The First Nations of the Chaco: the Qom (Tobas) people




The Qom, also called Toba, are the main surviving ethnic group after the multinational invasion that ended with the independence of the Chaco nations. They are related to the Mbayá (also called kadijeu) of Mato Grosso, the Mocoví from the north of Santa Fe and the south of the province of Chaco, the Pilagá from the northwest of Chaco, the Abipón and the Payaguá (these last two are now disappeared). 
The Mbayá-mocoví-qom ethnic complex traditionally occupied the western shore of the Paraná-Paraguay hydrographic axis, had a relatively unfriendly relationship with the eastern Guaraní peoples and tenaciously opposed the Spanish and Creole colonization from Paraguay and Buenos Aires. They managed to maintain their independence until the end of the 19th century, in particular until the Argentine military offensive of 1884, which determined their subordination to the power of that country's central government. 
Originally, the Toba were divided into four subgroups with dialect differences: the iolojpí (people of the “water potato”), the kolpi (people in the mountains) and the eadgaipí (people with fire in the houses) and the diapicoche (whose meaning it is unknown). When the Argentine government unleashed the war, the Toba organized under the leadership of Meguexogochí. Their defeat meant that many qom had to take refuge in the sandy areas of Santiago del Estero and in other remote lands Labor in the works After the conquest of Chaco by the Argentine government, a process of agricultural and forestry colonization was established in which the Qom were used as labor for plantations and plantations. To resist forced acculturation, they developed multiple strategies, one of which was to "Christianize" themselves in the Waldensian cult. Indeed, there is a strong Qomvadense church, in which the Qom have managed to maintain many of their ceremonial practices without much interference from governmental or religious authorities. Some Qom maintain a traditional economy by planting, hunting and fishing, and selling their products in local markets. Others are forced to migrate camping along the roadsides or on the banks of rivers. Many communities do not have land and others survive with enormous difficulties in low productivity territories.
Due to this, the Qom of Argentina are in a situation of extreme poverty, which has forced many of them to migrate to the cities, where important colonies are located in the "villas" or slums of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, Resistencia, Formosa and Salta. 
The total population of the Qom is about 130,000 people. Some tens of thousands still inhabit their former territories, stripped of their lands and in a situation of extreme poverty. 
Perhaps more than 60,000 have been forced to migrate to the cities, where they they inhabitate important colonies in the "villas" of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, Resistencia, Formosa and Salta. There are also some Qom communities in the Paraguayan chaco. 
They are generally found on the side of the routes, where they sell native animals and handicrafts. The qom population of Paraguay is about 2,000 people.