CURRENT AND PAST SOURCES OF THE ETHNOBOTANY OF THE GRAN CHACO

Abstract

The Chaco will reach the 21st century as the largest region of South America with the highest diversity of indigenous peoples. They maintain strong links with their plant environment, showed in different ways in their way of life. The general knowledge of the Ethnobotany of the Chaco can be approached through different sources of information: 1) chroniclers; 2) travellers, military men, narrators; 3) historians, ethnographers and linguists; 4) naturalists, botanists and ethnobotanists. An ethnobotanical study was carried out in several villages to gather information. An exchange of data and material between different ethnic groups is being developed in the last two decades. Good results have been obtained although a considerable lack of knowledge still remains in many areas. Despite the profound cultural, social, political and environmental changes suffered by these villages, the current sources of information on the plant world are the oral tradition and the existing knowledge. An assessment on the role of the plants in the indigenous communities of the Chaco as well as its cultural influence is made on the basis of the sources and own research.