The Amahuaca or Amhuaca are

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of the southeastern Amazon Basin in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Isolated until the 18th century, they are currently under threat from ecological devastation, disease and violence brought by oil extractors and illegal loggers. In 1998 they numbered about 520. The largest community of the Amahuaca is in Puerto Varadero, a jungle community on the Peruvian–Brazilian border.

Ayahuasca

The Amahuaca are one group of the Amazon that uses a drug called

ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' ( Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' desce ...

. They believe that Ayahuasca gives them supernatural powers, sending them into a state of mind that makes them feel superhuman.

History

The Amahuaca are desentants of the Polynesian populations that might have migrated to the Pacific coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. When they were first sighted in the 18th century, they were threatened by illegal logging, diseases and habitat loss.

Name

The Amahuaca are also known as: Amaguaco, Amawaca, Amawáka, Amawaka, Amenguaca, Ameuhaque, Ipitineri, Sayaco, Sayacu, or Yora people. In the early twentieth century they were sometimes referred to as the Huni Kui.F. Bruce Lamb, ''Wizard of the Upper Amazon: The Story of Manuel Cordova-Rios,'' North Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA, 1971.

Language

As of 2000, approximately 220 Amahuaca spoke the

Amahuaca language Amahuaca is an indigenous language of the Amazon Basin in Perú and Brazil. It is also known as Amawaka, Amaguaco, Ameuhaque, Ipitineri, and Sayaco. Amahuaca is a Panoan languages, Panoan language that is believed to be closely related to Cashina ...

, a Panoan language. The language is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

, and a grammar has been published. From 1963 to 1997, portions of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

were translated into Amahuaca.

Economic development

Amahuaca people hunt, fish, farm, and work in the lumber and oil industries or as domestic servants. They harvest and process

Brazil nuts The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest ...

Notes

External links

Amahuaca art
National Museum of the American Indian

Countries and Their Cultures Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Peru {{Brazil-stub