Ethnohistory, ethnocide and ethnogenesis at the frontier: the Itatines trajectory

Abstract

The current Kaiowás, Paĩ-tavyterã and Guarayos from Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia descend from the ancient Itatines. This paper examines the Itatín universe, formerly linked to the Pantanal region and settled at present at both margins of the Paraguay River. This block disintegrated during the 16th and 18th centuries due to colonial pressures -bandeiras , missions, settlers- and the action of other indigenous groups such as the Mbayá. These pressures transformed the internal dynamics of the Itatines, who finally stopped being a unified ethnic group. Therefore ethnocide preceded the ethnogenesis of three current societies. The ethnohistory  of this process of formation and reconfiguration of ethnic groups is hereby analysed.