Overview

The Wichí inhabit a wide geographic region, but their settlements are primarily located in the provinces of Formosa and Chaco, and in the eastern part of Salta. Formerly, they were hunter-gatherers who lived in small bands, with a strong tendency toward isolation from other bands. Today, the impossibility of exploiting the surrounding environment as they once did, the persistent Anglican preaching, economic pressure from whites, and their illnesses constitute a context in which many young people view abandoning their groups in search of a better future in towns and cities positively.