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Chinchorro

There are two different South American tribal names spelled "Chinchorro" in Spanish.

1) "Chinchorro" (also spelled Chinchooro or Chinchoro) is a word for a type of finely woven hammock in Latin American Spanish. Its origin is unclear; some people think it came from a Spanish word for a type of insect, while others suggest it came from an indigenous Peruvian word for "fishing net." Today the term chinchorros is especially used to refer to the colorful patterned hammocks of the Wayuu (or Guajiro) tribe of Colombia.

2) "Chinchorro" is also used to refer to a pre-Columbian civilization of Chile and Peru. This was not the name the people called themselves-- their civilization had faded by 1500 BC and they did not develop writing, so their own language remains unknown. Archaeologists called them the Chinchorro Culture after an ancient site that was discovered by Chinchorro Beach in Peru (which in turn was probably named after either fishing nets or hammocks.)

Here are links to more resources about Chinchorro hammocks and the indigenous people who weave them:

History in Threads: Exploring Wayúu Weaving
Wayuu Chinchorro Hammocks for Sale
Wayuu tribe
Indigenous cultures of Colombia

And here are links related to the prehistoric Chinchorro civilization:

UNESCO Site: the Chinchorro culture
Chinchorro, the World's Oldest Mummies
Wikipedia: Chinchorro Culture

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