were about 9,000 Charrúa and 6,000 Chaná and Guaraní at the time of contact with the Spanish in the 1500s. By the time of independence, some 300 years later, there were only about 500 native people remaining in Uruguay. The decline in the native population was due to disease, intermarriage, and persecution. With little immunity to diseases brought by European settlers, native peoples and culture were gradually diminished.

The genocide of the Charrúa culminated on April 11, 1831 with the Massacre of Salsipuedes, where most of the Charrúa men were killed by the Uruguayan army on the orders of President Fructuoso Rivera. The remaining 300 Charrua women and children were divided as household slaves and servants among Europeans. By 1840 there were only 18 surviving Charrua in Uruguay. 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”.