# Chitarero

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chitarero
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chitarero.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitarero
> Source revision: 1223028026
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

For the language, see [Chitarero language](/source/Chitarero_language).

The **Chitarero** were an indigenous [Chibcha](/source/Chibcha_language)-speaking people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia and north-western Venezuela. They were responsible for the death of the German *conquistador* [Ambrosius Ehinger](/source/Ambrosius_Ehinger) in 1533 by means of [poisoned arrows](/source/Arrow_poison).

At the time of the [Spanish conquest of the Chibchan Nations](/source/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Chibchan_Nations), their territory ranged from present-day [Táchira](/source/T%C3%A1chira) (Venezuela) to the northwest and south of [Norte de Santander Department](/source/Norte_de_Santander_Department) and the northeast of [Santander Department](/source/Santander_Department) (Colombia).[1] The [Chicamocha River](/source/Chicamocha_River) formed a southern boundary, the Valegra a southwestern, and the Surata a southeastern.[2] One of their settlements became the Colombian town of [Chinácota](/source/Chin%C3%A1cota); they were primarily known in the area of [Pamplona, Colombia](/source/Pamplona,_Colombia). At the refoundation of Pamplona in 1549 there were said to be 200,000 in the area.[3]

They were called "Chitareros" by the Spanish, because of the general custom that the men had to carry hanging from the waist a *calabazo* or *totumo* ([calabash](/source/Calabash) gourds) with maize wine or *[chicha](/source/Chicha)* as the Spanish called it. Asking what the thing they carried was called, the natives responded that it was a *chitarero*.

They traded with other peoples in the region, including the [Muisca](/source/Muisca_people), the [Guane](/source/Guane_people) and [Lache](/source/Lache_people).

## References

1. Moreno González, 2011, p.160

1. Moreno González, 2011, p.178

1. Simón, 1560, p.21-22

## Bibliography

- Moreno González, Leonardo (2011). ["Paisaje y poblamiento del nororiente andino colombiano: la etnia de los Chitareros en el siglo XVI"](http://www.saber.ula.ve/bitstream/123456789/33697/1/articulo3.pdf) (in Spanish). *Fermentum*. **009 - Nº 25**
- Simón, Pedro (1861 [1560]). [*The expedition of Pedro de Ursúa & Lope de Aguirre in search of El Dorado and Omagua in 1560 - 1: translated from Pedro Simon's sixth historical notice of the conquest of Tierra Firme Volume 28 of 1: Works*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ywlDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR22). Hakluyt Society.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chitarero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitarero) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitarero?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.