Palenque, Indian tribe of northern Venezuela at the time of the Spanish conquest (16th century). The Palenque were closely related to the neighbouring Cumanagoto (q.v.); their language probably belonged to the Arawakan family. They were a tropical-forest people known to eat human flesh, to be warlike, and to live in settlements surrounded by palisades (palenques). The Patángoro (q.v.) of Colombia were also sometimes called Palenque because of their fortified settlements.