From Aymara to Yuki: Indigenous Bolivia

I spent most of the last three years in Bolivia. This period is about to end and I decided to dedicate a farewell journal to the main asset of this awesome country: its people.

During this period I met and worked with many Bolivians. I prayed with Lutheran Aymara people in the Andean High Plateau and worked with Christian organizations helping Guarani people in the Amazonian Basin. Often I was wounded - spiritually and physically - by the local violence and harshness; however, I wouldn’t have stayed for so long without having been aware of the people’s internal kindness. Following a period of colonization and slavery, Bolivians prefer showing their tougher side; I cannot blame them for that. I am proud of being one of the few foreigners having been accepted as a full communion member of a grassroots Aymara Lutheran Church.

The Puzzle

Bolivia features a unique human puzzle within the Americas; it is the only country with a clear majority of indigenous people. Two thirds of its population belongs to unmixed original cultures while much of the rest are of mixed origins and do not – according to local customs – refer to themselves as belonging to any specific group.

Roughly half of the Bolivian population belongs to the Aymara and Quechua people. Both groups originated on the Andean High Plateau and formed part of the Inca Empire. Recently, the first indigenous president was elected; Evo Morales proudly announces his being Aymara. His overwhelming victory is causing a strong revival of traditions; this journal attempts to give an introduction to these rich and fascinating cultures.

Manners

Do not use the word "Indians;" it is incorrect and insulting; the best way of referring to an ethnic group is by using its real name.

If invited to visit a traditional community ask about accepted manners and what is expected from visitors. The most typical event to be invited to is an apthapi – a communal meal; each participant brings to it a dish and those are put on a colorful awayo cloth on the floor. Circling the food, the people pick up their share of the staple dishes (mainly different varieties of potatoes) and pass around plates with the delicacies. If offered such a plate, the guest is expected to pick some of the food and to pass around the rest.

Visiting

Visiting indigenous people in Bolivia is different than in other countries; here they are everywhere and their traditions are observable only during traditional festivities. Luckily, there is a fiesta almost in every other week.

Within the big cities the indigenous people speak mainly Spanish and do not adhere to traditional customs on a daily base. Visiting closed, traditional communities in rural areas is practically impossible without a guide from their ethnic group. Many of these communities accepted Christianity but rejected the Spanish language and its culture. My personal background (Christian of a non-Spanish culture) transformed me into a welcomed guest and allowed me making many of the observations that created this journal.

Reaching Far Communities

Traveling in Bolivia is difficult and dangerous. Every year tourists disappear without leaving traces; people are killed for their cellular phone. Reaching far located communities without a local guide and without other people knowing the exact destination and schedule is not recommended.

Variety

If the Andean High Plateau is the most densely populated area in Bolivia, the Amazonian Basin provides the widest ethnic diversity. Thirty-seven different ethnic groups are recognized in Bolivia – including the Afro-Bolivians that did not originate in this area. Some of them – like the Aymara – fought for centuries the Inca and Spaniard colonisations and tried to save every little bit of their ancestral culture. Others – like the Leco – showed a cultural elasticity and little is left of their original customs. Other groups include few individuals and thus it is hard to fully appreciate their culture. Nevertheless, I am sure at least tiny bits of each culture would remain part of our global heritage.

Religious matters are a touchy issue, especially in a place where the church wrongly allowed slavery; however, Christianity played a key role in the area and undeniably improved the literacy level. A fascinating syncretism was created and helped the survival of ancient traditions that may have disappeared otherwise. The fact that Bolivian churches are rapidly growing in parallel to the revival of old traditions and the election of the first indigenous president is a sign of hope, of a historical reconciliation and of a better future.

Statistics

The statistics appearing in this journal were collected from the Bolivian Statistics institute, the Bolivian Court of Elections, the Bolivian Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and the Bolivian confederation of Indigenous People. Whenever the data showed differences, I took an average number. However, the number of Aymara and Quechua people – the bulk of the population – is widely accepted.

