Who are the indigenous peoples of the Amazon?

The Amazon is the name of the largest river in south america and which gives its name to the entire jungle that grows around it: the Amazon jungle. However, when talking about the Amazon jungle, what we are actually referring to is an immense geographical region that extends across different countries, and which is called Amazonia, in reference to both the river and the jungle.

The Amazon It is a region that extends across some areas of countries such as Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana. It is a region of incalculable ecological wealth, since the Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, which has earned it the nickname “the lungs of the planet.”

Talk about the indigenous peoples It is talking about the peoples who have inhabited a given territory since almost immemorial times. In some cases, these towns are also called isolated villagesreferring to the fact that both its people and its cultures have remained without contact with modern civilization from its beginnings to the present or that, at least, contact has been minimal.

This constitutes a fundamental element, since it allows the intangible wealth of the cultural tradition of isolated and indigenous peoples of its original lands has been preserved unchanged to this day, which, in addition to having great value as intangible wealth, also constitutes an opportunity for study for anthropologists.

The isolated and indigenous peoples that still exist today are located in the region of India, Oceania and, above all, in the Amazon region. The jungle itself has contributed to this, as it could not be otherwise, as it constitutes a natural barrier between the Amazon tribes and modern civilization.

Many of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest differ very little from each other. In this way, anthropologists have grouped the Amazon Indians in various groups formed by several tribes that, although they have differences among themselves, the similarities are important enough to consider them in the same group (for example, language). This is a list of indigenous peoples of the Amazonyou will see some of the ones that have been most studied:

Isolated indigenous people in Peru

• Nahua
• Cashibo-cacataibo
• Masco-piros
• Nanti
• Matsigenkas

Isolated indigenous people in Brazil

• Piripkura
• Kawahiva
• Korubos
• Kuikuro
• Kalapalos
• Yanomanis
• Piripkuras

Isolated indigenous people in Colombia

• Yuri
• Nukak

Currently, it is unknown for sure how many of these indigenous people live inside the Amazon rainforest. Despite this, it is estimated that the number of isolated villages in the Amazon could be around 400 townsof which at least more than 80 have been studied and described by the anthropologists. Of all the countries in which we find indigenous peoples, Brazil is by far where the largest number are located, reaching more than 100 different towns, and followed by Peru with 25 towns.

These groups of humans who They live in the Amazon jungle They have kept their customs and lifestyles unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, they constitute an unparalleled reference when it comes to understanding what the first lifestyles of man could have been like during the Paleolithic (before the invention of agriculture).

In this way, we find ourselves facing towns that are hunters and gatherers in most cases, whose groups do not usually exceed twenty people, and who live in harmony with nature that surrounds them, which they identify in most cases as a kind of “mother nature”, in a form of religion specific to each people and which is close, according to anthropologists, to a belief that combines pantheism and animism at the same time.

In this other Evidence Network article we tell you more about How the tribes of the Amazon live.

However, even though these people have survived in the Amazon ecosystem for thousands of years, the reality is that modern civilization is posing a real danger for their survival. One of the most pressing problems they face is the survival of the jungle itself, which, due to deforestation Motivated by the logging industry, agriculture and livestock, each year it loses more and more square kilometers of area. In fact, between the 70s of the 20th century and 2014, 19% of the surface of the Amazon has been cut down, which represents very serious and unprecedented environmental damage on this scale. In this other article you can learn more about Amazon Deforestation: causes and consequences and, in addition, in the video below you can learn more about this topic.

On the other hand, beyond the destruction of the environment, indigenous peoples have to face situations of violence that pose another threat to their survival. In this sense, the violence carried out by agents such as some local governments, companies with economic interests in the area, or the scourge of drug trafficking, constitute a real burden when it comes to guaranteeing their survival.

However, actions coming from some governments that are aware of the problem posed by survival of the indigenous people of the Amazonas well as actions promoted by some NGOs, are helping to stop the destruction of both the Amazon and the peoples who still inhabit it. In this sense, some initiatives such as declaring protected areas, provide rights to indigenous peoples and fight corruption and drug trafficking, constitute invaluable help when it comes to guaranteeing that these indigenous peoples, and the Amazon rainforest itself, have a future.

If you liked to discover who are the indigenous people of the Amazon and various aspects about them, you may want to learn more about them and other indigenous people with these other Evidence Network articles:

• American Indians: names of tribes and their customs.
• 16 African tribes: names, meanings and customs.
• Australian Aborigines: names of peoples and their customs.

If you want to read more articles similar to Who are the indigenous peoples of the Amazon?we recommend that you enter our Indigenous Peoples category.