Prehispanic Navigation

Described by 16th Century Europeans as “brutish
people”, “poor” and “barbarians”, because of their simple
material culture, or even foul-smelling due to their
custom of drinking the blood of sea lions and smearing
their bodies with its oil and with whale fat. These were
the Changos, the last descendants of the gatherers, fishers
and hunters of the sea that inhabited the Pacific coast
between southern Peru and Coquimbo for 10,000 years.
It would seem that the Changos were not a single
ethnic group, but different populations that were experts
in the many facets of life by the sea. Originally called
“fishing uros”, “camanchacas” or “proanches”, in the
mid-17th Century they began to be known as “Changos”,
a name that remained in use until well into the 20th
Century, with a certain pejorative connotation.
Masters of the sea who were highly skillful
in sailing their rafts all along the coast and had an
outstanding ability to take full advantage of the sea’s
resources in a sustainable manner, these inhabitants of
the coastal fog have much to teach us. With so many
marine species no longer available due to overexploitation
and pollution, we would do well to ponder who are the
primitive ones and who the more civilized.
This exhibition catalogue pays homage to the history of the
Changos and their most remote ancestors, displaying
their technological innovations and the different
dimensions of their spiritual beliefs to demonstrate that
simplicity is not synonymous with barbarianism, but is
often the reflection of an intelligent balance with the
environment in which one lives.