Spanish colonization of the Americas
The overseas expansion under the Crown of Castile was initiated under the royal authority and first accomplished by the Spanish conquistadors. The Americas were incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, the eastern United States and several other small countries in South America and The Caribbean; the crown created religious structures to administer the region. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions. Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and continuing control of vast territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America, it is estimated that during the colonial period, a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era. In contrast, the indigenous population plummeted by an estimated 80% in the first century and a half following Columbus's voyages through the spread of Afro-Eurasian diseases.
This has been argued to be the first large-scale act of genocide in the modern era, although this claim is disputed due to the unintended nature of the disease introduction, considered a byproduct of Columbian exchange. Racial mixing was a central process in the Spanish colonization of the Americas, led to the Latin American identity, which combines Hispanic and native American ethnicities. Spain enjoyed a cultural golden age in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when silver and gold from American mines financed a long series of European and North African wars. In the early 19th century, the Spanish American wars of independence resulted in the secession and subsequent balkanization of most Spanish colonies in the Americas, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were given up in 1898, following the Spanish–American War, together with Guam and the Philippines in the Pacific. Spain's loss of these last territories politically ended the Spanish rule in the Americas; the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile and her husband King Ferdinand, King of Aragon, pursued a policy of joint rule of their kingdoms and created a single Spanish monarchy.
Though Castile and Aragon were ruled jointly by their respective monarchs, they remained separate kingdoms. The Catholic Monarchs gave official approval for the plans of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus for a voyage to reach India by sailing West; the funding came from the queen of Castile, so the profits from Spanish expedition flowed to Castile. In the extension of Spanish sovereignty to its overseas territories, authority for expeditions of discovery and settlement resided in the monarchy. Columbus made four voyages to the West Indies as the monarchs granted Columbus the governorship of the new territories, financed more of his trans-Atlantic journeys, he founded La Navidad on the island named Hispaniola, in what is the present-day Haiti on his first voyage. After its destruction by the indigenous Taino people, the town of Isabella was begun in 1493, on his second voyage. In 1496 his brother, founded Santo Domingo. By 1500, despite a high death rate, there were between 300 and 1000 Spanish settled in the area.
The local Taíno people continued to resist, refusing to plant crops and abandoning their Spanish-occupied villages. The first mainland explorations were followed by a phase of inland expeditions and conquest. In 1500 the city of Nueva Cádiz was founded on the island of Cubagua, followed by the founding of Santa Cruz by Alonso de Ojeda in present-day Guajira peninsula. Cumaná in Venezuela was the first permanent settlement founded by Europeans in the mainland Americas, in 1501 by Franciscan friars, but due to successful attacks by the indigenous people, it had to be refounded several times, until Diego Hernández de Serpa's foundation in 1569; the Spanish abandoned it within the year. There is indirect evidence that the first permanent Spanish mainland settlement established in the Americas was Santa María la Antigua del Darién; the Spanish conquest of Mexico is understood to be the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the base for conquests of other regions. Conquests were protracted campaigns with less spectacular results than the conquest of the Aztecs.
The Spanish conquest of Yucatán, the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the war of Mexico's west, the Chichimeca War in northern Mexico expanded Spanish control over territory and indigenous populations. But not until the Spanish conquest of Peru was the conquest of the Aztecs matched in scope by the victory over the Inca empire in 1532; the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire was led by Hernán Cortés. The victory over the Aztecs was quick, from 1519 to 1521, aided by his Tlaxcala and other allies from indigenous city-states or altepetl; these polities allied against the Aztec empire, to which they paid tribute following conquest or threat of conquest, leaving the city-states' political hierarchy and social structure in place. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was a much longer campaign, from 1551 to 1697, against the Maya peoples in the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day Mexico and northern Central America. Hernán Cortés' landing ashore at present day Veracruz and founding the Spanish city there on April 22, 1519
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca or ayaguasca from Quechua Ayawaska known as iowaska, or yagé, is an entheogenic brew made out of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients. The brew is used as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin and is known by a number of different names. B. Caapi contains several alkaloids that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Another common ingredient in ayahuasca is the shrub Psychotria viridis which contains the primary psychoactive, dimethyltryptamine. MAOIs are required for DMT to be orally active. Ayahuasca is known by many names throughout Brazil. Ayahuasca is the hispanicized spelling of a word in the Quechua languages, which are spoken in the Andean states of Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. Speakers of Quechua languages or of the Aymara language may prefer the spelling ayawaska; this word refers both to the liana Banisteriopsis caapi, to the brew prepared from it. In the Quechua languages, aya means "spirit, soul", "corpse, dead body", waska means "rope" and "woody vine", "liana".
