Warpe

The Warpe, or Huarpes, were the Indigenous people of the Cuyo region east of the Andes. From the fifth century they lived in settled villages, farming corn, beans, squash and quinoa between the Jachal and Diamante rivers. The lagoons of Guanacache were one of their heartlands. They spoke two related languages, Allentiac and Millcayac, of which only fragmentary records survive.

They were never fully absorbed into the Inca Empire, though after about 1480 Inca influence brought llama herding and Quechua into their culture. After the Spanish conquest, encomenderos moved large numbers of Warpe across the Andes to work in Chile, while the communities left around Guanacache were gradually assimilated or merged with other displaced groups during the colonial centuries.