Puelche people

Puelche (Mapudungun: pwelche, " people of the east") is the name that the Mapuche used to give the ethnic groups who inhabited the lands to the east of the Andes Mountains (in Argentine territory and some valleys of Chile) including the northern Tehuelches and Hets, these last ones were also known as the Pampas or Querandíes. By the end of the 18th century the survivors of the plagues and epidemics that annihilated these ethnic groups were aculturated in a process of Araucanization by Mapuche immigrants, so that in the 19th century the ethnically mixed group formed was basically Het and Tehuelche but Araucanized linguistically and culturally.

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Puelche (wind)

A Puelche wind (in Spanish, viento puelche) is a dry foehn-like eastern wind that occurs in south-central Chile. The wind owns its name from the Puelche people who inhabited the eastern slopes of the Andes. Puelche winds are mainly caused by South Pacific high pressure extending eastwards across the Andes and/or building a ridge to an area of high pressure centered over the South Atlantic. Puelche winds appearing in spring can cause fast snow melt in the Andes producing floods and reducing the albedo of glaciers.

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