The word ayahuasca has been variously translated as "liana of the soul", "liana of the dead", "spirit liana". In Brazil, the brew and the liana are informally called either caapi or cipó. In the União do Vegetal of Brazil, an organised spiritual tradition in which people drink ayahuasca, the brew is prepared from B. caapi and Psychotria viridis. Adherents of União do Vegetal call this brew hoasca or vegetal Brazilian Yawanawa call the brew "Uní"; the Achuar people and Shuar people of Ecuador and Peru call it natem, while the Sharanahua peoples of Peru call it shori. In the 16th century, Christian missionaries from Spain and Portugal first encountered indigenous South Americans using ayahuasca. In the 20th century, the active chemical constituent of B. caapi was named telepathine, but it was found to be identical to a chemical isolated from Peganum harmala and was given the name harmine. Beat writer William S. Burroughs read a paper by Richard Evans Schultes on the subject and while traveling through South America in the early 1950s sought out ayahuasca in the hopes that it could relieve or cure opiate addiction.
Ayahuasca became more known when the McKenna brothers published their experience in the Amazon in True Hallucinations. Dennis McKenna studied pharmacology and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, which became the subject of his master's thesis. Richard Evans Schultes allowed for Claudio Naranjo to make a special journey by canoe up the Amazon River to study ayahuasca with the South American Indians, he brought back samples of the beverage and published the first scientific description of the effects of its active alkaloids. In Brazil, a number of modern religious movements based on the use of ayahuasca have emerged, the most famous of them being Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal in an animistic context that may be shamanistic or, more integrated with Christianity. Both Santo Daime and União do Vegetal now have churches throughout the world; the US and Europe have started to see new religious groups develop in relation to increased ayahuasca use. Some Westerners have teamed up with shamans in the Amazon rainforest regions, forming ayahuasca healing retreats that claim to be able to cure mental and physical illness and allow communication with the spirit world.
In recent years, the brew has been popularized by Wade Davis, English novelist Martin Goodman in I Was Carlos Castaneda, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende, writer Kira Salak, author Jeremy Narby, author Jay Griffiths, American novelist Steven Peck, radio personality Robin Quivers. Sections of Banisteriopsis caapi vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including Psychotria viridis, Diplopterys cabrerana, Mimosa tenuiflora, among other ingredients which can vary from one shaman to the next; the resulting brew may contain the powerful psychedelic drug DMT and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active. The traditional making of ayahuasca follows a ritual process that requires the user to pick the lower Chacruna leaf at sunrise say a prayer; the vine must be "cleaned meticulously with wooden spoons" and pounded "with wooden mallets until it's fibre."Brews can be made with plants that do not contain DMT, Psychotria viridis being replaced by plants such as Justicia pectoralis, Brugmansia, or sacred tobacco known as mapacho, or sometimes left out with no replacement.
This brew varies radically from one batch to the next, both in potency and psychoactive effect, based on the skill of the shaman or brewer, as well as other admixtures sometimes added and the intent of the ceremony. Natural variations in plant alkaloid content and profiles affect the final concentration of alkaloids in the brew, the physical act of cooking may serve to modify the alkaloid profile of harmala alkaloids; the actual preparation of the brew takes several hours taking place over the course of more than one day. After adding the plant material, each separately at this stage, to a large pot of water it is boiled until the water is reduced by half in volume; the individual brews are added together and brewed until reduced significantly. This combined brew is what is taken by participants in Ayah
Blowgun
A blowgun is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created by one's forced exhalation to pneumatically propel the projectile; the propulsive power is limited by the user's strength of respiratory muscles and the vital capacity of the lungs. Many cultures have used this weapon, but various indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia, the Amazon and Guiana regions of South America, Guatemala in Central America are best known for its use. Projectiles include seeds, clay pellets, darts; some cultures dip the tip of the darts in curare or other arrow poisons in order to paralyze the target. Blowguns were rarely used by these tribes as anti-personnel weapons, but to hunt small animals such as monkeys and birds. North American Cherokees were known for making blowguns from river cane to supplement their diet with rabbits and other small creatures. Blowguns are depicted in paintings on pre-Columbian pottery and are mentioned in many Mesoamerican myths.
