AfrobolivianosThis 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.
AraonasThe 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-LapaThe 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.
TacanaLa 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.
MachineriThe 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.
YaminahuaFour 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 EjjaAnother 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.
CavineñoLess 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.
JoaquinianosThe 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 PakawaraLess 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.
ReyesanoFifty Reyesanos are left in Beni; belonging to the Tacana group, they are best known by their now almost extinct language.
Mbya-SirionoThe 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.
ToromaAn 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 TsimanePart 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).