Pijao people

The Pijao (also Piajao, Pixao, Pinao) are an indigenous people of Colombia.

Ethnography

The Pijao or Pijaos were a community loose federation of Amerindians living in the region of Tolima -Colombia and other territories. In pre-Columbian times, they inhabited the Central Mountain Range of the Andes; between the snowy mountains of Huila, Tolima and Quindio, the upper valley of Magdalena River and the upper Valle del Cauca in Colombia. They did not have a strict hierarchy and did not create an empire.

The chiefdom was based on an extended family clan with ancestral lineage. The people did not live in separate households gathered in villages; instead, they lived in carefully built, large communal houses made of bahareque, which were placed at distances.

They used bonfires to communicate with smoke signs, and these were used to convene different community events. Like many ancient peoples, they relied on waterways for routes of transportation; and due to their navigation skills and knowledge, could get around much of their territory fairly rapidly. They called their best navigators boha (boga). Their boats were called kanoha (canoes), and were carved from a single piece of Saman wood.