Elqui River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Chile |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Junction of Turbio River and Claro River (Elqui) |
• elevation | 815 m (2,674 ft) [1] |
Mouth | |
• location | Pacific Ocean |
Basin size | 9,826 km2 (3,794 sq mi) [1] |
The Elqui River starts in the west Andes and flows into the Pacific Ocean near the Chilean city of La Serena. It is a wine and pisco producing area. [2] Vicuña, the main town of the middle valley, was the home of Nobel Laureate poet Gabriela Mistral.[ citation needed]
The invasive plant species Limnobium laevigatum is present in the river which is its northernmost locale in Chile. [3]
About a quarter of the toponymy in Elqui Valley is of indigenous origin, overwhelmingly Quechua and Mapuche. [4] There is scant Diaguita (Kakan) toponimy known in the area despite it being considered a homeland of that people by various authors. [4] Quechua toponimy is related to valleys incorporation to the Inca Empire in the late 15th and early 16th-century. Some Mapuche toponimy posdates Inca rule, but other may be coeval or even precede it. [4] Toponyms recognised as Nahua, Kunza, Diaguita, Aymara and Taino make together up less than 10% of the all placenames in Elqui Valley. [4]
It is generally accepted that incorporation of north-central Chile to the Inca Empire was through warfare which caused a severe depopulation in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico, the wider Diaguita homeland. [5] Chilean toponimy in Tarija, Bolivia, including "Erqui" along with other evidence have been interpreted to suggest that Incas deported defeated tribes from Elqui Valley to southern Bolivia. [6] [7] After or during conquest Incas would have settled foreign tribes in Elqui Valley, [7] and ended up imposing Quechua placenames on the local geography. [4] There is uncertainty about the date of these transfers. [4] [7] Chronicler Diego de Rosales tells of an anti-Inca rebellion in the Diaguita lands of Coquimbo and Copiapó concurrent with the Inca Civil War. [8] This rebellion would have been brutally repressed by the Incas who gave rebels "great chastise". [8]