Are the Charrúa Extinct?

You are how I survive: www.patreon.com/rareearth

This is the saddest thing in the history of Uruguay, a country with few examples of bad things happening. This goes to show that even countries with good reputation have a skeleton in their closet.

About the Maya in Mexico: when Americans learn about the "Mayan civilization" and its cities and ruins were reclaimed by the jungle before Columbus landed, they often assume the people disappeared, too. Actually, the population simply went back to foraging, hunting and subsistence farming, in isolated little villages. There are over six million living Mayans today. It's not as tragic as the history of the Charrúa, but it's still sad that many tourists seem to prefer romantic fantasies of a lost civilization, instead of realizing that the Mayan are all around them, trying to make a living in the 21st century.

David Attenborough of genocides

0:22 I can't possibly tell you how mindblowing it is to see this guy here, he's a local character from my city and I've seen him in the streets since I was a kid.

My grandma did a DNA test a while ago, she’s from Tacuarembo, so from that “northern” part that was mentioned in the video, and I’m around 5% native american, not exactly sure if it’s charrua or something else. But no matter if that blood is 5% or 50%, the culture is practicaly extinct. I can’t claim to be a charrua because there’s no way to properly express being ethnically charruan, plus I have so little of that blood in me. I hope there’s some miraculous science that can help us recover the language or other parts of the culture.

As a Uruguayan, I proudly greet you with deep gratitude for the incredible work on these Uruguayan topics that you covered. I need to point out the conscious perspective when selecting themes for the country along with the language used with vivid and coherent images chosen to illustrate them. These videos do not try to sell the country, it only shows the actual interior street and related neighborhoods, we call them "barrios". Among them, you chose ordinary people, with faces you can find walking among them. We use the word "vecino" to refer each other, not only to our own "vecinos", but to all other neighborhood residents. You could easily listen to that greeting inside a tall coastal tower, same as in all other more humble neighborhoods. I will avoid going further with my comments though there is much more to say regarding style, content and production. And talking about the channel. I've already started watching the rest of the channel’s content, and found the same quality everywhere. The smart, history contextualized, culturally coherent, social aware approach, taken from a rooted angle to the places and stories, wrapped up at production time, makes a very personal, fresh approach to the genre. I will risk to say that there is something fresh, perhaps even new. Please keep on doing this fantastic job.

This is exactly the reason why most uruguayans and south americans never really understand the way the US treats racial diversity. (Am I latino, hispanic, caucasian or mixed? huh?)

Uruguay is such an interesting country

Salsipuedes, not Salispuedes

Didn't have headphones. Was in a place I couldn't have sound on. Turned on subtitles and turned off the sound, and I could hear Evan's voice narrating.

In Uruguay, our heritage does not make us different. When I went to the US, I was surprised when I had to fill in a form and was asked my national background and ethnicity. And because my parents are German, they called me German. That is so weird. I am Uruguayan, why is the rest important? Most Uruguayans know or assume that they have some indigenous blood but it rally doesn't matter. Being Charrúa is a national identity that goes beyond blood. It is true, we killed them, but we still honor them every day.

It really touches my feelings as a uruguayan. I am a charrua descedent, mixed with spanish and portuguese (they are pretty much the same), and every morning look myself in the mirror and I see my heritage, in a country who think its heritage is 100% european while everybody is drinking mate, and dancing the african rhythm of candombe. Is very important to a nation embrace all his roots to accept itself. And you guys show this dark and sentisitive point of our history with such respect, that I thank you all.

"Its only if the people feel it" That phrase alone says SO MUCH about us. Us Uruguayans tend to say that the Charrúas are gone because its a fact. But identity isnt built through blood, its built by experience. Btw: I recommend the book duets "El País de las Cercanías" by Roy Berocay. Its a childrens book centeres on our history. I think it they will be great for the making of these videos.

7:36 that graffitti on the wall kinda translates to "bros before hoes"

This hit home. I found out 1/5th of my DNA was Native American recently. A hundred hours of genealogical research confirmed that my ancestors were Otomi and Tlaxcalan. Am I Otomi or Tlaxcalan? No. I don’t speak the language or know the culture. I didn’t grow up in central Mexico and don’t have a connection to the land. I can’t claim to be something I’m not.

My dad is from the Charrua tribe and my great grandma was one of the few people who still practiced our culture. Im honestly rlly happy people are keeping our culture alive and relevant to this day

The accent in Guaraní is on the last syllable. As someone who lived in both Argentina and Paraguay, I think that the history of the Guaraní peoples in that part of the world up to the present day is incredibly fascinating, definitely worth a video!

Love your videos. I am Uruguayan. I took a DNA test and I am 70% Italian, %15 Spanish, the rest Portuguese and French. I agree with you there’s charrua blood in many Uruguayans.

I know it’s not related to the point of the video at all but Uruguay looks so pretty. It seems so warm and lush.