Back and today, the Maya use a blowgun to hunt birds and small animals with spherical dry seeds and clay pellets. The clay ammunition is made larger than needed and stored in a shoulderbag; the outside of the dry clay pellet is burnished right before use. Shorter blowguns and smaller bore darts were used for varmint hunting by pre-adolescent boys in traditional Cherokee villages, they used the blowguns to cut down on small rodents such as rats, mice and other mammals that cut or gnaw into food caches and vegetable stores, or that are attracted to the planted vegetables. While this custom gave the boys something to do around the village and kept them out of mischief, it worked as an early form of pest control; some food was obtained by the boys, who hunted squirrels with blowguns well into the 20th century. Today blowguns are used with tranquilizer darts to capture wildlife or to stun caged dangerous animals. Herpetologists use blowguns to capture elusive lizards with stun darts. Blowguns are used recreationally, with either darts or paintballs.
There are several competition styles practised around the world. A standardization of competition style, based upon fukiya, is being pursued by the International Fukiyado Association and hopes to become an Olympic event, it is a 10-metre target shooting, using a standardized barrel caliber and length, a standardized dart length and weight as outlined by IFA. Two other styles are being pursued to make up the Olympic blowgun event, both based upon the Cherokee Annual Gathering Blowgun Competition; the Field Style competition is similar to the winter Biathlon, where the shooter runs from a starting line to a target lane and retrieves the darts, continues to the next station. The course length varies from 400 to 800 m or longer, with from 9 to 16 targets at various heights and shooting distances; the final style is the Long Distance target shoot. The target is a circle of 24 cm diameter, the firing line is 20 m away. Three darts are fired by each shooter. All successful shooters move to the next round.
Sport blowgun competition is managed by the International Fukiyado Association with which national associations in the United States, France and the Philippines are affiliated. Darts are made of hardwoods to prevent cracking, although bamboo skewers can be used informally; the dart's fletch can be made of many materials, such as down, feather tips, animal fur. Modern materials, such as aluminium or carbon-reinforced plastic, are used. In Japan, the competition darts are made of cone shaped cellophane plastic rolled into a cone, topped with a non-pointed brass brad; the Japan Sports Fukiya Association JSFA has privatized the sport, all materials must be purchased from them. International Fukiya Association IFA chairman H. Higuchi promotes worldwise blowgun rule cooperating with other countries. In other nations, the use of modified piano wire is used to make the 0.40 in cal and 0.50 in cal darts, with certain manufacturers making specialty darts for odd sized or larger caliber barrels. Use of home-made darts in the larger sizes, or for hunting is common, utilizing bamboo skewers, wire coat hangers, nails, or knitting needles.
As a primitive weapon, there are no set dimension for a blowgun's diameter. However there are several sizes: Fukidake — diameter is 13 mm cal in Japan. Tournament length is 120 cm. No mouthpiece is used. International versions can be more flexible, allowing a tube of 122 cm and 13 mm cal under IFA rules. Darts consist of a paper cone 20 cm long, weighing 0.8 g. Cherokee – made of river cane, 2 to 3 m. Dart is 15 to 56 cm long and made of locustwood or other available hardwoods such as oak, maple, etc. fletched with bull thistle down or rabbit fur, that provides an air seal. Jakaltek wooden blowgun averages 1 m long with a sight placed 30 cm from the end. Clay pellets are the most common type of ammunition and clay is sometimes added under the sight when the diameter of the blowgun is too thin for more stability and a better aim. Modern — has a diameter of 0.40 in cal, both the 0.50 in
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head, used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes. Headhunting has occurred in many regions of the world, but the practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwestern region of the Amazon rainforest; the only tribes known to have shrunken human heads are of the Jivaroan tribes. These include the Shuar, Achuar and Aguaruna tribes, found in Ecuador and Peru; the Shuar call a shrunken head a tsantsa transliterated tzantza. Many tribe leaders would show off their heads to scare enemies; the process of creating a shrunken head begins with removing the skull from the neck. An incision is made on the back of the ear and all the skin and flesh is removed from the cranium. Red seeds are placed underneath the nostrils and the lips are sewn shut; the mouth is held together with three palm pins. Fat from the flesh of the head is removed. A wooden ball is placed under the flesh in order to keep the form; the flesh is boiled in water, saturated with a number of herbs containing tannins.
