The Tsimané, also known as the Tsimane' or Chimane, 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 ...

of lowland Bolivia, living chiefly in the Beni Department municipalities of San Borja, San Ignacio de Moxos,

Rurrenabaque Rurrenabaque is a small town in the north of Bolivia on the Beni River. It is the capital of Rurrenabaque Municipality. In recent years it has become popular with international tourism as it is an easy gateway for visits to Madidi National Park ( ...

, and Santa Ana del Yacuma. The Tsimané are the main residents of the T’simane Council Territory ( es, Territorio del Consejo T’simane) and the Pilón Lajas Reserve. They are primarily a subsistence agriculture culture, although hunting and fishing contribute significantly to many of the settlements' food supply. Those Tsimané living in the Reserve are affiliated with the multiethnic Consejo Regional Tsimane Moseten (CRTM), which holds the title to the Reserve as a Native Community Land or TCO.

Name

The Tsimané are also known as the Achumano, Chamano, Chimane, Chimanis, Chimanisa, Chimnisin, Chumano, Nawazi-Moñtji, and Ramano people."Chimane."
''Countries and Their Cultures.'' Retrieved 2 March 2012.

Language

The Tsimané speak the

Tsimané language Chimané (Tsimané) is a South American language isolate. Some dialects are known as Mosetén (Mosetén of Santa Ana, Mosetén of Covendo). Chimane is a language of the western Bolivian lowlands spoken by the Tsimane peoples along the Beni River ...

, which is a Mosetenan language. The other Mosetenan languages are Mosetén of Santa Ana and Mosetén of Covendo (Sakel 2004). It can be described as a small language family, though sometimes it also appears as a language isolate. The reason for this is that some of the variants are mutually intelligible (Sakel 2004), see also

Subsistence

They live in small communities composed of 20 to 30 families. Tsimané and Mosetén people depends mainly on subsistence farming, they cultivate bananas and

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 ...

through swidden agriculture, although hunting, fishing and gathering contribute significantly as a source of food for almost all communities. The population has been undergoing some degree of market integration over the past 15 years, and some Tsimane now participate in the cash economy.

Health

Both the Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study and The Tsimane Health and Life History Project have studied the Tsimane since 2002. Among other things, it appears that they do not develop heart disease as they age in the same ways as people in the developed world. Blood tissue from the Tsimané exhibits a slower intrinsic epigenetic aging rate than that of other populations according to a biomarker of tissue age known as epigenetic clock. This finding might explain the "Tsimane inflammation paradox", wherein high levels of inflammation and infection, and low HDL cholesterol levels, are not associated with accelerated cardiovascular aging. Tsimané sleep patterns have been studied as an example of "natural" sleep in nonindustrial or preindustrial societies, and to assess relationships between sleep patterns and health. Factors observed include sleep duration, timing, natural light, ambient temperature and seasonality. A normal daily pattern for a Tsimané group is to work during the day, congregate around a fire while cooking food, share a meal, then remain by the fire as it gets dark, sharing stories and information. Children and mothers tend to move away to sleep before male adults, with sleep onset occurring, on average, 3.3 hours after sunset. From beginning to end, sleep periods averaged 6.9–8.5 hours, with actual time slept of 5.7–7.1 hours, less sleep than reported in many industrial societies. The average Tsimané woman has nine children in her lifetime. A study of 983 Tsimané women found that 70% were infected with the parasitic

roundworm The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a bro ...

Ascaris lumbricoides ''Ascaris lumbricoides'' is a large parasitic worm that causes ascariasis in humans. A roundworm of genus '' Ascaris'', it is the most common parasitic worm in humans. An estimated one-sixth of the human population is at some point infected by ...

'', which is believed to have increased their fertility rate by suppressing their immune system, leading to two additional children over the course of a lifetime.

Notes

External links

Tsimané material culture

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

Tsimane Amazonian Panel StudyThe Tsimane Health and Life History ProjectPueblos Indíginas de Bolivia: Chiman
* https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170317132004.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsimane People Indigenous peoples in Bolivia Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Hunter-gatherers of South America Beni Department