Earlier representations of hunter-gatherer and farmer relations in the lowland South American anthropological literature have over-generalized and distorted a highly dynamic relationship, by removing the context in which interactions between nomads and farmers took place. During the 16th century, the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos was the setting for the clash of societies. The historical record shows a frontier in which the expansion of the Caribs, with the help of the Dutch, forced the Saliva and Achagua sedentary communities to relocate. At that time, an east-west movement of settlements was also evident. In this way, communities became increasingly close to the Jesuit missionaries who, in the name of Spain, attempted to restructure settlement patterns. A decomposition of the pre-Colombian network of alliances and trade systems was evident at that time. The quiripa, a shell used as a currency between societies, soon became a rare commodity that also lost its significance. It is in this context that the following observation is especially relevant. The Jesuit missionaries were puzzled by the interactions between Guagibo hunter-gatherers and farmers. The farmers tolerated, even welcomed, the Guagibo into their towns, despite their "abusing" and "tricking" the farmers at every turn. This seemingly incomprehensible relationship becomes comprehensible when it is recognized, based on the evaluation of ethnohistorical data, that the Guagibo offered more than goods to farmers; they provided information, a critical resource in a socially and politically changing landscape.