The head is dried with hot rocks and sand, while molding it to retain its human features. The skin is rubbed down with charcoal ash. Decorative beads may be added to the head. In the head shrinking tradition, it is believed that coating the skin in ash keeps the muisak, or avenging soul, from seeping out. Shrunken heads are known for their mandibular prognathism, facial distortion and shrinkage of the lateral sides of the forehead. Among the Shuar and Achuar, the reduction of the heads was followed by a series of feasts centered on important rituals; the practice of preparing shrunken heads had religious significance. It was said to prevent the soul from avenging his death. Shuar believed in the existence of three fundamental spirits: Wakani – innate to humans thus surviving their death. Arutam – "vision" or "power", protects humans from a violent death. Muisak – vengeful spirit, which surfaces when a person carrying an arutam spirit is murdered. To block a Muisak from using its powers, they shrank them.
The process served as a way of warning their enemies. Despite these precautions, the owner of the trophy did not keep it for long. Many heads were used in religious ceremonies and feasts that celebrated the victories of the tribe. Accounts vary as to whether the heads would be stored; when Westerners created an economic demand for shrunken heads there was a sharp increase in the rate of killings in an effort to supply tourists and collectors of ethnographic items. The terms headhunting and headhunting parties come from this practice. Guns were what the Shuar acquired in exchange for their shrunken heads, the rate being one gun per head, but weapons were not the only items exchanged. Around 1910, shrunken heads were being sold by a curio shop in Lima for one Peruvian gold pound, equal in value to a British gold sovereign. In 1919, the price in Panama's curio shop for shrunken heads had risen to £5. By the 1930s, when heads were exchanged, a person could buy a shrunken head for about twenty-five U.
S. dollars. A stop was put to this when the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments worked together to outlaw the traffic in heads. Encouraged by this trade, people in Colombia and Panama unconnected to the Jívaros began to make counterfeit tsantsas, they used the heads of monkeys or sloths. Some used goatskin. Kate Duncan wrote in 2001 that "It has been estimated that about 80 percent of the tsantsas in private and museum hands are fraudulent," including all that are female or which include an entire torso rather than just a head. Thor Heyerdahl recounts in Kon-Tiki the various problems of getting into the Jívaro area in Ecuador to get balsa wood for his expedition raft. Local people would not guide his team into the jungle for fear of being killed and having their heads shrunk. In 1951 and 1952 sales of such items in London were being advertised in The Times, one example being priced at $250, a hundredfold appreciation since the early twentieth century. In 1999, the National Museum of the American Indian repatriated the authentic shrunken heads in its collection to Ecuador.
Most other countries have banned the trade. Replica shrunken heads are manufactured as curios for the tourist trade; these are made from animal hides formed to resemble the originals. In Herman Melville's whaling novel Moby-Dick, Ishmael meets the cannibal harpooneer Queequeg as he returns from a day of selling shrunken heads. In Willard Price's 1949 novel Amazon Adventure, a Jivaro chief describes the process of shrinking heads to the story's protagonists and Roger Hunt. In 1975, Whiting released Vincent Price's Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture Kit. In the 1988 film Beetlejuice, Harry the Hunter, waiting in the Netherworld Waiting Room, has a shrunken head. One of the North American television commercials for the 1990 video game Dr. Mario featured head shrinking, as well as a cover of the song Witch Doctor with different lyrics. A child receives a shrunken head as a Christmas gift in the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas; the titular head of R. L. Stine's Goosebumps #39, How I Got My Shrunken Head has a shrunken head.
The novel was adapted as the two-part Season Four premiere of the television series Goosebumps. In the 2000 video game Diablo 2, one of the five character classes uses shrunken heads as an equippable item in place of a shield. In the 2001 film The Mummy Returns, shrunken heads make an appearance and provid
Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi known as ayahuasca, caapi or yagé, is a South American liana of the family Malpighiaceae. It is used to prepare ayahuasca, a decoction with a long history of its entheogenic use and its status as a "plant teacher" among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest. According to The CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names by Umberto Quattrocchi, the naming of the genus Banisteriopsis was dedicated to John Banister, a 17th-century English clergyman and naturalist. An earlier name for the genus was Banisteria and the plant is sometimes referred to as Banisteria caapi. Other names include Banisteria quitensis, Banisteriopsis inebrians, Banisteriopsis quitensis. Caapi is a giant vine with characteristic 12–14 mm white or pale pink flowers which most appear in January, but are known to bloom infrequently, it resembles Banisteriopsis membranifolia and Banisteriopsis muricata, both of which are related to caapi. The vine can grow up to 30 m in length, twining on other plants for support.
