Amazon Rainforest Tours and Travel | The Indigenous People of the Peru Amazon
As in all parts of the world, the indigenous peoples of the Peru Amazon cling to a timeless way of life in a rapidly changing world. Meddling with the Amazonian tribes is not just a recent phenomenon. At one time, the Incas considered areas of the Amazon part of their empire. With Machu Picchu just 100 miles south of the Manu, getting to the rainforest wasn't much of a feat for a civilization capable of building 14,000 miles of roads. It was a different story once they got there. The Peru Amazon was located in the northeast corner of the empire, a region the Incas called "Antisuyu." Repeated attacks by the "Antis" made bringing the forest tribes under Inca governance considerably more problematic than other regions the Incas had subdued.
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A dwindling number of Peru Amazon tribes have still had minimal or no contact with the outside world. Some who maintain their distance live in Manu National Park. The 4.5 million-acre park is home to at least four indigenous populations, the Amahuaca, Machiguenga, Mascho-Piro and the Yaminahua. These nomadic tribes live undisturbed in a zone where outsiders are not allowed except by special permission. Other "isolated" tribes include the Kirineri, the Nahua and the Nanti, who live in the 2,000 square-mile Nahua-Kugapakori Reserve along the Urubamba River adjacent to Manu National Park. Though the reserve was established in 1990 to protect the indigenous people of the area, threats to their way of life continue, due to logging and natural gas interests.
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Customs among the indigenous tribes of the Peru Amazon vary greatly and are a fascinating subject to learn about on Amazon tours. About 2,000 Urarina people inhabit an area of Chambira palm swamps in northeastern Peru's Chambira River Basin, a tributary of the Maranon River. For ceremonial purposes, the tribe makes use of the toxic Brugmansia plant to produce a religious high that can result in death. Western gardeners know this poisonous plant as Angel's Trumpet, prized for its large fragrant blossoms.
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Most of the over 3,000 Yagua live along the Amazon and the Napo, Putumayo and Yavari tributaries in northeastern Peru, north and south of Iquitos. Their name derives from the royal palm, a species the tribe uses to craft garments, headdresses and other items. They paint their faces with the red seeds of the annatto plant.
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The Shipibo live along the Ucayali River in eastern Peru near Iquitos and Pucallpa. In the tribe's Ayahuasca ceremony, it is believed that the shaman takes the form of a bird, flies to enemy neighboring villages, turns back into a human form to inflict injury, becomes a bird again to fly home and then returns to his original form.
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For some Peru Amazon tribes, making contact with the outside world has proved beneficial. To a growing number of villages, it has meant developing ecotourism projects that generate higher revenues than other sources of livelihood. For others, it has taught them to fight fire with fire. The Aguaruna, for instance, who live along the Maranon River and its tributaries, are known for their formidable resistance against the Incas as well as the Spanish. To fight the contemporary threats of industrial incursion, they have adopted progressive ways, recognizing that in today's political battles, organized grassroots can be a powerful weapon to protect their medicinal formulas based on Amazon plants.
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It appears inevitable that the only strategy that will safeguard the traditional way of life is to adopt the sophisticated media and lobbying techniques of the world the indigenous shun. To learn more about Amazon tribes go to www.amazon-indians.org.
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