December 2007 South America: Montevideo, Uruguay/030310-StatueOfLastNativesOfUruguay-06925

December 2007 South America: Montevideo, Uruguay

We drove through the Prado park (one of the oldest parks in Montevideo) and stopped briefly while our guide described this monument dedicated to the last of the Charrua Indians, the now extinct people that had populated Uruguay prior colonization.

After the European conquest and colonization, the Charrua population declined, being killed or integrated into the growing colonial population. They were practically gone by 1830. Most of the remaining Charrua were killed in a massacre in 1831. A sad story. Four escaped the massacre, they were gathered and taken to France, to be displayed like circus attractions.

030310-StatueOfLastNativesOfUruguay-06925.jpg - We drove through the Prado park (one of the oldest parks in Montevideo) and stopped briefly while our guide described this monument dedicated to the last of the Charrua Indians, the now extinct people that had populated Uruguay prior colonization.
After the European conquest and colonization, the Charrua population declined, being killed or integrated into the growing colonial population. They were practically gone by 1830. Most of the remaining Charrua were killed in a massacre in 1831. A sad story. Four escaped the massacre, they were gathered and taken to France, to be displayed like circus attractions.