Amazonas is a state of Brazil, located in the northwestern corner of the country. It is the largest Brazilian State by area and the 9th largest country subdivision in the world. The prime feature of Amazonas is its immense forest. From the capital, Manaus, one can take tours to see the meeting of waters, where the rivers Negro and Solimões run alongside without mixing their waters, and stay in the lodges in the forest. Though far from the ocean, Manaus is a port city. Among its many attractions are the Teatro Amazonas, the Municipal Market, the Zoo, the Forest of Science, and the Museum of the Indian. Outside Manaus, aside from the meeting of the waters, the main attractions are tours of the largest biodiversity on the planet, with a fauna of more than 250 species of mammals, 2,000 types of fish and 1,100 types of birds. Neighboring states are (from north clockwise) Roraima, Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Acre. It also borders Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. This includes the department Amazonas in Colombia, as well as the Amazonas State, Venezuela.
Amazon Tribes
Indigenous People of the Amazon Rainforest
(by Jacek Palkiewicz)
In order to understand Amazon tribes and their significance, you must understand their history. Prior to the arrival of colonialists from Europe and first contact in sixteenth century, the Amazon River Basin had a population estimated at having up to a five million people and perhaps more than a five thousand Amazon tribes. However afterwards, the Amazonia experienced 500 years of violence, exploitation, and disease, that wiped out most of the original Amazon tribes. Presently, only about 500,000 Amazon Indians survive, which are distributed among an estimated 500 Amazon tribes, including about 75 uncontacted nude Amazon tribes living in voluntary isolation.
Another important integral part of Amazon tribes that helps us understand their culture is language. Unlike Europe, where only one major language family exists (Indo-European), in the Amazonia their are 34 language families. Moreover, their are over a dozen language isolates spoken by only one Amazon tribe and that are unrelated to other languages. This represents an incredible cultural and linguistic diversity unseen any place else in the world. For comparisons, all of Europe, Africa, and Asia combined have just 21 language families. Therefore, just as the Amazon rainforest has the greatest biological diversity and species richness on the planet, Amazon tribes have the greatest cultural diversity and language richness in the world. The major language families of the Amazon tribes that presently exist in the Amazon River Basin include: Tupi-Guarani (70 distinct languages, including Kamayura (Kamaiura), Juruna, Cocama, and Cocamilla), Macro-Ge (32 known languages, including Kayapo and Suya), Arawakan (73 languages, including Machiguenga (somethimes spelled Machigenga or Matsiguenka), Yawalapiti, Ashaninka, Culina, and Guahibo), Yanomam (includes Yanomamö, Yanomami, Guaica, Guaharibo, and Guajaribo), Tucanoan (26 languages mostly in the western Amazonia, including Orejon and Secoya), Panoan (29 languages, including Conibo, Shipibo, Setebo, Cashibo, Capanawa, Juruá-Purús, Matis, Matses-Mayoruna, Marubo, and Korubo), Jivaroan (includes Candosi, Achuar-Shiwar, Aguaruna, Huambisa, and Shuar), Witotan, (includes Bora, Ocaina, and Huitoto), and Quechuan (although originally from the Andes, dialects are spoken by various Amazon tribes in the Amazonia, including Kichwa, Lamista, and Quecha from the Pastaza, Tigre, and Napo Rivers). In addition to the multiplude of language families among the Amazon tribes in the Amazonia, there are various languages among the Amazon tribes that are unrelated to all know languages, and these are referred to as language isolates by linguists. Examples of Amazonian language isolates are Ticuna (Tikuna), Waorani (Huaorani), Trumai, and Urarina (Shimacu).
The Amazon tribes of the Amazon River Basin live in many different environments and have adapted their culture to the various ecosystems. While most Amazon tribes and Amazonian Indians live in the lush, tropical rainforests, some of the Amazon tribes exist in the grasslands and pampas (prairies), and some even live in semi-desert areas. Because of the varied environments in which they live, their material culture of Amazon tribes, which allows them to adapt and survive, varies greatly. In the warmer parts of the Amazon River Basin, most tribes were traditionally nude tribes with no cultural taboos of girls and women showing their naked breasts or of either sex displaying their nude body. Another interesting piece of information about these Amazon Indians is that, depending on the area in which they live and the particular Amazon tribe they belong to, they have had various influences by outside cultures. This would be expected in that the Amazon Rainforest area itself is divided among nine different countries (Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname).
An example of how outside contact and environment has influenced the various Amazon tribes is the Bororo tribe. The Bororo Indians live in the southern Amazon where the environmental conditions are dryer than in the north. Moreover, this Amazon tribe has been in contact with Brazilians for over a century. Consequently, they tend to speak Portuguese and have developed a material culture that is adapted to their semi-arid environment. At the other end of the spectrum are the uncontacted nude tribes in the Peruvian-Brazilian border area. The tribes in this area do not speak western languages such as Portuguese or Spanish and still live by traditional methods of hunting and gathering resources from the tropical Amazon Rainforest.
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