Asháninka
 |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (between 25,000 and 45,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Peru, Brazil | |
| Languages | |
| Asháninka |
The Asháninka or Asháninca (also known by the exonym "Campa" or "Kampa", which is considered derogatory) are an indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre, Brazil. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and part of Ucayali in Peru.
The Asháninka (their name means: our kinsmen) are estimated between 25,000 and 45,000. Only a few hundred of these live on the Brazilian side of the border. That means that among the 300,000 native people from 65 different ethnic groups in the Peruvian Amazon, the Asháninka are the second largest indigenous group, the Quechua being the largest. The Ashaninka communities are scattered throughout the central rainforests of Peru in the Provinces of Junin, Pasco, Huanuco and a part of Ucayali, and the state of Acre in Brazil. After Brazil and New Guinea, Peru is believed to have the highest number of uncontacted tribes in the world.
See: Asháninka language.
The Asháninka are mostly dependent on subsistence agriculture. They use the slash-and-burn method to clear lands and to plant yucca roots, sweet potato, corn, bananas, rice, coffee, cacao and sugar cane in biodiversity-friendly techniques. They live from hunting and fishing, primarily using bows and arrows or spears, as well as from collecting fruit and vegetables in the jungle.
The Asháninka were known by the Incas as Anti or Campa. The Antis, who gave their name to the Inca province of Antisuyu, were notorious for their fierce independence, and their warlike skills in successfully protecting their land and culture against intrusion from outsiders.
Ashanínka tribal societies have faced overwhelming obstacles in disputes over territory and culture against the immigrating Spanish culture and neighboring tribal societies culture. Among 12,000 – 17,000 BP the first official tribal settlers, hunters, and foragers following the post-glacial climate change settled into the Peruvian section of the Tropical Andes. The Tropical Andes is one of the three major Biodiversity Hotspots in the entire Peruvian Amazon. "Until about 10,000 years ago everyone in South America apparently lived by hunting, fishing, and collecting wild foods in a continent-wide tribal world." Biodiversity is the establishment of the Ashanínka way of life, so they treat this biodiversity hotspot as their 'natural capital.' In AD 1542 the European invasion began breaking apart native Amazonian cultures like the Ashanínka, and the Matsigenka tribal societies. The invasion of the Europeans caused a mass destruction of numerous tribal societies cultures since they did not have natural immunity to the foreign illnesses brought along with the Europeans. The European settlers pushed to overtake the natural territories of the Ashanínka due to the "vast aquatic river system as well as large areas of savanna or scrublands." This invasion of foreigners caused chaos for a short amount of time, forced migrations from the traditional ashaninka territories to new ones, eventually some ashaninka people reached Brazil. Repeated encroachments on their lands have long threatened the survival of the Ashanínka as a people. Yet theirs is a history of resistance, and despite their suffering, this recent victory demonstrates that they are still opposing the many external forces that threaten them.
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Wikipedia