Traditionally, the Aymara people lived on the Andean High Plateau, east and south of the Titicaca Lake, though during the last years a massive migration to Santa Cruz is changing the Bolivia’s demography. Their culture apparently dates back two thousand years but the lack of a written language makes accurate historic statements impossible; they may be related to the people that constructed Tiwanaku.

The city of La Paz was founded within their territory and once it became de facto the Bolivian capital, it facilitated their access to politic life. Maybe that’s why despite being just the second biggest ethnic group in the country – with slightly above 1.5 million people – the first indigenous president of Bolivia is Aymara and their involvement in political life is remarkable and ubiquitous.

Never having been independent – first they were vassals of the Inca and afterwards they were colonized by the Spaniards – they never renounced their culture. Much of their language was destroyed and replaced by Spanish words but the Pachamama worshipping survived – even modern and Christian Aymara make a "challa" offering and every time they drink they spill a bit of the beverage on the ground.

Sometimes physical characteristics strangely fit cultural ones. High cheekbones, strong noses and slanted eyes create tough, unforgiving faces that are hard to forget; 16th century Spaniards artists were thrilled by them. The faces correctly reflect their harsh culture; "mooky" is the name given to the value of summiting to suffering. Aymara won’t complain about a wrong or offence and thus the traveller should be careful; asking before doing something wrong or touching certain topics is recommended and would be appreciated. I spent long periods of times within an Aymara community and had the opportunity to witness the raising of many children. I have never seen better behaved or quieter babies; the mooky is passed to them very early.

Communities and Unions

In the past Aymara communities were completely communal; private property did not exist. Even now, if staying within such a community for long - especially if accepted as a friend - a guest may experience difficulties with personal items. That’s probably why the Bolivian society is organized in unions. This apparently disorganized, sloppy people can force an impressing level of discipline when it comes to communal issues. Union members must show up to frequent fiestas and protests alike, otherwise they are fined. The "Comites de Vigilancia" are watchers’ committees imposing police-like control on civil matters.

Aymara Language

The Aymara language is related to the Quechua but it sounds harsher. It features only three vowels (a, i, u), and guttural consonants; various Indo-European consonants like the "d" are missing. The massive use of prefixes and suffixes common to agglutinative languages makes it a bit difficult for western ears.

About thirty percent of its words were adopted from Spanish and another thirty percent are shared with Quechua. In Bolivia it is an official language; however, the lack of written literature even in modern times relegates it into a second role.

An interesting feature of the language is its placing the future behind the speaker and the past ahead of him. It is logical if we realize than we can "see" the past (and thus is in front of our eyes) while the future is unknown, or unseen.

Kollasuyo

Kollasuyo was the eastern and Aymara part of the Inca Empire. Nowadays, the term is a symbol of the Aymara culture revival together with the Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Intitata (Father Sun). Ritual offerings are a common sight and may include coca leaves, llama’s foetuses, alcohol and other items.

Uru People

The Uru people are closely related to the Aymara and live mainly in Oruro and the Titicaca Lake; its 2500 people are divided into Chipaya, Iruito and Morato settlements. Some of them live on islets and are famous by their totora reeds’ boats; others live along the Uru-Uru Lake nearby the city of Oruro. The islets are built of totora reeds, which have also a medicinal role similar to the one of the coca in the Quechua and Aymara cultures.

They are closely related to the Aymara people, despite speaking a slightly different language; as the Aymara, they were vassals of the Inca Empire.Aymara speakers are unable to comprehend the Uru-Chipaya language without specific learning.

Quechua People

Quechua people in Bolivia are concentrated in an area drawing an arch around the Aymara traditional lands and in an isolated area north of La Paz. With almost 2.5 million people, they are the largest ethnic group in Bolivia. Compared to the Aymara, they have softer and more varied features. Their language is similar to the Aymara, but sounds softer.

These characteristics of the Quechua people are the result of the Inca Empire organization. "Inca" in Quechua means "ruler" and was the name given to an oligarchy of Quechua speaking warriors that conquered the Andean High Plateau; there are speculations about their "secret language" used among them being the Aymara.

