Mbaya Indians

The Mbayá or Mbyá are an indigenous people of South America which formerly ranged on both sides of the Paraguay River, on the north and northwestern Paraguay frontier, eastern Bolivia, and in the adjacent province of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. They have also been called Caduveo. In the 16th century the Mbayá were called Guaycuru, a name later used generically for all the nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco. The Kadiwéu people of Brazil are the surviving branch of the Mbayá. The Mbayá called themselves the Eyiguayegis 'people of the palm', a reference to the abundant palm trees in their home country. (The name Eyiguayegis is similar to that of Agaces or aigeis, a name more often applied to the related Payaguá. Possibly the two peoples were nearly the same in the 16th century.) The Mbayá spoke a Guaycuruan language. They were "formidable" fighters and "kept the Europeans – settlers and priests alike – at bay" for more than 300 years. The Mbayá were nomads. With horses captured from the Spanish, the Mbayá developed an equestrian culture by about 1600 and were a serious threat to Spanish and Portuguese settlers, missionaries, and governments in Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil until near the late 19th century. They also raided and subjugated other indigenous groups, notably the Guana. They were generally friendly with the Payaguá, who lived along the Paraguay River and had a riverine culture.