DOCSLIB.ORG

Kris Lane, College of William & Mary “Lost Colonies” Conference, March 26-27, 2004

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kris Lane, College of William & Mary “Lost Colonies” Conference, March 26-27, 2004 360 “From Gold Camp to Ghost Town: Bonanza Denied in the 16th-century Andean Piedmont” Kris Lane, College of William & Mary “Lost Colonies” Conference, March 26-27, 2004 (Please do not cite, quote, or circulate without written permission from the author) Abstract: It has been generally assumed that wherever mineral treasure was found in the Americas, permanent Spanish (or Portuguese, or other European) settlements soon followed, indigenous resistance notwithstanding. This was certainly true in a number of backcountry regions, but an important exception might be South America’s equatorial Andean piedmont, or Upper Amazonia. Here, in the eastern foothills of modern Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, a number of early colonial gold-mining towns, some of them extraordinarily rich, were snuffed out by indigenous “rebels,” many permanently. The mines themselves had not worn out, but rather the foreign interlopers’ welcome. Bonanza was in fact so successfully denied that only recently -- with a relative rise in gold prices -- have many of these ghost town sites, and their treasures, been rediscovered. And as in colonial times, indigenous peoples are fighting back tooth and nail. “All gold is fool’s gold” -- Edward Abbey Few incidents in the early history of indigenous-European relations in South America have been as compelling, or as poorly understood, as the so-called Jívaro Revolt of 1599. According to the standard, 214-year-old account, a confederation of lowland Jivaroan peoples (the modern Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa, and Aguaruna of southeastern Ecuador and northern Peru) rose up to snuff out a series of Spanish gold camps and administrative centers after fifty years of ruthless exploitation. In the north Andean context, the contemporary Paezes and Pijaos of central New Granada, the Sindaguas of the Pacific Coast, and the Mocoas of the upper Putumayo (all in southern Colombia) rebelled in similar circumstances, but only the Jívaros completely foiled Spanish attempts at reconquest. While recognizing this unique achievement, this paper examines several potentially revealing fragments in the documentary record and reviews recent research challenging the standard account. (A substantial chunk of what follows is drawn from my book, Quito, 1599: City & Colony in Transition [University of New Mexico Press, 2002], but with different emphasis and substantial added and updated material.) 361 Michael Harner’s classic 1972 ethnography, The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls, introduced a generation of North American anthropology students to organic hallucinogens and shamanic “journeys” in the jungles of southeastern Ecuador, for some a kind of South American complement to Carlos Castañeda’s popular Yaqui anthology. Harner’s vivid descriptions of the Untsuri šuarä shaman’s “hidden world”—not to mention an unblinking demystification of the practice of head shrinking—are still compelling after thirty-plus years, but there was also history in The Jívaro. Indeed, the introduction begins as follows: “Only one tribe of American Indians is known ever to have successfully revolted against the empire of Spain and to have thwarted all subsequent attempts by the Spaniards to reconquer them: the Jívaro…of eastern Ecuador. From 1599 onward they remained unconquered in their forest fastness east of the Andes, despite the fact that they were known to occupy one of the richest placer gold deposit regions in all of South America.”1 What an image: indigenous rebels free for centuries amidst rivers of gold! Furthermore, even casual readers tend to remember Harner’s lengthy translation of Padre Juan de Velasco’s 1790 recounting of “the great Jívaro rebellion of 1599.” This is what the Quito Jesuit had to say about the Jívaro, in summary: 1) in 1599 the corrupt governor of Macas, a small Spanish settlement in the rainforest east of Cuenca, set out to tax his subjects, claiming gold was needed to celebrate Philip III’s coronation; 2) though recognizing the injustice, the governor’s Spanish subjects and most indigenous subalterns submitted; 3) the Jívaro alone balked, but wisely followed instructions given by a cacique called Quirruba, who advised them to dampen suspicion by enthusiastically collecting gold “for the new king”; 4) when the governor visited the isolated mining town of Logroño, the Jívaros struck, massacring all but the women, who were taken as prizes, and 1 Michael J. Harner, The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984 [1972], 1. Harner wrote, he said, to correct some of the errors of Rafael Karsten’s monumental Head-Hunters of Western Amazonas: The Life and Culture of the Jibaro Indians of Eastern Ecuador and Peru (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1935). 362 the unlucky governor.2 His fate is what most readers, casual and otherwise, remember most vividly: “They stripped him completely naked, tied his hands and feet; and while some amused themselves with him, delivering a thousand castigations and jests, the others set up a large forge in the courtyard, where they melted the gold. When it was ready in the crucibles, they opened his mouth with a bone, saying that they wanted to see if for once he had enough gold. They poured it little by little, and then forced it down with another bone; and bursting his bowels with the torture, all raised a clamor and laughter.”3 Having taken their revenge on the greedy governor, the Jívaros then moved on to attack the neighboring gold camp of Sevilla de Oro. On the point of repeating their success at Logroño, Quirruba and his followers, apparently due to some disagreement with temporary allies, suddenly withdrew. According to Velasco, the few