The Toromona are an

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 ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. They are an uncontacted people living near the upper

Madidi Madidi () is a national park in the upper Amazon river basin in Bolivia. Established in 1995, it has an area of 18,958km². Along with the nearby protected (though not necessarily contiguous) areas Manuripi-Heath, Apolobamba, and the Manu Bios ...

and Heath Rivers in northwestern Bolivia. Bolivia's Administrative Resolution 48/2006, issued on 15 August 2006, created an "exclusive, reserved, and inviolable" portion of the

Madidi National Park Madidi () is a national park in the upper Amazon river basin in Bolivia. Established in 1995, it has an area of 18,958km². Along with the nearby protected (though not necessarily contiguous) areas Manuripi-Heath, Apolobamba, and the Manu Biosp ...

to protect the Toromona.

Language

The

Toromona language Toromono (Toromona) is a Western Tacanan language. 200 Toromono were reported in 1983, but they have not been located since. External links Languages of Bolivia Tacanan languages {{Bolivia-stub ...

is a

Tacanan language Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered. Family division * Ese Ejja (a.k.a. Ese’eha, Tiatinagua, Chama, Huara ...

History

No non-natives have contacted this tribe. During the Spanish colonization, Spaniards found it difficult to settle down in the area of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, where their main goal was to find a secret place called Paititi, an alleged hiding place of the Incas' biggest treasures that the Incas concealed from the Spaniards. There are some historical records that confirm that the Incas sealed tunnels in ritual ceremonies. Father

Miguel Cabello de Balboa Miguel Cabello de Balboa (c. 1535 — 1608) was a Spanish secular priest and writer. Early years Miguel Cabello de Balboa was a great-nephew of Captain Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to have lead an expedition to encounter the Paci ...

wrote about a city of gold and he described Paititi as a place protected by warrior women; he also mentioned the Toromona tribe with notes that it had no mercy in killing. Norwegian biologist Lars Hafskjold searched exhaustively for the Toromona and became quite famous by his disappearance somewhere in the region of the

park in 1997. The Toromona have occasionally been seen by other indigenous peoples in the region. In the 21st century, anthropologist Michael Brohan was informed by members of the

Araona people The Araona people are an ethnic group in Bolivia. Their population was 228 according to the 2012 census. Their language is the Araona language which is spoken by 711 people although many speak Spanish as well. The Araonans live in the headwaters of ...

that they had contacted a group in voluntary isolation on the eastern bank of the Manurini River, who were speakers of either Toromona or a nearly unintelligible dialect of Araona.

Notes

External links

Bolivia: Indigenous Toromona in voluntary isolation in serious danger of disappearing
World Rainforest Movement {{DEFAULTSORT:Toromona People Uncontacted peoples Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Bolivia