Elqui River
| Elqui River | |
|---|---|
| File:Rio-elqui.png The Elqui River on the map | |
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| Location | |
| Country | Chile |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Junction of Turbio River and Claro River (Elqui) |
| • elevation | 815 m (2,674 ft)[1] |
| Mouth | |
• location | Pacific Ocean |
| Basin size | 9,826 km2 (3,794 sq mi)[1] |
The Elqui River starts in the west Andes and flows into the Pacific Ocean near the Chilean city of La Serena. It flows through a wine and pisco producing area.[2] Vicuña, the main town of the middle valley, was the home of Nobel Laureate poet Gabriela Mistral.[citation needed]
The invasive plant species Limnobium laevigatum is present in the river which is its northernmost locale in Chile.[3]
Indigenous cultures of the Elqui Valley
[edit | edit source]About a quarter of the toponymy in Elqui Valley is of indigenous origin, overwhelmingly Quechua and Mapuche.[4] There is scant Diaguita (Kakan) toponymy known in the area despite it being considered a homeland of that people by various authors.[4] Quechua toponymy is related to valleys incorporation to the Inca Empire in the late 15th and early 16th-century. Some Mapuche toponymy postdates Inca rule, but other may be coeval or even precede it.[4] Toponyms recognised as Nahua, Kunza, Diaguita, Aymara and Taino make together up less than 10% of the all placenames in Elqui Valley.[4]
It is generally accepted that incorporation of north-central Chile to the Inca Empire was through warfare which caused a severe depopulation in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico, the wider Diaguita homeland.[5] Chilean toponymy in Tarija, Bolivia, including "Erqui" along with other evidence have been interpreted to suggest that Incas deported defeated tribes from Elqui Valley to southern Bolivia.[6][7] After or during conquest Incas would have settled foreign tribes such as the Churumatas in Elqui Valley,[7][8] and ended up imposing Quechua placenames on the local geography.[4] There is uncertainty about the date of these transfers.[4][7] Chronicler Diego de Rosales tells of an anti-Inca rebellion in the Diaguita lands of Coquimbo and Copiapó concurrent with the Inca Civil War.[9] This rebellion would have been brutally repressed by the Incas who gave rebels "great chastise".[9]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Cuenca del río Elqui Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
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