Nivacle

The Nivaclé, who call themselves nivaĉle, meaning our people, are a Chaco people of the Pilcomayo River, living on both banks in the Chaco Boreal of Paraguay and in neighbouring north-eastern Argentina, with a small group in Bolivia. The Guaraní gave them the name Chulupí.

Hunter-gatherers organized in river and forest bands, they were often at war with the Toba and Pilagá. Their language belongs to the Mataguayo family alongside Wichí and Chorote.

The first written mention of them comes from July 1673, when the Tucumán governor Ángel de Peredo, campaigning on the Bermejo River, described the Chulupí as friendly Indians. Jesuits opened a short-lived mission among them in 1763; a 1774 expedition up the Bermejo made contact with their leader Antecapibax.