Name of the Group: Tsimane (Chimán o Chimane)

Linguistica Family: Mosetén

Location: Department of the Beni, Ballivián provinces, San Borja and Rurrena-baque municipalities. Main settlements, Tres Cruces and Horeb (San Borja).

Social Organization: The name "Chimán" or "Chimane" by which this ethnic group is usually known, does not appear in Jesuit writings. Today they identify themselves with the term Tsimane (in accordance with the spelling by the New Tribes linguists). The first references to Chimane appeared in the XVIIth century when the Jesuits established the San Francisco de Borja Mission (1693), which the group resisted. At the present time their major problems are posed by merchants, wood loggers and colonists. Marriage is mainly monogamous, with a strong tendency to polygamy (sororal polygamy has not disappeared). The married couple lives at first with the bride’s mother, but settles independently shortly thereafter.

Political Organization:: In Tsimane settlements, mostly composed of extended families, the head of the family – usually the oldest man – is also the political chief. As a response to abuses from merchants, wood loggers and others, the Tsimane decided to organize an entity that could represent them before the Bolivian State and other national and international institutions. In 1989, supported by the New Tribes Mission, they founded the Tsimane Grand Council, immediately affiliated to CIDOB.

Economy: Agriculture among the Tsimane is mainly for their own consumption.  They are hunters, fishermen and recollectors. Their main products for trade – and source of conflicts – are the jatata palm frames used by almost every family in the region to thatch their roofs. Some time ago they used to trade in wood, particularly mara, but they still suffer serious territorial and economic conflicts with the wood loggers and merchants who abuse them in every way.

Symbolism: There are two very important sources for the conservation and replication of Tsimane cosmogony. The first one derives from their mythical relation to the lords of the hills, with the masters of animals, and with ancestor spirits. The second one derives from the intense socialization of one of their principal Creation myths: the traditional narrative about the brothers Tsun, Dojity, Micha, and their sister Dovo'se, the creators of most animals, trees, and others. Dojity created the Tsimane, white and black.

Source: Ethnic Atlas of Anthropological Research, UNAN - Viceministry of Culture - José Teijeiro - Teófilo Laime - Sotero Ajacopa - Freddy Santalla