The Toba are an ethnic group in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. They are part of a larger group of indigenous inhabitants of the Gran Chaco region, called the Guaycurúes. As of 2005, there are 47,951 Toba in Argentina, living in the provinces of Chaco, Formosa and Santa Fe. Landscape in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay The Gran Chaco (Quechua chaqu, hunting land), dubbed by some as the last South American frontier, is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided between Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and a small portion in... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chaco is an Argentine province located on the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. ... Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. ... Santa Fe is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. ...

The Toba name themselves Qom-lik, meaning simply "people". The name toba is of Guaraní origin and means "big forehead", which is also the name given to them by first Spanish settlers (frentones). This is because the Toba cut their hair short in the front of the head as a signal of mourning. Guaraní (local name: avañeẽ ) is an Amerindian language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily. ...

History

The Chaco region in the north of Argentina and part of Paraguay was formerly covered with forests. The Toba were originally nomadic hunter-gatherers who, upon the arrival of the Spanish, adopted the horse and resisted colonial encroachment and missionization for several centuries. In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ...

In the 1880s the Argentine government began a campaign to occupy new territories, defeating the last organized attempts by the Toba to defend their lands. The Argentine Chaco was divided up in large portions and exploited, especially for the valuable quebracho tree, used for its tannin and its extremely durable timber. This devastated the ecosystem in a relatively short time. The private owners of the Chaco then turned to cotton production, employing the Toba as a cheap seasonal workforce; the conditions did not change substantially for decades. // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... Quebracho is one of the common names, in Spanish, of at least three similar species of trees that grow in the Gran Chaco region of South America: Schinopsis lorentzii (quebracho colorado santiagueño), of the family Anacardiaceae; Schinopsis balansae (quebracho colorado chaqueño), of the same family; Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco... Tannins are astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind and precipitate proteins. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ...

Beginning in 1982, the region suffered unprecedented floods, which caused the crops to be ruined; and in the 1990s, mechanical harvesters imported from Brazil (at very low prices due to Argentina's low fixed exchange rate) left many Toba without jobs. The provincial government of Chaco resorted to pay a one-way ticket to the Toba willing to migrate south, into Santa Fe. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... A fixed exchange rate, sometimes (less commonly) called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currencys value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold. ... Net migration rates for 2006: positive (blue) and negative (orange) Human migration denotes any movement by humans from one locality to another (migration), often over long distances or in large groups. ...

The majority of the Toba migrants settled in Rosario, which is a large city in the south of Santa Fe and had seen a previous wave of Toba in the 1950s and 1960s. Communication and family ties were kept in time, so the newcomers found a place; job opportunities and government assistance, even if scarce and of poor quality, were considerably more available in an urban setting than in Chaco. An estimated 10,000 Toba came to Rosario in the 1990s, and settled mostly in slums (villas miseria). Rosario is the largest city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the third most populous in the country, after Buenos Aires and Córdoba. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Homes in a villa miseria in Rosario. ...

A peace pole in Toba.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1728 × 2304 pixel, file size: 758 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A Peace Pole in the neighbourhood of Empalme Graneros, Rosario, Argentina. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1728 × 2304 pixel, file size: 758 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A Peace Pole in the neighbourhood of Empalme Graneros, Rosario, Argentina. ... Mordechai Vanunu standing next to a peace pole in the garden of St. ...

Language

The Toba language is a member of the Guaicuruan linguistic group. According to the United Nations, it has around 60,000 speakers, of which 15,000 to 20,000 live in Argentina. Guaicuruan (also Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicurú, Guaycuruana) is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul). ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...

In Rosario there are two peace poles with the message "May peace prevail on Earth" written in the Toba language and in Guaraní, as well as Spanish and Italian (intended as a sample of the local and European cultures that shaped and influenced the community). One of them is in Empalme Graneros, the neighbourhood where the Toba immigrants from Chaco formed the largest community in the 1990s, and the other is located in a somewhat hidden spot near the coast of the Paraná River, a few hundred meters from the National Flag Memorial. Mordechai Vanunu standing next to a peace pole in the garden of St. ... Guaraní (local name: avañeẽ ) is an Amerindian language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily. ... The sun rising over the Paraná River, from the north-east of Rosario, Argentina. ... Monumento a la Bandera, Rosario, Argentina The National Flag Memorial (in Spanish, Monumento Nacional a la Bandera) in Rosario, Argentina, is a monumental complex built near the shore of the Paraná River. ...

External links

• United Nations page about the Toba language

Sources

• Los indios Tobas en Rosario, Argentina (in Spanish)
• Gordillo, Gaston 2004 Landscapes of Devils: Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinian Chaco. Durham: Duke University Press.
• Gordillo, Gaston 2005 Nosotros vamos a estar acá para siempre: historias tobas. Buenos Aires: Biblos.
• Miller, Elmer 1979 Los tobas argentinos: armonía y disonancia en una sociedad. Mexico City: Siglo XXI.