survivors of this and a series of related attacks retreated to the highlands, never to return to the golden land of the Jívaro. Today it would be considered sloppy even for a field anthropologist to rely so heavily on a two hundred year-old history written in Italy and peppered with obviously embroidered if not wholly fabricated moral tales. But Harner, like Velasco, had an eye for a good story, and the anthropologist did not want to give this one up. Desperately searching for an indigenous counterpoint to the Jesuit’s tale, Harner questioned an elderly Shuar man about past encounters with whites, hoping for a breakthrough. Only the following enigmatic fragment was proffered: “A very long time ago there were the ai apacï [“ai” white men]. They were many. They were all of bone to their elbows and to their knees. They could move their arms and legs only beyond their elbows and knees. They had shirts and pants. They were fierce and tall. There were many, many of them, and they had women and children. All were the same in not being able to move except for their forearms and lower legs. They didn’t have hats but wore something like the helmets of the [present-day Ecuadorian] soldiers. These men had machetes of iron that they used for killing. They carried their machetes on the left hip. The machetes were somewhat yellow. These machetes had handles of human bone. They said that they had killed many whites with their machetes. They also had shoes. These whites had machu…they rode on top of these. I think these must 2 Juan de Velasco, Historia Moderna del Reyno de Quito y Crónica de la Provincia de la Compañía de Jesús del mismo Reyno, tomo I: 1550-1685 (Quito: Reyes y Reyes, 1940 [1790]). 3 Harner, Jívaro, 21. 363 have been horses. The šuarä were scared of them. These whites also had mua. I do not know what they were.”4 Harner suggests the bonelike articulations that so fascinated his Shuar informant were pieces of body armor (he was further told they resembled turtle shell), the left-hip-borne “yellow” machetes, swords, and the machus and muas, he-mules (machos) and she-mules (mulas). All these details hint at early colonial Spanish entradas, but even when pressed the old man made no mention of fighting between whites and Jívaros, much less memorable acts like pouring molten gold down a governor’s throat. Had the 1599 uprising been entirely forgotten by the Shuar in the 350-year interim, or had it perhaps not happened in the way described by Velasco? Or both? Like his stories of the Inka general Rumiñahui’s hidden ransom and of the rise and fall of the ancient Quiteño Kingdom of the Shyris, this tale by Velasco has remained enormously influential for over two centuries despite the absence of corroborating evidence in either the written colonial or archaeological records. But like most legends, at the heart of the Jívaro rebellion tale is a kernel of truth. The objective of this paper is not to debunk the legend -- that has already been done, though with very little fanfare, by other historians -- but rather to examine the kernel, really a series of fragments of stories that may shed light on the early neo-feudal mining economy of southeastern Ecuador and how exactly the Jívaros ultimately managed to snuff it out when so many others failed in similar circumstances. How exactly was this particular colony, or string of colonies, lost? I’ll end with some reflections on Spanish gold camps in general as a “lost colony” type. The French historian Anne Christine Taylor, along with her ethnographer husband Philippe Descola and Ecuadorian anthropologist Cristóbal Landázuri, have recently shown that the Jívaros and neighboring groups, not to mention rebellious Spaniards, mulattos, and mestizos, had in fact made the southeastern Audiencia of Quito unstable from the opening of the goldfields around 1549; the better-remembered attacks from the 4 Harner, Jívaro, 26. 364 turn of the seventeenth century were simply the death rattle of a long-sick colonial fringe.5 What led Taylor, Descola, and Landázuri to challenge the Velasco/Harner story in the first place was their growing collection of colonial documents painting a far messier and perhaps more interesting chain of events.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rahm Uaf 0006E 10262.Pdf
    Deconstructing the western worldview: toward the repatriation and indigenization of wellness Item Type Thesis Authors Rahm, Jacqueline Marie Download date 23/09/2021 13:22:54 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/4821 DECONSTRUCTING THE WESTERN WORLDVIEW: TOWARD THE REPATRIATION AND INDIGENIZATION OF WELLNESS A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Jacqueline Marie Rahm, B.A., M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 2014 Abstract As Indigenous peoples and scholars advance Native histories, cultures, and languages, there is a critical need to support these efforts by deconstructing the western worldview in a concerted effort to learn from indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing for humanity’s future wellbeing. Toward that imperative, this research brings together and examines pieces of the western story as they intersect with Indigenous peoples of the lands that now comprise the United States of America. Through indigenous frameworks and methodologies, it explores a forgotten epistemology of the pre-Socratic and Pythagorean Archaic and Classical Greek eras that is far more similar to indigenous worldviews than it is to the western paradigm today. It traces how the West left behind this timeless wisdom for the “new learning” and the European colonial settlers arrived in the old “New World” with a fragmented, materialistic, and dualistic worldview that was the antithesis to those of Indigenous peoples. An imbalanced and privileged worldview not only justified an unacknowledged genocide in world history, it is characteristic of a psycho-spiritual disease that plays out across our global society.
