BARBACOAN, a linguistic stock or sub-stock of South American Indians, so called from the Barbacoas, one of its most important tribes. The stock, which included among other tribes the Cayapas (q.v.) and Colorados, occupied the coastal region of southern Colombia and northern Ecuador, from about 3° N. Lat. south to the mouth of the Esmeraldas river. Beyond this the coast was held by Esmeraldan (q.v.) tribes, but peoples belonging to the Barbacoan stock extended in the interior as far south as the head waters of the Daule river. The name Barbacoa is derived from the term applied by the Spanish to the peculiar type of large com munal houses, built on high piles, in use by the tribes of this stock. Recent studies have shown that there is considerable reason to be lieve that the Barbacoan languages are fundamentally related to the Chibchan (q.v.). If this is confirmed, the group would then lose its status as an independent linguistic stock.
See F. G. Suarez, Prehistoria Ecuatoriana (Quito, 1904) ; H. Beuchat and P. Rivet, Afnites des langues du sud de la Colombie et du nord de l'Equateur (Museon, 19io, vol. xi.) ; P. Rivet, "Les Indiens Colorados" (Journ. Soc. Americanistes de Paris [n.s.J, vol. ii. pp. 177-208).