A common practice of the Inca was to relocate conquered people. The forced migration usually destroyed the people’s original culture and helped the adoption of the Southern Quechua language, as the empire’s lingua franca. Thus, many of the modern Quechua speakers have ancestors that belonged to other – quasi-forgotten – cultures.

Numbers

The Incas kept numerical data in quipu, rope strings in which knots denoted numbers.

The Quechua Language

Quechua is the fourth most widely spoken language in the Americas and is divided into four main dialects; the one heard in Bolivia is the Southern Quechua (called also Wanp'una or Traveller).

Like the Aymara, Quechua is an agglutinative language and an oral one. Neither of them had an alphabet; thus they adopted the Latin one once the Spaniards arrived. It uses just three vowels (a, i, u) and several Indo-European consonants are missing from it.

About a third of the language is composed from borrowed Spanish words; however, its structure was preserved. As Aymara, it looks at the past as being in front of us. A striking characteristic is the use of a witnessing level suffix which denotes to which level the speaker can give testimony of the told event.

The Guarani people are one of the main indigenous groups in South America; in Bolivia they total around seventy-five thousand and can be found in the southeast.

Language

The different Guarani groups share a common language belonging to the Tupi family; thus it is commonly known as Tupi-Guarani. In the Tupi language it is known as abá ñe’é (man’s talk) or ñe’engatú (precious talk), the language had many dialects spoken in vast part pf the continent.

Territory

The Guarani people lived before the Spaniards conquest in the eastern part of the continent; from the Andes to the Atlantic and from the Caribbean to the Rio de la Plata. Nowadays, they retreated into settlements surrounding the Amazonian Basin. In Bolivia they are found mainly in the department of Santa Cruz but also in Chuquisaca and Tarija. When the Jesuits left South America in the 18th century, many of the Guarani people left their missions and searched for new homes away from the Spaniards, in the western areas of South America, just where the Andes Range meets the Amazonian Basin; that explains their Bolivian settlements in Chuquisaca.

Traditions

Traditionally, Guarani people were mainly hunters, gatherers and fishermen living in huts arranged circularly around a central plaza, but there are extensive proofs they did some agriculture and domesticated a few animals as well. They are expert craftsmen, especially while creating clothes.

Name

The Spaniards named them "Guarani," a word meaning "war" in the Tupi language; themselves, they used the name "Cario."

Religion

The Jesuits converted most of the Guarani people to Christianity. The Jesuit Missions are one of the main attractions in eastern Bolivia.

Tapiete

Less than two hundred Tapiete people live in the Villamontes area of the Bolivian Tarija Department; they are divided in several communities, mainly in Crevaux and Samawate. Many of them migrated during the last generation to Argentina, where five hundred of them live near the City of Salta. The few of them living in Paraguay arrived there from Bolivia when they were taken prisoners by the Paraguayan army during the Chaco War (1932-1935).

The Tapiete belong to the Tupi-Guarani group of people and like most of them subsist on gathering, fishing and some agriculture. They call themselves Ñanaiga or Ava and refer to their Tupi-Guarani dialect as Guarani-ete, Ñanaika or Guayurangüe; nowadays most of them speak mainly Guarani and Spanish, Ñanaika may soon be an extinct language.

Their area is famous in Bolivia for providing tasty fresh-water fish called surubi and sabalo.

Weenhayek and Mataco

Around two thousand Weenhayek and Mataco live in the department of Tarija in southern Bolivia. They are concentrated in several communities around the towns of Yacuiba and Villamontes, mainly along the Pilcomayo River. The Weenahayek language is hardly surviving and that only due to the traditional reclusive habits of this people; in other aspects their culture resembles the ones of other Guarani people. They were evangelized by Swedish missionaries.

The mentioned Chaco War brought to the Weenahayek area cattle; that resulted in their loosing of their traditional grounds and to the subsequent diminishing of their numbers. When they found themselves sitting on the second biggest gas reserves in the whole continent, they found themselves unable to defend their rights against the international corporations.

