The Awá, also known as the Kwaiker or Awa-Kwaiker, are an ancient
indigenous people
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
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: ' ...
and
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
. They primarily inhabit the provinces of
Carchi and
Sucumbios in northern Ecuador and southern Colombia, particularly the departments of
Nariño and
Putumayo. Their population is around 32,555.
[ They speak a language called Awa Pit.
]
Reserve
The Awa Reserve was established in northwestern Ecuador in 1987. The reserve combines indigenous and forestry legislature, so that the Awa people could manage the forest and their own lands.[ This reserve is in the Choco Forest within the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena region, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, however logging and mining interests are illegally active in the reserve.][
]
Subsistence
The Awa traditionally hunt, gather, fish, and cultivate plants. Today, they also farm livestock, such as chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, and pigs.[Chernela 177]
They practice a form of agriculture called "slash and mulch," which involves clearing small parcels of land (about 1.25 to 5 acres) and leaving the fallen plants and trees to decay. Within days the vegetation turns to a layer of humus
In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...
, favorable for planting. These parcels are cultivated for two or three seasons, then left fallow for periods of over seven years. They practice intercropping
Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves growing two or more crops in proximity. In other words, intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is ...
and grow many different varieties of manioc
''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 ...
and plantain
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 ...
s. They also grow corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
, ''Colocasia
''Colocasia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southeastern Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions.
The names elephant-e ...
'', ''Xanthosoma
''Xanthosoma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae. The genus is native to tropical America but widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical regions. Several are grown for their starchy corms, an important food st ...
'', beans, sugarcane, hot peppers, chirimoya
The cherimoya (''Annona cherimola''), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus ''Annona'', from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop ...
, tomato, tamarind
Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabacea ...
, mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...
, achiote
''Bixa orellana'', also known as achiote, is a shrub native to Central America. ''Bixa orellana'' is grown in many countries worldwide.
The tree is best known as the source of annatto, a natural orange-red condiment (also called or ) obtained ...
, borojo
''Alibertia patinoi'', commonly known as , is a small (2-5m), dioecious tropical rainforest tree, one of the few edible fruit bearing species in the Rubiaceae family. Borojó, native to the world's wettest lowlands (the Chocó–Darién moist fo ...
, naranjilla
''Solanum quitoense'', known as naranjilla (, "little orange") in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama and as lulo (, from Quechua) in Colombia, is a tropical perennial plant from northwestern South America. The specific name for this species of nigh ...
, papaya
The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...
, inga
''Inga'' is a genus of small tropical, tough-leaved, nitrogen-fixing treesElkan, Daniel. "Slash-and-burn farming has become a major threat to the world's rainforest" ''The Guardian'' 21 April 2004 and shrubs, subfamily Mimosoideae. ''Inga''s ...
, avocado
The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...
, peach palm
''Bactris gasipaes'' is a species of palm native to the tropical forests of Central and South America. It is well spread in these regions, where it is often cultivated by smallholders in agroforestry systems or more rarely, in monoculture. Comm ...
, and other useful plants. The trees outlive the annual plants and foster regrowth while the plots are left fallow.
Awa hunt game such as the Central American Agouti
The Central American agouti (''Dasyprocta punctata'') is a species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae. The main portion of its range is from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Mexico), through Central America, to northwestern Ecuad ...
, paca
A paca is a member of the genus ''Cuniculus'' of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America. It is the only genus in the family Cuniculidae. Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and ...
, collared peccary
A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North ...
, brocket deer
Brockets or brocket deer are the species of deer in the genus ''Mazama''. They are medium to small in size, and are found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Central and South America, and the island of Trinidad. Most species are primarily found in fore ...
, iguana, and several birds. Hunting is regulated on Awa land.[
]
Organizations
Their main organization is called UNIPA, which stands for Unity of Indigenous People Awa. Another internal organization is CAMAWARI. Their main leaders are called Governors. Awa actively participate in local politics since 1993 when they elected the first mayor of the municipality of Ricaurte (Juan Legarda) and several municipal counsellors. Since that year Awa people have continued to play an important role in the politics of the department of Nariño.
Conflicts
There were several mass murders of Awá in 2009, perpetrated by members of both Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian army
The National Army of Colombia ( es, Ejército Nacional de Colombia) is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, ...
.
Notes
References
*Chernela, Janet M. "The Awa of Ecuador." In: Stonich, Susan C., ed. ''Endangered Peoples of Latin America: Struggles to Survive and Thrive.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. .
External links
The Awa: Colombia's tribal people
BBC News
World Rainforest Movement
* ttp://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Aw-Kwaiker.html Awá Kwaiker on Every Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awa (Kwaiker)
Indigenous peoples in Colombia
Indigenous peoples in Ecuador
Ethnic groups in Ecuador