Cochinoca

Cochinoca lies in the central puna of Jujuy, a cold, dry plateau of high pastures and scattered settlements. The Cochinoca people shared this country with neighbouring communities such as the Casabindo, cultivating sheltered ground and keeping herds in the uplands. Their lands became part of a colonial frontier linking the southern Andes with the more temperate valleys of Tucumán to the southeast.

The colonial town was established in the early seventeenth century within the Casabindo-Cochinoca encomienda. In 1611 the visitor Francisco de Alfaro ordered that the Cochinoca provide workers for labour service at San Salvador de Jujuy. The encomienda later passed into the hands of the family associated with the marquisate of Tojo, while the Indigenous communities continued to defend and use their communal lands.