Huacareta

Huacareta lies in the wooded sub-Andean country between the highlands of Chuquisaca and the Chaco lowlands. Rivers and steep ridges divide a region long inhabited by Guaraní communities. The name is explained in Guaraní as a place of many cattle. Its position on the western edge of Guaraní territory brought its inhabitants into contact with Andean peoples, and later with the Spanish colonial settlements to the west.

During the eighteenth century estates expanded from nearby colonial centres such as Tomina and Azurduy into the foothills. Guaraní communities faced pressure on their lands and retreated into less accessible places. San Pablo de Huacareta became a place where many free Guaraní gathered, while the surrounding valleys remained a contested frontier between colonial landholders and Indigenous communities.