Southeastern Bolivia

Trapped between the Andean Range and the Amazonian Basin, Southeastern Bolivia sits over vast reserves of gas, which instead of proving welfare to the poor people of this area is almost turning into a death sentence for several Guarani people groups that hardly survived the Spaniard colonization and the Chaco War. The next few decades are crucial for the survival of them, their unique culture and languages.

Eastern Bolivia occupies the wet Amazonian Basin and the dry Chaco nearby the border with Paraguay; this diverse zone is home to several cultures.

Ayoreo

Around 2500 Ayoreo people live in the Bolivian Chaco, next to Paraguay; they are known also as Kursu, Morotoco, Moro or Corazo and are nomadic, often crossing the border between the countries while hunting and gathering food. Some of them work in surrounding haciendas.

Their quasi-utopian society has no authorities and they keep themselves apart from other people, thing that caused them a long-term persecution by the army until 1958; then, Mennonites and Evangelists reached the area and contributed to their acceptance by the authorities.

Chiquitano or Besito

Sixty-one thousand Chiquitanos live in the Santa Cruz Department; roughly a third of them speak a language known as Tarapekosi or several related dialects. Their main settlements are San Jose, Robore and San Ignacio; the first one is near the original site of the Santa Cruz de la Sierra City.

The Jesuits founded their first mission there in 1692. More than forty ethnic groups of different cultures and languages melted there into the modern Chiquitano group. In 1767 the Jesuits were expulsed and for the Chiquitanos began a long period of exploitation until the 1952 Revolution, when they began struggling for their rights. Nowadays, they are organized in Communal Assemblies; their congress represents their affairs with the government. Their communities keep their traditional economy, based on hunting, fishing, gathering and subsistence agriculture. They are involved in the reforestation of the area and work in the surrounding haciendas.

Despite their varied origins, a specific mythology was developed by them; the "Jichi" is the spirit owning the mounts, animals and water and is recognized as the main spirit. However, there is a deep syncretism of that belief with Christianity.

Paiconeca

Less than four-thousand Paiconeca people live in Santa Cruz and relatively few is known about them. They spoke an Arawakan language, though nowadays Spanish replaced it.


Yuracare

Three thousand Yuracare people live along the Chapare River, within the Cochabamba Department; some isolated houses exist within the neighbor Beni Department. Some of them still speak their ancestral language which is related to the Arawak and Mosetan languages.

Skillful hunters, the Yuracare bury their dead with their bow and arrows, so that they can go on hunting in the underworld. They are involved in a forest management project within their area which granted them land titles by the Bolivian government.

Mbya-Yuki

Around a hundred and fifty Mbya-Yuki (Hunters-Yuki) people still live in northern Santa Cruz; they are hunters and gatherers within the Amazonian Basin rain forest. The name Yuki was given by the white man; they refer to themselves as Mbya. They belong to the Tupi-Guarani group of people and are related to the Mbya-Siriono. They terminated their isolation in 1960 when some of them made contact with the New Tribes Mission; however, nobody knows for sure how many of them sill live isolated within the forests. The ones out, live in Mbia Recuate, next to the Chimore River.

Guarayo

Nine-thousand Guarayo people live in Santa Cruz; they excel in singing and music. According to their traditions, once they die they meet their ancestors after crossing an alligators’ infested river; their ability to succeed depends on the quality of their singing. In the past they migrated away of Paraguay in an attempt to get away from the white man; they settled down along the Blanco, San Julian, San Pablo, Izaimi and Zopoco rivers.

The Guarayo belong to the Tupi-Guarani group of people; some of them reject the name, because since the Chaco War it can be wrongly understood as a combination of "Guara*ni" and "Paragua*yo."

Their love for music was used for the Jesuits in their conversion process; the charmed Guarayo arrived at the churches for the sake of the new music. In 1767 the Jesuits were thrown away, and the army prohibited the use of violins(!) and killed many Guarayo musicians. From 1827 onwards, the Franciscans controlled the area and created six missions for the Guarayos; there they learned to construct violins and other instruments. In 1900 the Franciscan gave the missions to the state and the Guarayos became slaves de facto (they were even prohibited to sign on their own musical creations) until the 1952 revolution; afterwards UNESCO recognized their music as Human Heritage.

