Guaycuru or Guaykuru is a generic term for several ethnic groups indigenous to the Gran Chaco region of South America, speaking related Guaicuruan languages. In the 16th century, the time of first contact with Spanish explorers and colonists, the Guaycuru people lived in the present-day countries of Argentina (north of Santa Fe Province), Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil (south of Corumbá). The name is written guaycurú or guaicurú in Spanish (plural guaycurúes or guaicurúes), and guaicuru in Portuguese (plural guaicurus). It was originally an offensive epithet given to the Mbayá people of Paraguay by the Guarani, meaning "savage" or "barbarian", which later was extended to the whole group. It has also been used in the past to include other peoples of the Chaco region, but is now restricted to those speaking a Guaicuruan language. First encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, the Guaycuru peoples strongly resisted Spanish control and the efforts of Catholic missionaries to Christianize them. They were not fully pacified until the early 20th century. Divisions The 16th century Guaycuru appear to have been a southern band of the Mbaya rather than a separate people. The terms Mbaya and Guaycuru were synonymous to the early Spanish colonists. Guaycuru came to be the collective name applied to all the bands speaking similar languages, called Guaycuruan. The major extant branches of the Guaycuru are: Mocoví (Mocobi) Toba Pilagá Kadiweu Other Guaycuru groups have become extinguished over the last 500 years: Abipón Mbayá (ancestral to the Kadiweu) Payaguá, also known as Evueví or Evebe. The Mocoví, Toba, and Pilagá call themselves qom and appear to form a linguistic and ethnic continuum. They have been placed together with the Abipón in the "Southern" division, while the Kadiweu are placed by themselves in a "Northern" division. The placement of the Payaguá in this classification is still controversial. Some authors, such as Quevedo, Hunt, Mason, Greenberg and Viegas Barros, have joined the Guaycuru and the Mataguay languages into a larger Mataco–Guaycuru language family, but it is not clear yet whether the similarities between the vocabularies of the two families are due to a common origin or to borrowing. Culture The Guaycuru people consisted of many bands making up distinct ethnic groups with different but similar languages. The Guaycuruans were never politically united and were often hostile to each other as well as to other peoples. When first encountered in the 16th century, the