Tehuelche << teh WEHL chay >> were a Native American people who lived in the southern part of what is now Argentina, from about the Negro River south to the Strait of Magellan. Several thousand Tehuelche probably lived there when Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500’s. Diseases brought by the Spaniards killed many of them. Many Tehuelche mixed with other tribes or ethnic groups and lost their own cultural identity. Some Tehuelche now survive on Argentine reservations.
The Tehuelche were organized as wandering bands, each made up of several families. They used such weapons as the bow and arrow and the slinglike bola to hunt guanacos and rheas. They also gathered wild plants for food. The Tehuelche lived in shelters made of wooden poles covered with animal skins. They wore fur cloaks and animal skins. After the Spaniards introduced horses to the region in the 1600’s, the Tehuelche traveled and hunted on horseback.
