The Huambisa, also known as the Wampis, are an indigenous people of Peru and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. One of the

Jivaroan peoples The Jivaroan peoples are the indigenous peoples in the headwaters of the Marañon River and its tributaries, in northern Peru and eastern Ecuador. The tribes speak the Chicham languages. Their traditional way of life relies on gardening, and ...

, they speak the

Huambisa language Huambisa, Huambiza, Wambiza, Jíbaro, Xívaro, Wampis, Maina, or Shuar-Huampis is an indigenous language of the Huambisa people of Peru. Spanish colonizers first generated the name Xívaro in the late 16th century as a way of overgeneralizing se ...

and live on the upper Marañón and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

rivers. They numbered about 5,000 people in the 1980s.

History

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Huambisa faced several incursions by the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

. They consistently fended off the Inca, developing a strong culture of resistance in the process. After the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire in the 1530s, they too made attempts to subjugate the Huambisa. The Huambisa first encountered the Spanish in 1549, and through the next decade the conquistador Juan de Salinas launched several incursions in their homeland. The Spanish established settlements and the encomienda labor system among the Huambisa, which resulted in a population decline. However, by the end of the 16th century, the Huambisa decimated the Spanish settlements and regained control of their land. Spanish Jesuit and

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionaries made a series of attempts to evangelize the Huambisa in the 18th and 19th centuries, but all resulted in failure. As late as the 1930s, the Huambisa launched attacks on white settlers encroaching on their land. The Huambisa have faced significant turmoil since the 1940s as their native land has been the subject of a

border dispute A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...

between Peru and Ecuador. In 1999, the two countries settled the dispute with an agreement that the territory belonged to Peru. Since then, the Huambisa have faced additional disruption due to oil exploration in the area.Schniter, Eric
"Huambisa"
Amazonia. Archived October 30, 2005. Retrieved November 22, 2020. By the 1980s, the Huambisa gained legal recognition of their ownership of their ancestral lands, making them one of the few indigenous peoples in South America who retain the territory they had prior to European colonization.

Culture

The Huambisa mostly speak their traditional

, one of the

Chicham languages The Chicham languages, also known as Jivaroan (''Hívaro'', ''Jívaro'', ''Jibaro'') is a small language family of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador. Family division Chicham consists of 4 languages: : 1. Shuar : 2. Achuar-Shiwiar : 3. Awajun ...

, but many know Spanish and

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

. They are primarily agriculturists who grow crops, especially

plantains Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

but also

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

, and other plants, using

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

methods. They supplement their diets with hunting and fishing. As of the 1980s there were approximately 5,000 Huambisa, mostly living in their ancestral territory. They primarily live in small patrilineal communities that maintain political independence from one another. Each community lives together in a thatched longhouse, typically 80 feet long by 40 feet wide.

References

Jivaroan peoples Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Peru Ethnic groups in Peru {{SouthAm-ethno-group-stub