Ette ennaka

The Ette Ennaka, better known to the Spanish as the Chimilas, are an Indigenous people of northeastern Colombia whose language belongs to the Chibchan family. On the eve of the conquest their territory covered most of the Cesar basin between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá; the Yukpa of the Perijá mountains belonged to their loose tribal confederation.

Their chief towns were Thamara, the later Tamalameque, which Spanish scribes called a town of more than a thousand huts, and Upari, named after the cacique Upar, whose title also gave Valledupar its name. Society was stratified, with fishers, artisans, goldsmiths and merchants; they grew maize skilfully and worshipped one god, Narayajana.

After long contact, the Chimilas around 1720 opened a long guerrilla war against the Spanish Empire, holding out in forests and hills after the surrounding lowlands were settled.