The present position of Chaco scholars is in many ways isomorphic to that of Chaco indigenous peoples, as Chaco anthropology has not established itself as an internationally recognized field of endeavor. Unlike their Amazonian and Andean counterparts, Chaco indigenous peoples have yet to establish transnational, pan-indigenous representative bodies of their own. The last group is the largest, including nearly 100,000 people, of whom the majority live in Bolivia. Traditional ethno-linguistic categorization classifies them into six main linguistic groups: Mataco-maká (Wichí-Mataco, Chorote, Nivaclé-Chulupí, Maká), Guaycurú (Toba, Toba-Pilagá, Pilagá, Mocoví, Mbayá-Caduveo), Lule-Vilela (Chunupí), Lengua-Maskoi (Lengua, Sanapaná, Angaité, Enenlhet), Zamuco (Chamacoco-Ishir, Ayoreo) and Tupí-Guaraní (Ava-Chiriguano, Chané, Tapiete, Isoseño-Guaraní, and Guaraní Occidental). Some 250,000 indigenous people belonging to more than twenty ethnic groups live in the Chaco. Average rainfall oscillates around 800 mm/yr, with the peripheries being wetter and the central Chaco drier.
Geographically the Chaco is a semi-arid central South American plain, some one million square kilometers in size, encompassing portions of northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, and western Paraguay. This article reviews the historical and present prospects of ethnohistorical and ethnographic work in the South American Gran Chaco.
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