    [Show full text]
  • The Position of Indigenous Peoples in the Management of Tropical Forests
    THE POSITION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL FORESTS Gerard A. Persoon Tessa Minter Barbara Slee Clara van der Hammen Tropenbos International Wageningen, the Netherlands 2004 Gerard A. Persoon, Tessa Minter, Barbara Slee and Clara van der Hammen The Position of Indigenous Peoples in the Management of Tropical Forests (Tropenbos Series 23) Cover: Baduy (West-Java) planting rice ISBN 90-5113-073-2 ISSN 1383-6811 © 2004 Tropenbos International The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Tropenbos International. No part of this publication, apart from bibliographic data and brief quotations in critical reviews, may be reproduced, re-recorded or published in any form including print photocopy, microfilm, and electromagnetic record without prior written permission. Photos: Gerard A. Persoon (cover and Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7), Carlos Rodríguez and Clara van der Hammen (Chapter 5) and Barbara Slee (Chapter 6) Layout: Blanca Méndez CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 1. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND NATURAL RESOURCE 3 MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL POLICY GUIDELINES 1.1 The International Labour Organization 3 1.1.1 Definitions 4 1.1.2 Indigenous peoples’ position in relation to natural resource 5 management 1.1.3 Resettlement 5 1.1.4 Free and prior informed consent 5 1.2 World Bank 6 1.2.1 Definitions 7 1.2.2 Indigenous Peoples’ position in relation to natural resource 7 management 1.2.3 Indigenous Peoples’ Development Plan and resettlement 8 1.3 UN Draft Declaration on the
    [Show full text]
  • La Explotación Del Yasuní En Medio Del Derrumbe Petrolero Global LA EXPLOTACIÓN DEL YASUNÍ EN MEDIO DEL DERRUMBE PETROLERO GLOBAL
    1 La explotación del Yasuní en medio del derrumbe petrolero global LA EXPLOTACIÓN DEL YASUNÍ EN MEDIO DEL DERRUMBE PETROLERO GLOBAL Coordinación Melissa Moreano Venegas y Manuel Bayón Jiménez Autores y autoras Alberto Diantini, Alexandra Almeida, Amanda Yépez, Astrid Ulloa, Carlos Larrea, Cristina Cielo, Daniele Codato, Esperanza Martínez, Francesco Ferrarese, Frank Molano Camargo, Guido Galafassi, Inti Cartuche Vacacela, Lina María Espinosa, Manuel Bayón Jiménez, Marilyn Machado Mosquera, Massimo De Marchi, Matt Finer, Melissa Moreano Venegas, Milagros Aguirre Andrade, Mukani Shanenawa, Nataly Torres Guzmán, Nemonte Nenquimo, Paola Moscoso, Pedro Bermeo, Salvatore Eugenio Pappalardo, Santiago Espinosa, Shapiom Noningo Sesen, Tania Daniela Gómez Perochena y Thea Riofrancos. Primera edición, marzo 2021 Diagramación: Cristina Cardona Quito – Ecuador Diseño e ilustración de portada: Sozapato Coordinación desde el FES: Gustavo Endara ISBN: 978-9978-94-216-1 Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador E-mail: [email protected] www.geografiacriticaecuador.org geografiacritica.ecuador @GeoCriticaEc Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Ecuador FES-ILDIS Av. República 500 y Martín Carrión, E-mail: [email protected] Edif. Pucará 4to piso, Of. 404, Quito-Ecuador Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Ecuador FES-ILDIS Telf.: (593) 2 2562-103. Casilla: 17-03-367 @FesILDIS www.ecuador.fes.de @fes_ildis Ediciones Abya-Yala E-mail: [email protected] Av. 12 de Octubre N24-22 y Wilson bloque A editorialuniversitaria.abyayala Casilla: 17-12-719 @AbyaYalaed Teléfonos (593) 2 2506-257 / (593) 2 3962-800 @editorialuniversitariaabyayala www.abyayala.org.ec Esta publicación se encuentra enmarcada en la Minka Científica por el Yasuní www.geografiacriticaecuador. org/minkayasuni. Los contenidos de esta publicación se pueden citar y reproducir, siempre que sea sin fines comerciales y con la condición de reconocer los créditos correspondientes refiriendo la fuente bibliográfica.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous and Tribal People's Rights Over Their Ancestral Lands