After the revolution, they became heavily organized in unions and in 2001 managed to get official recognition to their lands. However, heavy deforestation and sportive hunting are putting their environment in danger; amidst this reality the Guarayo survive on subsistence agriculture. Their hammocks and cedar violins are famous, as well as their hospitality, they offer three days visits to their communities for two-hundred dollars per visitors.

Guarayos give an important meaning to dreams, which are the key to the interpretation of their internal reality and a vessel for messages from their ancestors. Christianity became an integral and important part of their culture and created a complicated syncretism with their ancestral traditions.

Moseten

The Beni Department is within the Amazonian Basin, there and in parts of La Paz live less than three thousand Moseten people, mainly in Covendo and Santa Ana. In the past, they were used as slaves in the harvesting of "quina" the bark of the chinchona tree. The diminishing of their numbers is mainly the result of their marriages with Quechua and Aymara people. They choose every year a new leader for all their settlements through a general assembly.

They subsist on agriculture, mainly on beans, yucca, corn and rice. However, that’s done on a subsistence level, not for trade; only bananas are grown for trade all year around. Their traditional hunting was discontinued due to the lack of wild animals in their areas, but they continue fishing and gathering.

Two festivals define their cultural life. The one is dedicated to the spirit keeping safe their specific village and the other is shared by all the ethnic group; in the last, every member get dressed as a different animal.

Baure

The Baure are an Arawak group living in Beni; most of its five-thousand people live in Baure and El Carmen. The Jesuits’ Mission of Magdalena was founded in 1720; the Baure were considered the most developed group "reduced" there. Beyond their expected subsistence agriculture – their pre-Spaniards agriculture technologies which included even canals were forgotten - the Baure are well known for their chocolate

Animism is the center of their spiritual life; the spirits are called "achane," and are considered the owners of plants and animals; the spirits are asked for permission before hunting and fishing.

Canichana

A thousand and five-hundred Canichana live in Beni, they were "reduced" by the Spaniards in San Pedro de los Canichanas and afterwards were used as forced canoe operators during the rubber era. Nowadays the barely subsist on hunting, though the fences of private farms deprive them of access to much of their areas.

Cayuvava

The four-thousand Cayuvava people live in Beni, where they were "reduced" at the Exaltación de la Santa Cruz mission and afterwards exploited during the rubber era. These tragedies brought them nowadays almost to extinction and most of their communities are mixed. Their agriculture is much more varied than the one of other groups in the area and includes yams, papaya, tobacco, pumpkins, peanuts, sugar cane, as well as the corn, yucca, rice and bananas. They produce dehydrated fish for commerce.

Chacobo or No Iria

Belonging to a Pano group, most of the thousand Chacobo live in Alto Ivon, Beni. They distinguish themselves by the "malocas," big houses where several families live together. After having worked as slaves during the rubber era, their economy concentrates today in Amazonian almonds.

Their mythology is based around a character called Caco, the son of a tiger and a Chacobo woman. He created the rivers and the animals.

Itonama

Most of the five thousand surviving Itonama people live in Magdalena, Beni, near the Itonamas River. Discovered in 1704 they worked as slaves at the rubber plantations; most of their people died as a result of that and the diseases brought by the creoles and the Spaniards.

Nowadays they live within mixed settlements with Baure, Moxeño, Movima and Chiquitano people. Unable to hunt, they survive on subsistence agriculture.

More

Less than four-hundred More people still survive in Beni, mainly in Monte Azul. In the 18th century they were reduced at the Mision San Miguel. As if nothing has changed, their territory is still regularly invaded by creoles deforesting it and using it for cattle and fishing. Their principal product is farinha – yucca’s flour.

Movima

Santa Ana de Yacuma is home to the bulk of the seven-thousand Movima living in Beni. Found by the Spaniards in 1621, they were "reduced" in the Mision de San Lorenzo and afterwards enslaved in the rubber plantations, nowadays they mainly raise cattle. Spiritually, they mix animism with ancestors and river-spirit cult.

