Source: http://www.franciscanos.org.bo/4espiritu/ecologia_cosmo_vision.htm

Name of the Group: Chiquitano

Linguistic Family: Chiquito

Location : Departament of Santa Cruz; Chiquitos, Ñuflo de Chávez, Velasco and Germán Busch provinces; San Ignacio de Velasco, San Miguel and San Rafael municipalities. Main settlements: San Ignacio, Roboré and San José.

Social Organization: The first contact with the Chiquitano occurred when “Old” Santa Cruz was founded (1550), near to San José de Chiquitos. In 1692, the Jesuits established the first mission: San Francisco Javier. Over 40 ethnic groups, different in language and culture, were reduced to 10 missions, wherein the chiquitano language was fostered. In 1767, after the Jesuits were expelled, creole and mestizo colonists took over, setting up the massive exploitation of the indigenous mission dwellers. Much later, after the 1952 Revolution, the Chiquitano began to fight for their rights. In their communities kinship is based on cognatic filiation, or the use of both male and female lines of descent to determine relationships.

Political Organization: Community Assemblies are the highest local authorities, led in many instances by the cacique, or chief, and sometimes by the magistrate. The diverse Chiquitano communities have instituted the Chiquitana Indigenous Organization (OICH), now one of the mainstays of the Ethnic Peoples of Santa Cruz Coordinator (CPESC), an entity affiliated to CIDOB, the highest level Bolivian indigenous organization.

Economicy: Most Chiquitano communities continue to rely on their traditional economic activities, mainly hunting, fishing, recollection and subsistence agriculture. However, their traditional form of cooperative labor, known as la minga, where relatives band together to work a plot, has not developed adequately mainly due to migration, demographic density, and the stifling pressure of the prevailing economic system, amongst other factors.
One strategy that complements subsistence is the hiring out for work at regional estates. In Ñuflo de Chávez province a forestry program is underway, based on communal-family work geared to an ecological management of forest resources and the accretion of mutual capital, but its results have not been evaluated.

Symbolism: All those Chiquitano groups that were part of the missions, exhibit a fusion of indigenous and hispanic cultural traits in their present identities. Their traditional myths, however, refer to “Giants” that may have been precolumbian Chiquitano conceptions. The jichi is the most important character in Chiquitano lore, the undisputed master of the animals and the forest. The "jichi" also has dominion over the waters. This character, and others in traditional narratives, interact with Catholic religious objects and monuments in Chiquitano spiritual practice, an expression of the strong Occidental influence over them.

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