Guane people

The Guane people of Colombia in South America live mainly in the cities of Santander, Bucaramanga and Barichara. A population estimate made by DANE(Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística) in 2005, was that around 812 people in Santander identified as Guane, with 409 being men and 403 being women.

The etymology of the word Guane is not known with certainty. The most prominent reasoning states that it came from the Muisca people, the Guane’s neighbors, who referred to them as ‘Guatas’ which means ‘tall’ in the Musyccubun language. It evolved to become ‘Guates’ and then eventually Guanes. Guane people from this time period were reported to be as tall as 1.76m, taller than most other native groups at the time.

Before European-contact the Guane People lived in the area of Santander and north of Boyacá, both departments of present-day central-Colombia. They were farmers cultivating cotton, pineapple and other crops, and skilled artisans working in cotton textiles. The Guane lived north of the Chicamocha River, around the Chicamocha Canyon in an area stretching from Vélez in the south to the capital of Santander; Bucaramanga in the north. Other sources state their territory did not extend so far north. Guane, a corregimiento of Barichara, Santander, is said to have been the capital of the Guane people.

Guane culture during this time period had many aspects to it. They celebrated on many different occasions such as the start of puberty, the teething of a baby, and the start of the new lunar year. They had multiple leader for each village, however, all of the Guane were led by a man named Guanetá by the time the Spanish .

The Guane made their own weapons, including arrows and spears. They interchanged plants for the stewpot with the Chitarero on the east and the Muisca to the south of their territories. The mantle making of the Guanes was well known in pre-Columbian Colombia. Mantles made from cotton have been dated back to the 11th century AD. The Guane cultivated tobacco and made products of fique.

The Guane also had their own style of music and art. Many illustrations and iconographies are found all over Santander that depict interpretations of people, events, animals, and other forms of artistic expression.

Like the Muisca, U'wa and Lache, the Guane spoke a Chibchan language.

Like with most Indigenous groups the Guane suffered at the hands of the Spanish, nevertheless they fought back. At first, Spanish explorers entered their territory on friendly terms, however, eventually a Captain named Martín Galeano made his way into their land with an armed force at his back. The Guane, led at the time by Guanetá, fought back with all their projectile weapons in order to slow the advance of the Spanish. The Spanish eventually made it to there position and unleashed a violent attack of which few of the Guane people present were able to escape. Guanetá, in the face of being captured, chose to sacrifice himself instead of being succumbing to the violence of the Spanish.