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Pehuenches (people of pehuén in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people that are part of the Mapuche peoples and live in the Andes in south central Chile and Argentina. Their name derives from their habit of harvesting of piñones, the seeds of the Araucaria araucana or pehuén. In the XIV century Pehuenches lived in the mountainous territory marked by Lonquimay volcano and Maule River, but became later Araucanized and partially merged with Mapuche tribes.

Pehuenches incorporated horse meat into their diet since wilderened Spanish horses reached the eastern foothills of the Andes. These herds had originated in the humid pampa, after the second abandonment of Buenos Aires in 1541. [1] At first they hunted horses as any other other animal but later they began to grow horses for meat and transport. To conserve horse meat it was made into charqui after being sun-dried in the high Andes.