Caapi contains the following harmala alkaloids: Harmine, 0.31–8.43% Harmaline, 0.03–0.83% Tetrahydroharmine, 0.05–2.94%These alkaloids of the beta-carboline class act as monoamine oxidase inhibitor. The MAOIs allow the primary psychoactive compound, DMT, introduced from the other common ingredient in ayahausca Psychotria viridis, to be orally active; the stems contain 0.11–0.83% beta-carbolines, with harmine and tetrahydroharmine as the major components. Alkaloids are present in all parts of the plant. In addition to beta-carbolines, caapi is known to contain proanthocyanidins and procyanidin B2, which have antioxidant properties. First mention of caapi comes from early Spanish and Portuguese explorers and missionaries who visited South America in the 16th century, describing ayahuasca brews as “diabolic” and dangerous decoctions. Although utilised among the indigenous tribes of South America for hundreds and even thousands of years, caapi was not identified by westerners until 1851; when Richard Spruce, an English botanist, described it as a new species.
He observed how Guahibos, the indigenous people of Llanos, chewed the bark of caapi instead of brewing it as a drink. In the United States, caapi is not regulated. A 2006 Supreme Court decision involving caapi-containing ayahuasca, which contains other plants containing the controlled substance DMT, introduced from the Psychotria viridis component, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, was found in favor of the União do Vegetal, a Brazilian religious sect using the tea in their ceremonies and having around 130 members in the United States. In Australia, the harmala alkaloids are scheduled substances, including harmaline. In the State of Queensland as of March 2008, this distinction is now uncertain. In all states, the dried herb may or may not be considered a scheduled substance, dependent on court rulings. In Canada, harmala is listed under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act as a schedule III substance; the vine and the ayahuasca brew are legal ambiguities, since nowhere in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is it stated that natural material containing a scheduled substance is illegal, a position supported by the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board.
Caapi, as well as a range of harmala alkaloids, were scheduled in France, following a court victory by the Santo Daime religious sect allowing use of the tea due to it not being a chemical extraction and the fact that the plants used were not scheduled. Religious exceptions to narcotics laws are not allowed under French law making any use or possession of the tea illegal; the caapi vine itself was the subject of a dispute between U. S. entrepreneur Loren Miller and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin. In 1986, Miller obtained a U. S. patent on a variety of B. caapi. COICA argued the patent was invalid because Miller's variety had been described in the University of Michigan Herbarium, was therefore neither new nor distinct; the patent was overturned in 1999. The Miller patent expired in 2003. B. caapi is now being cultivated commercially in Hawaii. The 2011 novel Plant Teacher explores. Ayahuasca Entheogen List of psychoactive plants Ethnobotany Barbosa, PC. "A six-month prospective evaluation of personality traits, psychiatric symptoms and quality of life in ayahuasca-naïve subjects".
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 41: 205–12. Doi:10.1080/02791072.2009.10400530. PMID 19999673. Banisteriopsis caapi List of Chemicals Report on indigenous use of the plant, the patent dispute United States Patent # PP5,751, June 17, 1986, Banisteriopsis caapi `Da Vine` Erowid's Vault article on the plant A General Introduction to Ayahuasca
Aguaruna people
The Aguaruna are an indigenous people of the Peruvian jungle. They live on the Marañón River in northern Peru near the border with Ecuador and several of the Marañón's tributaries, the rivers Santiago, Cenepa and Chiriaco, they possess titled community lands in four of Peru's regions: Amazonas, Cajamarca and San Martín. A significant Awajún population lives in the Alto Mayo river basin in the Department of San Martín. According to Peru's 1993 Census the Aguaruna numbered 5,000. World Census data for 2000 lists their population at just over 8,000; the Awajún resisted efforts to incorporate them into the Spanish empires. Their reputation for fierceness and the difficult terrain in which they live prevented them from being incorporated into Peruvian national society until the late 1950s—and still in some parts of their territory; the real origin of the Aguaruna people is still a mystery. In accordance with the racial characteristics of the majority, some anthropologists suppose that they came down the Andes centuries ago and adapted themselves to the geographical conditions of the region.
