Total population | |
---|---|
88,358 (2012)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Bolivia ( Santa Cruz Department Beni) 87,885 (2012)[1] | |
Brazil ( Mato Grosso) 473 (2012)[1] | |
Languages | |
Chiquitano, Spanish, Portuguese[2] | |
Religion | |
Traditional tribal religion, Christianity[2] |
The Chiquitano or Chiquitos are an indigenous people of Bolivia, with a small number also living in Brazil. The Chiquitano primarily live in the Chiquitania tropical savanna of Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia, with a small number also living in Beni Department and in Mato Grosso, Brazil. In the 2012 census, self-identified Chiquitanos made up 1.45% of the total Bolivian population or 145,653 people, the largest number of any lowland ethnic group.[3] A relatively small proportion of Bolivian Chiquitanos speak the Chiquitano language. Many reported to the census that they neither speak the language nor learned it as children.[4] The Chiquitano ethnicity emerged among socially and linguistically diverse populations required to speak a common language by the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos.[5]