# Camba > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Camba > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Camba.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camba > Source revision: 1302059044 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Historical Bolivian term referring to the indigenous people of eastern Bolivia}} {{other uses}} {{Expand Spanish|Pueblo camba|date=July 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} '''Camba''' is a word historically used in [Bolivia](/source/Bolivia) to refer to the indigenous population in the eastern tropical region of the country, or to those born in the area of [Santa Cruz](/source/Santa_Cruz_de_la_Sierra), [Beni](/source/Beni_Department), and [Pando](/source/Pando_Department). Nowadays, the term "Camba" is used predominantly to refer to eastern Bolivian populations of mixed Spanish, Chane, and other indigenous Amazonian descent born in the eastern lowlands in and around [Santa Cruz de la Sierra](/source/Santa_Cruz_de_la_Sierra). [Collas](/source/Colla_(demonym)), who are the population that lives in Western Bolivia, have always been in conflict with Camba people due to their different customs, behavior and appearance. Therefore, it may be common to hear Camba people use the term "Colla" as a swear word or to insult the Western population as such as it is possible to hear Collas curse on cambas. Camba may also be used as a colloquial term for "person", as in "Who is that person?" translated to "¿Quien es ese '''camba'''?" (ignores the ethnicity of the subject and does not change depending on gender as most Spanish nouns do). Such use is predominant in eastern Bolivia. == Etymology and context == According to a theory presented by [Ramón Rocha Monroy](/source/Ram%C3%B3n_Rocha_Monroy), some of the [Bantu languages](/source/Bantu_languages) spoken by [Angola](/source/Angola)ns who were sold in [America](/source/Americas) as [slaves](/source/Slavery), were recorded in a book published by a [Jesuit](/source/Society_of_Jesus) missionary named Pedro Dias in 1697, called ''Arte da Lengua de Angola'' (The art of the Angola language). This publication had recorded the word ''camba'' (Friend of the color black), among other words, and its plural form ''macamba''.{{Cite news|title=Fondo Negro|last=Rocha Monroy|first=Ramón|date=2 March 2006|work=La Prensa de Bolivia}} During that time, Angola, which was a [Portuguese Colony](/source/Portuguese_Empire), was responsible for more than a third of the slave trade on the Atlantic directed toward [Brazil](/source/Brazil) From there the slaves went to the [Spanish colonies](/source/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas), from the [Río de la Plata](/source/R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata) (Plata River) to Eastern Bolivia. ''Kamba'' has become part of several Indigenous languages of the region, like [Guaraní](/source/Guarani_language),{{Cite journal|last=Fabricant|first=Nicole|date=6 November 2009|title=Performative politics: The Camba countermovement in eastern Bolivia|journal=American Ethnologist|volume=36|issue=4|pages=768–783|doi=10.1111/j.1548-1425.2009.01209.x}} as a [demonym](/source/demonym) (nickname) for black persons{{Cite book|title=Ethnology of A-Kamba and Other East African Tribes|last=Hobley|first=C. W.|publisher=Cambridge|year=1910|location=Cambridge University Press}} (different than ''hũ'', which means 'the color black'), as well as to refer to the King [Mago](/source/Biblical_Magi) Baltasar. In several local Liturgies he was called ''el Santo Cambá'', or the Camba Saint. {{Cite book|title=El Apodo en Bolivia|last=Paredes-Candia|first=Antonio|publisher=Casilla 4311|year=1977|location=La Paz, Bolivia|pages=136}} Today, the term camba is used as a demonym for the mestizo [cruceños](/source/Santa_Cruz_de_la_Sierra), or people with indigenous and European (mainly Creole) ancestry from [Santa Cruz](/source/Santa_Cruz_Department), [Pando](/source/Pando_Department) and [Beni](/source/Beni_Department). African slaves got all the way to modern day [Potosí](/source/Potos%C3%AD_Department), Bolivia, however, they were able to settle mostly in the [yungas](/source/yungas). The term could have begun as a demonym ther. e, and then spread to the rest of [eastern Bolivia](/source/Bolivia). Another hypothesis states that the word ''camba'' comes from a town in Galicia, called ''[Cambados](/source/Cambados)''. Some dispute this theory considering it to be improbable, insulting or politically incorrect to have a nickname for "cruceños" (persons from Santa Cruz) with an African origin. They support this based on the chronicles written by the Jesuits, which describe many traditions of Spaniards and [Creoles](/source/Creole_peoples) in America, but don't make any mention that they would use African vocabulary to describe themselves. == Symbols == thumb|Flag of the Camba Nation Social or sociocultural [symbol](/source/symbol)s are a set of characteristics that represent the [culture](/source/culture) of a particular region. thumb|Flag of the Patujú The [Flag of the Patujú flower](/source/Flag_of_the_Patuj%C3%BA_flower) was created to represent the indigenous peoples of the Bolivian lowlands [https://ia904609.us.archive.org/8/items/20220110_20220110_1705/Bandera%20Patuju.pdf Creation of the Patujú flag] (as a counterpart to the [wiphala](/source/wiphala)). Additionally, since the [Patujú flower](/source/Heliconia_rostrata) is a symbol representing the geography and cultural diversity of the Bolivian east, it can also be said to represent the Camba people, who identify with it. thumb|Saó Hat The Saó Hat (sombrero e' saó) is an essential accessory in the traditional attire of the Camba people, used mainly in folkloric dances. However, in rural areas of the [Santa Cruz Department](/source/Santa_Cruz_Department_(Bolivia)) and the Bolivian Amazon, it is still worn as a "hat that protects from the sun."{{Cite web|url=https://derechodelacultura.org/archivos/9437|title=The Saó Hat is declared and established as a cultural symbol of Santa Cruz|access-date=2024-09-26|date=2015-03-16|website=Ibero-American Portal of Cultural Law|language=es-ES}} thumb|Taquirari The Tipoy (of [Guaraní](/source/Guarani_people) origin) is considered part of the traditional clothing of Camba women and is commonly worn in the Bolivian east. ==Language== Camba Spanish was originally spoken in [Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia](/source/Santa_Cruz_Department%2C_Bolivia), but is now also spoken in [Beni Department](/source/Beni_Department) and [Pando Department](/source/Pando_Department). Nikulin (2019) proposes that Camba Spanish has a Piñoco [Chiquitano](/source/Chiquitano_language) substratum.Nikulin, Andrey. 2019. [https://periodicos.unifap.br/index.php/linguasindigenas/article/view/6025 Contacto de lenguas en la Chiquitanía]. ''Revista Brasileira de Línguas Indígenas'', Macapá, v. 2, n. 2, p. 5–30. ([https://periodicos.unifap.br/index.php/linguasindigenas/article/download/6025/pdf PDF]) ==References== {{reflist}} Category:Ethnic groups in Bolivia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Camba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camba) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camba?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.