Puelche people

For other uses, see Puelche people (disambiguation).

Flag of the Gününa künä, or Puelche people

The Puelche (Mapudungun: pwelche, "people of the east") were indigenous peoples living east of the Andes Mountains in eastern Chile and Argentina in the 18th century. They spoke the Puelche language. The name "Puelche" was not native, but was given to them by the Mapuche. They were annihilated by plagues and epidemics in the late 18th century, with survivors merging into other groups such as the Mapuche, Het, and Tehuelche.

Sources

• Thomas Falkner, Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, Pugh, Hereford, 1774.
• Juan Ignatius Molina, The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London, 1809
• Bruce G. Trigger, Wilcomb E. Washburn, Richard E. W. Adams, The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Vol III South America Part 2. , Cambridge University Press, 2000.