Others believe that they are emigrants of Central America who came either by the coast or through rivers. They established themselves in a zone much wider than the one; this zone included the actual Jaén. It is said that they were influenced by cultural groups that were immigrants from the islands of Melanesia, they have always had the reputation of standing out for their skills in war. Physically there are differences between the aguarunas and the other inhabitants of the Peruvian rainforest, their average height is taller – between men – and their physical constitution denotes strength. The Aguarunas have a traditional and material culture, they communicate with each other in their own language. For this reason, there is a book called the Vocabulario aguaruna del Amazonas written by Mildred L. Larson and published by SIL International in 1966; the Aguarunas are located in the geographical area of the Marañón river, to say on the banks of the Marañón river and of its tributaries, the rivers Santiago, Cenepa and Chiriaco.
Living arrangements Awajún families, either monogamous or polygamous, traditionally lived in dispersed neighborhoods of kin related through descent and marriage. Road construction and the establishment of bilingual schools and health posts has led to a more clustered settlement pattern and in some cases the appearance of densely populated hamlets. Examples of Awajún towns include Japaime on the Nieva; the towns for which there exists a pattern of nucleate population are called "yáakat" in their native language, do not have streets, footpaths, or squares, but rather are constituted of houses of traditional construction. These houses are distributed in a kind of asymmetric form and the tendency is to place them in a linear form along the river. Among the Awajún there is a traditional institution of mutual aid known in their language as ipáamamu, which can be seen in action when they are constructing housing for young couples, clearing fields and, with less frequency, sowing yuca and peanuts; the Awajún were traditionally a seminomadic population, relocating on a regular basis as soil fertility and wild game populations declined in the immediate vicinity of their houses.
Such relocations have become rarer as Awajún find their range of movement confined to titled community lands, which in some cases are now surrounded by the farms and villages of non-indigenous colonists. Hunting and agriculture Major species of animals that are hunted by the Aguaruna include the sajino, the huangana, the Brazilian tapir, the little red brocket, the ocelot and the otorongo. Species which are less hunted include the majaz, the ronsoco, the achuni, the añuje, the carachupa, the otter, diverse classes of monkeys and birds; the animals that they hunt not only provide meat. Hunting therefore has a double purpose: for dietary needs and for making handicrafts and items used in witchcraft. Traditionally, the tribe hunted with a spear perfected with the blowpipe. At present the spear has been completely displaced by the pellet shotgun but they continue using the blowpipe, they gather the wild fruit of some palm trees, like the uvilla some shrubs, buds of palm trees, as well as stems and resins.
They extract leche caspi and gather the honey of wild bees, edible worms, medicinal plants and lianas. They use everything that they gather either for food, traditional medicine, in witchcraft or as fuel, adhering to an ancestral pattern of self-sufficiency; the Awajún are known among naturalists for their sophisticated knowledge of rainforest flora and fauna, the focus of extensive studies by ethnobotanists and ethnozoologists. As agricultural instruments, they use the traditional wái, along with the axe, the machete and the shovel. Other activities The principal crafts are masculine activities like ropemaking, the construction of canoes, textiles; the men make headdresses of exquisite feathers as well as cotton ribbons on the ends of which they place feathers and human hair. These adornments are kept in bamboo cases. Unlike many other cultural groups in what is now Peru, the Aguaruna were never succe
Logroño, Ecuador
Logroño is a town in Morona-Santiago Province, Ecuador. It is the seat of Logroño Canton, it has a population of 5,723. There is a network of limestone caves 2 km from the town, "Caverna de Las Cascadas". Logroño has been inhabited for over 500 years by the Shuar. In 1930, the first to explore the area were missionaries who traveled down from the highlands of Ecuador; the first evangelical missionary settlements were located south of Logrono and the first catholic missionaries were located in the town center of Logroño. Due to its geographic location and economic assets, Logroño began its intent to become a canton on 14 October 1992, official canton and political status were recognized on 22 January 1997. Yaupi, a sector located within canton Logroño has its own governor in the area of'Cordillera de Kutukú'; the first mayor of Logroño was Jorge Enriquez, born in Quito and raised in canton Logroño, the second Angel Moises Molina from near-by town, El Tesoro, the third Gregorio Unkuch from Yaupi, fourth Galo Utitiaj from Shimpis.
