| Elqui River | |
|---|---|
The Elqui River on the map
| |
| 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 ValleysofNorte 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]
29°53′40″S 71°16′30″W / 29.89444°S 71.27500°W / -29.89444; -71.27500