Afrobolivianos

This group is intrinsically different from the other ethnic groups in Bolivia; they are descendants of the slaves brought to work in Potosi’s silver mines. The few that survived settled in northern La Paz, as farmers in the Yungas, the valleys connecting the Andean High Plateau with the Amazonian Basin.

Twenty thousand of them live there nowadays in a culture which merged their various African origins with local beliefs and Christianity. They have contributed significantly to the Bolivian music and dances; their story is replayed in every carnival.

Araonas

The thousand Araonas living around Puerto Araona in Ixiamas, La Paz, speak a Tacana language. They were first contacted in 1867 and soon found themselves as slaves in the rubber plantations of then northern Bolivia.

The surviving Araonas are descendants of the only two families that managed to escape the plantations; all the other perished there. Barely surviving as nomads, they created contact again with the modern state only in 1960.

Due to their painful history it is difficult to find their original culture despite it being clearly animistic; nowadays the lack any type of hierarchical social structure. This is one of the few groups which resist Christianity, mainly due to their belief in controlling spirits through a shaman. They excel in hunting and farm Amazonian Almond.

Leco or Lapa-Lapa

The Leco originate in the Yungas. Less than three thousand of them keep today their ancestors culture, mainly due to a massive process of inter-marriages with the surrounding Aymara culture.

Despite their fierce resistance to the Spaniards, they never kept their own culture and there are practically no remains of it, except for a few words that permeated into the Aymara spoken by them.

They live next to rivers and their economy is based on fishing and hunting. Nowadays they have diversified and began growing rice, cocoa, corn and yucca. Moreover, they mine gold in the abundant surface mines and rivers of the area.

Most of them have accepted Christianity – there is even a Leco Lutheran Pastor in La Paz – but there still exist an ancient sanctuary in Irimo dedicated to an ancient oracle called K’ak’a.

Tacana

La Paz, Beni and Pando in northern Bolivia are home to the Tacana people, which number nowadays less than nine-thousand. Their major setlements are near the Beni River in Ixiamas and Tumupasa.

They were vassals of the Inca Empire; afterwards the Franciscans concentrated them in various missions and re-modelled their traditional family and community structures. Agriculture, hunting, gathering and fishing were the center of their traditional economy, which was enriched with the craftsmanship of rubber objects.

The Baba Tcuai or Tata Janana were the spiritual leaders of their communities, and had healing responsibilities as well as social ones.

Machineri

The Machineri is one of the few Bolivian Arawak groups; around two hundred still live in Comunidad San Miguel near the northern border between Bolivia and Brazil. Apparently they crossed the border from Brazil in the last generations.

Subsistence agriculture was forced on them since they cannot ship merchandise within the almost roadless Bolivia while the Brazilian side is saturated with goods.

They are related to the Yaminahua, they marry with them and the communities’ leaders are called Tushawa in both. Nowadays they are affiliated with the Tacana and the Yaminahua while dealing with the Bolivian authorities. Animists, they still give significant religious and cultural power to a Curandero.

Yaminahua

Four hundred Yaminahua people live in Puerto Yaminahua, near the Madre de Dios River, Cobija and along the Noaya River. They belong to the Pano group of people.

This is one of the few groups of indigenous people that were spared the Spaniard "Reducciones," camps where indigenous people were concentrated and used as cheap work labor. Later, the exploitation of rubber drove them away into the inaccessible jungles to avoid being enslaved.

Surviving on subsistence agriculture of rice and yucca, the Yaminahua enrich their diet with hunting, fishing and gathering. The few Amazonian almonds they manage to gather is sold in Cobija, since the biggest markets of Brazil and Bolpebra are inaccessible to them.

They worship serpents, which are considered to be the reincarnation of their ancestors. Women paint their faces with zigzagging lines, in resemblance to local snakes.

Esse Ejja

Another Tacana group is the Esse Ejja; its two-thousand people are spread between La Paz, Beni and Pando. Long time ago, they were pushed into the Amazonian Basin lowlands by the Incas and that kept them safe from the Spaniards.