About 70% of the population of canton Logroño is nationality Shuar, the remaining 30% is made up a'mestizos' or of mixed origin. Both the Shuar and mestizo cultures are visible throughout canton Logroño in the local food and customs. 90% of Shuar live in the sectors of Yaupi and Shimpis, 10% live in the sector of Logroño. In the Shuar culture it is common to have many children, for men to have more than one wife. Shuar live either a solitary lifestyle; the men are responsible for fishing and hunting, their sons are responsible for tending to the gardens and constructing houses, while the women cook for the house, weave crafts, collect wild edible plants. The traditional'mestizo' cuisine includes roast guinea pig, chicken, a variety of soups and baked pork, local fish, or beef, all of which are all accompanied by rice and cassava, sweet potato, chonta, or other fruits and vegetables grown locally; the main staple of the Shuar diet is'chicha de yuca', traditional food includes ayampacos which includes grubs, fish, or chicken wrapped in leaves and cooked over an open fire, grilled wild game, accompanied by cassava, papa china, sweet potato, or local plants from the jungle and local fruits.
The celebrations of the canton of Logroño are 16–22 January. Throughout the week there are traditional dances, exhibition of local arts, agriculture fair, traditional foods, beauty pageants, a lot of dancing. Other cultural events include: March 21- Logroño limpio, compromiso de todos, a day dedicated to caring for the environment June- Fiesta de la Chonta, the celebration of a local palm fruit. June 29- Fiesta Patronal de San Pedro, a Christian religious holiday. July 25-29- Fiestas de Shimpis, the celebration of Shuar community, Shimpis August 19- Fiestas de Yaupi, the celebration of Shuar community, Yaupi November 3- Day of the Dead, which includes drinking the traditional colada morada and visiting those passed at the cemetery of Logroño. Canton Logroño is filled with caves, lakes and hot springs, it's a great place to get to know the Shuar culture, it is recommended to enter Shuar communities ALWAYS with a local guide, well known in the community. Caverna de las Cascadas, an intricate system of waterfall-filled caves located 10 minutes from the center of Logroño alongside of the Rio Upano.
You can easy spend a full or half day exploring the caves and camp out on the river side or stay in one of the hostels in Logroño. Hot Springs of Logroño, located about 30 minutes outside of Logroño exist these natural hot springs alongside of the Rio Upano next to a small sandy beach, a great place to relax for a couple of hours. Cascada Chumpiankas, a series of waterfalls surrounded by slanted rocks, the largest being 30 feet, outside of the Chupiankas Shuar community. To hike the waterfalls it is about a 5 minute taxi ride from Logroño and a 1-4 hour hike to the waterfalls; the Shuar community sells traditional foods and if your lucky some chicha. Chupiankas Shuar Community, here you have the opportunity to get to know the real Shuar in its pure state- with all of their customs, ceremonies, ancient stories told by the community, their grandfathers, the founders of the community. Within the community exists “Taramak” and “Yawi”, two local groups of Shuar woman who work to conserve their cultural and ancestral traditions.
They make and sell traditional Shuar bracelets, belts and other crafts made from locally sourced seeds and other natural materials. Laguna de Kumpak, Carlos Shiki offers 3-4 day tours from Logroño. Travel to the Laguna includes 3 hours in car or bus through jungle terrain south of Logroño, a 2 hour canoe ride on río Yaupi passing by Shuar communities and a 1 hour hike from the river to the lake; when you arrive at the lake Carlos Shiki has traditional Shuar houses where tourists can stay, serves local food, offers tours of the lake which has piranhas and crocodiles, offers jungle hikes around the area through primary forest and to a natural river'tobaggon'. In order to travel to the Laguna, contact the Municipio de Logroño a week in advance, or a travel agency in Macas. Comuna Grande, a series of traditional Shuar huts located 30 minutes outside of Logroño alongside of the river Unumkis, here they serve typical foods and beverages surrounded by natural forest
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Shuar in Logroño, Ecuador
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Media related to Jivaroan peoples at Wikimedia Commons
