The Amahuaca or Amhuaca are

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the southeastern

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Isolated until the 18th century, they are currently under threat from ecological devastation, disease and violence brought by oil extractors and illegal loggers. In 1998, they numbered about 520. The largest community of the Amahuaca is in Puerto Varadero, a jungle community on the Peruvian–Brazilian border.

Ayahuasca

The Amahuaca are one group of indigenous Amazonians in which shamans are known to use

ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

in ritual ceremonies, typically for the purpose of entering the realm of spirits and deceased relatives or ancestors. The use of this drug is not recreational, but rather spiritual.

History

Since the group established contact with Westerners in the 18th century, they have been threatened by

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, disease, and loss of territory. During the Amazon rubber boom, Amahuaca tribes were largely exploited by rubber barons like

Carlos Fitzcarrald Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald López (6 July 18629 July 1897) was a Peruvian Rubber boom#Rubber barons, rubber baron. He was born in San Luis, Ancash, in a province that was later Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald Province, named after him. In the early ...

and

Carlos Scharff Carlos Scharff (30 October 186628 July 1909) was a Peruvian rubber baron of Germans, German descent who was active along the Upper Purus River, Purus and Las Piedras River (Peru), Las Piedras rivers during the Amazon rubber cycle, Amazon rubber ...

Name

The Amahuaca are also known as: Amaguaco, Amawaca, Amawáka, Amawaka, Amenguaca, Ameuhaque, Ipitineri, Sayaco, Sayacu, Yora or Hondi Kuí.

Language

The Amahuaca, like many neighboring tribes in southwestern Amazonia, speak a Panoan language. As of 2000, approximately 220 Amahuaca spoke the Amahuaca language, a

Panoan language Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family. Genetic relations The Panoan family is generally be ...

. The language is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, and a grammar has been published. From 1963 to 1997, portions of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

were translated into Amahuaca.

Economic development

Amahuaca people hunt, fish, farm, and work in the lumber and oil industries or as domestic servants. They harvest and process

Brazil nuts The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Amahuaca art
National Museum of the American Indian

Countries and Their Cultures Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Peru {{Brazil-stub