Charrua

In the Río de la Plata region, the Charrua were semi-nomadic Indigenous communities whose livelihoods depended on hunting, fishing and gathering.

After resisting Spanish settlement, the Charrua made peace with the colonial authorities in 1732. Cattle ranching expanded in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, disrupting their livelihoods. In 1831 Uruguayan forces under President Fructuoso Rivera attacked them at Salsipuedes; many were killed or captured, while others escaped to neighbouring regions.