10 43. From the information provided to the IACHR from both parties, it has been established that the number of communities is variable given the constant dynamic of community fragmentation and fusion that is a distinctive trait of these nomadic, hunter-gatherer peoples. 44. The Great Chaco was shared since time immemorial by 16 indigenous peoples, composed of nomadic, hunter-gatherer families, numbers of which were nonetheless later reduced by the effects of contact, and settled in sedentary villages – or semi-sedentary ones -- by the evangelization th process. Historical documents show that from the beginning of the 20 century, reference is made to the presence of the Wichi (Mataco), Iyjwaja (Chorote), Komlek (Toba), Niwackle (Chulupí) and Tapy’y 36 (Tapiete) indigenous peoples in the area that is occupied today by Fiscal Lots 14 and 55. The claim of ancestral presence in the area of Fiscal Lots 14 and 55 is also justified by the abundant traditional names 37 given to this land in corresponding aboriginal languages. 45. The indigenous communities that inhabit Fiscal Lots 14 and 55 subsist from hunting, gathering and fishing; they are nomadic, and they traverse their ancestral territory along clearly defined circuits in accordance with their cultural tradition and depending on the availability of subsistence 38 resources at different times of the year. Most of the communities of both Lots live in settlements but fully preserve their nomadic hunting and gathering circuits and mode of subsistence; in addition, approximately 5 communities lack permanent settlements and still practice a thoroughly nomadic form of 39 life, for which reason they periodically move from one place to another. Maps indicate the culturally defined hunting and gathering routes of the different communities that form part of the Lhaka Honhat …continuación El Cañaveral II; (8) Roberto Romero; (9) Ebeneser; (10) Misión Algarrobal – La Puntana; (11) Al Pu; (12) Inhate; (13) Sop A Kweni – Represa de las Víboras; (14) Misión Vieja – Santa María; (15) Pomis Jiwet (lugar de los tambores); (16) Santa Victoria I; (17) Misión La Paz – Chorote; (18) San Ignacio; (19) San Lorenzo; (20) La Estrella. 36 Specifically, they cite the written testimony of a colonizer arrived in the area in 1902, Domingo Astrada, who came with a group of cattle-raising families from Salta in search of good grazing fields, and provided precise details on the indigenous population of the area that today corresponds to Fiscal Lots 14 and 55: “In this campaign (to the Pilcomayo) I have established relations with 5000 indigenous… I spoke with 106 chiefs and their respective entourages from the tribes of the mataguayos, chorotes, tobas, mimocaes, chinupies and pilayas…” [Astrada, D.: “Expedición al Pilcomayo”. Document provided by the petitioners together with their observations on the merits, received by the IACHR on January 4, 2007, and transmitted to the State through note of January 12, 2007.] The petitioners also refer to the early anthropological reports of researcher Erland Nordenskiold, dated 1902 and 1908, and confirmed by other specialized studies; including: LOZANO, P. (1874): “Descripción Corográfica del Gran Chaco Gualamba”; San Miguel de Tucumán: Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, 1941. KARSTEN, R. (1923): “The Toba Indians of the Bolivian Gran Chaco”. Acta Academiae Aboensis IV, 1925. METRAUX, A. (1937): “Estudio de Etnografía Toba-Pilagá (Gran Chaco). Anthropos – Revue International d’Ethnologie et Linguistique, T. 32, 1937. KERSTEN, L. (1968): “Las tribus indígenas del Gran Chaco hasta fines del siglo XVIII”. Resistencia: Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Facultad de Humanidades, 1968. FOCK, N. (1982): “History of Mataco Folk Literature and Research”. En: WILBERT, J. y SIMONEAU, K. (eds.): “Folk Literature of the Mataco Indians”, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1982. Ethnological and historical referentes cited in: CARRASCO, Morita and BRIONES, Claudia: “La Tierra que nos quitaron”. Documento IWGIA No. 18, Buenos Aires, 1996, p. 195. Document provided as an annex of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, received by the IACHR on January 4, 2007, and transmitted to the State through note of January 12, 2007. 37 As recounted by the petitioners, “in 1991 the communities of Fiscal Lots 55 and 14 resorted to their memory –zealously guarded by the elders- in order to identify the dimensions of the physical space they traditionally occupy. The –then- 27 communities that participated in the elaboration of an ethnic map to justify their claim to a single title, indicated over one thousand locations with names in their corresponding languages (…) and, on the grounds of this information, it was possible to indicate the areas traveled by each communities, and the usage superimpositions between communities (…). This form of ‘naming the land’ is, as explained by a chief of the Toba people, the manner in which ‘the grandparents’ explain to the youth what these must know in order to become full members of the group. In giving significant names to the environment in which they live, the men and women of the communities transform the geographical space where they live into a ‘culturally organized territory’.” Petitioners’ observations on the merits, received by the IACHR on January 4, 2007, and transmitted to the State through note of January 12, 2007. 38 The initial petition includes the maps of the ancestral hunting and gathering routes of the following communities: of the Wichí people, the communities of (1) La Puntana, (2) Santa María, (3) La Curvita, (4) San Luis, (5) Cañaveral, (6) Pozo del Tigre – San Ignacio, (7) Misión la Paz Km. 1 and 2, (8) Las Vertientes, (9) Rancho del Ñato, (10) Pozo La China, (11) El Pin Pin, (12) Pozo El Toro, (13) Bella Vista, (14) Bajo Grande, (15) Pozo El Mulato, and (16) Alto La Sierra; of the Iyjwaja people, the communities of (17) La Bolsa, (18) La Gracia, (19) La Merced Vieja, and (20) La Merced Nueva; of the Komlek people, the community of (21) Monte Carmelo. 39 Initial petition, received by the IACHR on August 4, 1998, and transmitted to the State on January 26, 1999.