Cultural Heritage Management and Indigenous People in the North of Colombia


Book Description

Cultural Heritage Management and Indigenous People in the North of Colombia explores indigenous people's struggle for territorial autonomy in an aggressive political environment and the tensions between heritage tourism and Indigenous rights. South American cases where local communities, especially Indigenous groups, are opposed to infrastructure projects, are little known. This book lays out the results of more than a decade of research in which the resettlement of a pre-Columbian village has been documented. It highlights the difficulty of establishing the link between archaeological sites and objects, and Indigenous people due to legal restrictions. From a decolonial framework, the archaeology of Pueblito Chairama (Teykú) is explored, and the village stands as a model to understand the broader picture of the relationship between Indigenous people and political and economic forces in South America. The book will be of interest to researchers in Archaeology, Anthropology, Heritage and Indigenous Studies who wish to understand the particularities of South American repatriation cases and Indigenous archaeology in the region.




Zoratama (the Indian Princess)


Book Description

The reader anxious not only to acquaint himself with a fabulous history and legend, but also to comprehend deeply the great importance of a previous empire and a major civilization, whose roots and vestiges continue to exist. The student, the researcher and those who are especially drawn to this subject matter will be provided with interesting incentives to reflect on and will find, in this work of historical, pedagogic and literary importance a veritable treasure house of art, of love and legend. It is for these reasons that I consider it essential to compose this preface, which will serve as a stimulus for the reading and for a greater acquaintance with this major civilization, which is centered principally in the Colombian Andes. In the indigenous language, the word "Muisca" signifies person or people. And, according to very serious researchers, the Muisca natives appear to have descended from the Asiatic peoples who populated Central America, whence they obviously continued on to Panama, the territory of which once belonged to Colombia, and from there to Peru, Ecuador and elsewhere. Indeed, the "Chibchas" or "Muiscas" may be looked upon as descendants of Asiatics, because their ancestral lawgiver, Chicha-cum, had straight, black hair, a ruddy complexion, slanted eyes and a great resemblance to these natives. All of which is apart from the fact that certain customs, and the names, with which the Muiscas designated their towns, indicate that they came from somewhere in Central China. Let us consider closely, and without haste, these indigenous names, after having broken them down into their component syllables Zipaquira, Chiquinquira, Moniquira and Ramiquira... all of which surely leads us to a form of syllabic phonetics that is closely similar to the cultural and legendary China, cradle both of the earliest inventions and of a great civilization. By the same token, it has been affirmed that the Phoenicians also settled in America and that they implanted their great civilization here. This culture was then put into practice by the Muisca natives, which ties them to the building of the "Temple of the Sun" in Sogamoso and to the fabulous constructions of a tile-paved road, three meters in width, which connected the Eastern Plains, from El Meta to Firavitoba in the Andes, by way of which it is known that a great many Eastern caravans proceeded in both directions. In the same way, there is evidence of another branch which led to the Sacred Sanctuary of San Martin for those who rendered adoration to the sun. Further evidence of Phoenician culture is the region of San Agustin in the department of El Huila in Colombia, wherein there exist a great many petroglyphs of fabulous sculptures of stone. According to researchers, the customs of those Eastern indigenous peoples, their culture, their religion, the cotton which originated in the valley of the Nile, the black wheat which resembles sorghum, the use of looms and the manufacture of colored fabrics, the turban, money in the form of coins, commercial activity, credit with interest, the sacrifice of children and the worship of the crocodile were all implanted by those caravans that came from the Old Continent and which created a very old civilization, now vanished, along the Orinoco valley through El Meta and the Ariari of Colombia, and by way of the Upper Amazon valley to Ecuador and Peru. These cultures were later exterminated by the Caribe tribes. The learned Humboldt visited the irrigated zone of Maypure at El Meta, where he found on a rock the depiction of a crocodile 200 meters in length. The Phoenician, as is well known, worshipped the crocodile. At the apex there appears an inscription that defies translation: Athure. Another mysterious inscription was discovered by brother Juan de Santa Gertrudis, which, in Old Latin, is translated: "Up to this point we have arrived" in the heart of the Andes, in the Department of Nariño, in Colombia.