Cágaba

Cágaba, South American Indian group living on the northern and southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia. Speakers of an Arhuacan language, the Cágaba have lived in this region of steep ravines and narrow valleys for many centuries. They numbered some 10,000 individuals in the early 21st century.

The Cágaba on the northern side of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have been in intermittent contact with European civilization for more than 400 years. Although they have adopted new crop plants and domestic animals, new tools, house types, and clothing, they have remained Indian in outlook and culture. The Cágaba on the southern slopes have lost much of their ethnic and tribal identity through their extensive contacts and intermarriage with Europeans and other non-Indian Colombians.

The Cágaba migrate up and down the mountains to plant and harvest crops of sweet cassava, corn (maize), potatoes, plantains, bananas, and sugarcane, which ripen at different times at different altitudes on the mountain sides. They also grow onions, beans, coca, and tobacco.