﻿454 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  seems 
  to 
  have 
  later 
  diffused 
  in 
  two 
  main 
  streams 
  : 
  one, 
  carrying 
  chiefly 
  

   maize, 
  beans, 
  and 
  white 
  potatoes 
  until 
  it 
  covered 
  the 
  western 
  belt 
  

   from 
  Colombia 
  to 
  Chiloe; 
  a 
  second 
  one 
  carrying 
  chiefly 
  manioc 
  and 
  

   beans 
  until 
  it 
  extended 
  over 
  the 
  great 
  rain 
  forests 
  of 
  the 
  Orinoco- 
  

   Amazonian 
  region 
  and 
  flooded 
  out 
  over 
  the 
  Antilles. 
  

  

  At 
  later 
  dates, 
  mostly 
  after 
  our 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  arbitrary 
  one 
  of 
  A. 
  D. 
  

   1000 
  and 
  in 
  many 
  sections 
  even 
  after 
  the 
  coming 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  man, 
  

   this 
  basically 
  manioc 
  culture 
  spread 
  around 
  and 
  deeply 
  penetrated 
  

   into 
  the 
  eastern 
  Brazilian 
  and 
  Matto 
  Grosso 
  highlands, 
  diffused 
  into 
  

   parts 
  of 
  the 
  Chaco, 
  and 
  swept 
  over 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  savannas 
  within 
  and 
  

   adjacent 
  to 
  the 
  tropical 
  rain 
  forests 
  — 
  areas 
  until 
  then 
  occupied 
  by 
  

   nonhorticultural 
  Marginal 
  peoples. 
  

  

  In 
  general, 
  it 
  looks 
  as 
  if 
  the 
  typical 
  larger 
  groups 
  of 
  the 
  Silval 
  belt 
  — 
  

   especially 
  the 
  Carib, 
  Arawak, 
  and 
  Tupi 
  — 
  pretty 
  consistently 
  kept 
  

   in 
  their 
  spread 
  to 
  the 
  tropical 
  and 
  subtropical 
  rain 
  forests, 
  penetrated 
  

   to 
  the 
  limit 
  thereof, 
  and 
  stopped 
  short 
  at 
  the 
  savannas 
  and 
  grasslands. 
  

   They 
  stayed 
  in 
  the 
  deep 
  forests 
  and 
  avoided 
  the 
  open 
  country. 
  Even 
  

   the 
  Tupi-speaking 
  Chiriguano 
  on 
  their 
  western 
  trek 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  Para- 
  

   guay 
  country 
  across 
  the 
  Chaco, 
  settled, 
  not 
  in 
  the 
  open 
  Chaco 
  region, 
  

   but 
  in 
  the 
  forested 
  foothills 
  and 
  lowlands 
  bordering 
  thereon. 
  

  

  For 
  the 
  beginnings 
  of 
  the 
  high 
  civilizations 
  of 
  the 
  Sierral 
  region, 
  

   archeology 
  has 
  so 
  far 
  yielded 
  us 
  no 
  well-established 
  dates, 
  nor 
  has 
  it 
  

   determined 
  definitively 
  how 
  much 
  of 
  this 
  more 
  advanced 
  culture 
  may 
  

   have 
  had 
  its 
  origin 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Isthmus. 
  Such 
  facts 
  as 
  we 
  have 
  can 
  

   be 
  fitted 
  comfortably 
  within 
  the 
  assumption 
  that 
  Sierral 
  civilization, 
  

   with 
  its 
  advanced 
  weaving, 
  pottery, 
  metallurgy, 
  megalithic 
  architec- 
  

   ture, 
  and 
  political 
  institutions 
  — 
  to 
  mention 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  its 
  outstand- 
  

   ing 
  characteristics 
  — 
  does 
  not 
  date 
  in 
  its 
  origin 
  or 
  origins 
  beyond 
  the 
  

   beginning 
  of 
  the 
  Christian 
  Era. 
  At 
  least 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  specific 
  evidence 
  

   for 
  an 
  earlier 
  date. 
  

  

  Assuming, 
  albeit 
  with 
  reserves, 
  an 
  origin 
  or 
  origins 
  of 
  Sierral 
  civili- 
  

   zation 
  around 
  the 
  first 
  centuries 
  of 
  the 
  Christian 
  Era, 
  this 
  pre-Inca 
  

   higher 
  culture 
  developed 
  and 
  flourished 
  for 
  about 
  a 
  millennium. 
  

  

  Then, 
  somewhere 
  between 
  about 
  A. 
  D. 
  1100 
  and 
  A. 
  D. 
  1300 
  came 
  the 
  

   rise 
  of 
  Inca 
  imperialism 
  which, 
  during 
  the 
  generations 
  immediately 
  

   preceding 
  the 
  coming 
  of 
  the 
  Spaniard, 
  carried 
  its 
  truculent 
  conquests 
  

   as 
  well 
  as 
  its 
  characteristic 
  culture 
  from 
  around 
  Cuzco 
  to 
  the 
  north 
  

   as 
  far 
  as 
  northern 
  Ecuador, 
  to 
  the 
  south 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  Rio 
  Maule 
  in 
  

   middle 
  Chile, 
  and 
  out 
  into 
  the 
  Diaguita 
  country 
  in 
  northwestern 
  

   Argentina. 
  

  

  Apart 
  from 
  this 
  main 
  area 
  of 
  diffusion 
  of 
  earlier 
  Andean 
  and 
  later 
  

   Inca 
  civilization, 
  Sierral 
  culture 
  in 
  diluted 
  form 
  spread 
  to 
  the 
  Arau- 
  

   canians 
  of 
  middle 
  and 
  southern 
  Chile, 
  partly 
  in 
  pre-Columbian 
  times, 
  

   partly 
  in 
  post-Columbian. 
  In 
  post-Discovery 
  days, 
  this 
  diluted 
  An- 
  

   dean 
  culture 
  was 
  carried 
  by 
  the 
  Araucanians 
  far 
  to 
  the 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  

  

  