U'wa People
/ˈuː.wə ˈpiː.pəl/noun
An Indigenous people of northeastern Colombia who traditionally inhabit the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy region.
Did you know?The U’wa traditionally regard their mountain homeland as spiritually alive and have opposed projects they believe threaten its sacred ecological balance.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
U'wa
U'wa
“The community’s self-designation; its deeper internal etymology is not securely established in accessible historical sources.”
16th Century
Spanish
Tunebo
“A colonial-era Spanish name historically applied to the U'wa and related highland Indigenous communities.”
19th Century
Spanish
Tunebo
“The principal exonym used in Colombian ethnographic and administrative writing.”
20th Century
English
U'wa
“The self-designation increasingly adopted in English-language scholarship and Indigenous-rights reporting.”
Modern English
English
U'wa people
“The U'wa Indigenous people of Colombia.”
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