About a century ago they split in three groups: the Esse Ejja are called those of them living along the Madidi and Beni rivers, Bahuajja those living along the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers and Sonenes those along the Heath River.

Their economy is based on hunting, fishing and gathering, though agriculture is slowly increasing its contribution to their diet and commerce. The Swedish Evangelical Mission is promoting the raise of cattle among them.

According to their mythology, they were created along the rivers mentioned above, next to the Bahuajja Hill; there, live their ancestors’ spirits.

Cavineño

Less than three-thousand Cavineño people live in Beni and Pando; they belong to the Tacana group of people. They were "reduced" in the Mision Esmeralda and later suffered heavily during the rubber era.

During the last years they began talking with the Bolivian government in order to recover their traditional lands. Since their subsistence agriculture does not provide enough means for their survival, they can be spotted working in the rubber and almonds plantations of the area.

Animists, they believe in the spirits of the hills and rivers; "ijawa" is the name of bad spirits and "yusuja" of the good ones.

Joaquinianos

The Catholic Missions of earlier centuries "reduced" indigenous populations. They concentrated them in a mission when efforts to erase their cultures were done. As a result new ethnic groups were created and given the mission’s name. This is the case with the Joaquinianos which originate in the Mision de San Joaquin in Beni; originally, they were belonged mainly to the Baures but there were also Mojeños, Cayubabas, Itonomas and Movimas people.

Moxeño 38500

With almost forty thousand people, the Moxeño is the biggest indigenous group in the Amazonian Basin; most of them live in Trinidad, San Ignacio and Isiboro-Sécure in Beni.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, they had a complex agriculture with an extensive network of canals occupying some twenty thousand square kilometers. Needless to mention, this heritage has been completely destroyed and nowadays they barely survive through subsistence agriculture. They were "reduced" in several missions, Mision de Loreto being the main one.

Since 1990 they are experiencing a cultural revival; in that year, together with the Yuracaré, the Movima and the Sirionó they marched the "March for Territory and Dignity" to La Paz.

Spiritually they have been looking for the "Land without Evil" or the "Sacred Hill" forever; that has been the base for their conversion to Christianity.

Nahua, Sinabo or Kapuibo

Fifteen Nahua people have been identified in recent years between Lower Beni and Lower Yata. Apparently they are related to the Chakobo people and the Pano group but otherwise little is known about them.

Pacahuara or Pakawara

Less than twenty Pakawara people live in Beni and Pando; all of them belong to the same family. They were a numerous people which were almost exterminated by slavery during the rubber era. In 1965, nine of them were moved to Tujuré, where they are being assimilated by the Chacobos – a related group.

They usually perforate their noses and introduce there a piece of wood with feathers. Most of their mythology is lost; they believed in good spirits called "wara" and bad ones called "yochina," the "rohabo" was their main deity.

Reyesano

Fifty Reyesanos are left in Beni; belonging to the Tacana group, they are best known by their now almost extinct language.

Mbya-Siriono

The eight-hundred Mbya-Siriono (hunter-Siriono) people living in Beni and Santa Cruz are closely related to the Yuki, from whom they split in the past.

As late as 1923 they were "reduced" in El Ebiato; nowadays they define themselves as Evangelical Christians.

They still live out of their traditional hunting and gathering, though this activities were damaged by private properties created in their land. Their honey is said too have aphrodisiac powers.

Toroma

An unknown number of Toroma people live in northern La Paz and Southern Pando; they belong to the Tacana group of people. They are related to the Araona and the Cavineño people.

Chimane or Tsimane

Part of the Moseten group, the over seven-thousand Chimane live mainly in San Borja and Rurrenabaque, Beni. They resisted the Jesuits in the 17th century and nowadays resist commercial foresting activities in their area; meanwhile they survive on subsistence agriculture.

Animists, they believe in spirits of mountains, animals and of their ancestors and that the world was created by four brothers "Tsun", "Dojity" (the creator of humans), "Micha" and "Dovo'se" (a woman).