    INTER‐AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 56/09 30 December 2009 Original: Spanish INDIGENOUS AND TRIBAL PEOPLES’ RIGHTS OVER THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Norms and Jurisprudence of the Inter‐American Human Rights System 2010 Internet: http://www.cidh.org E‐mail: [email protected] OAS Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data Derechos de los pueblos indígenas y tribales sobre sus tierras ancestrales y recursos naturales: Normas y jurisprudencia del sistema interamericano de derechos humanos = Indigenous and tribal people’s rights over their ancestral lands and natural resources: Norms and jurisprudence of the Inter‐American human rights system / [Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights.] p. ; cm. (OEA documentos oficiales ; OEA/Ser.L)(OAS official records ; OEA/Ser.L) ISBN 978‐0‐8270‐5580‐3 1. Human rights‐‐America. 2. Indigenous peoples‐‐Civil rights‐‐America. 3. Indigenous peoples‐‐Land tenure‐‐America. 4. Indigenous peoples‐‐Legal status, laws, etc.‐‐America. 5. Natural resources‐‐Law and legislation‐‐America. I. Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights. II Series. III. Series. OAS official records ; OEA/Ser.L. OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc.56/09 Document published thanks to the financial support of Denmark and Spain Positions herein expressed are those of the Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights and do not reflect the views of Denmark or Spain Approved by the Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights on December 30, 2009 INTER‐AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS MEMBERS Luz Patricia Mejía Guerrero Víctor E. Abramovich Felipe González Sir Clare Kamau Roberts Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro Florentín Meléndez Paolo G. Carozza ****** Executive Secretary: Santiago A.
    [Show full text]
  • Modes of Dispossession of Indigenous Lands and Territories in Africa
    Modes of Dispossession of Indigenous Lands and Territories in Africa Elifuraha I. Laltaika1 and Kelly M. Askew2 I. Background and context3 The 2003 Report of Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities (WGIP) of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) recognized the existence of multiple indigenous peoples in Africa primarily consisting of pastoralists (e.g., Pokot, Maasai, Barbaig, Karamajong, Samburu, Turkana, Afar, Borana, Tuareg, and Fulani) and hunter-gatherers (e.g., Batwa, Hadzabe, Ogiek and San). These peoples require access to land and water resources in their ancestral territories to pursue their legally protected ways of life per the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, powerful transnational corporations and conservation organizations—both typically aligned with local political and economic elites—were already identified in the 2003 WGIP report as a threat to indigenous lands, resources and livelihoods: Dispossession of land and natural resources is a major human rights problem for indigenous peoples. They have in so many cases been pushed out of their traditional areas to give way for the economic interests of other more dominant groups and to large scale development initiatives that tend to destroy their lives and cultures rather than improve their situation. Establishment of protected areas and national parks have impoverished indigenous pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities, made them vulnerable and unable to cope with environmental uncertainty and in many cases even displaced them. Large-scale extraction of natural resources such as logging, mining, dam construction, oil drilling and pipeline construction have had very negative impacts on the livelihoods of indigenous pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities in Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecuadorian Territory
    1 Territories of Life • 2021 REPORT ICCA Consortium 2 There are Indigenous Peoples living throughout Ecuadorian territory. However, there are regions where they have a prominent presence, for example in the Amazon and the Sierra. In the Amazon, there are the following nations: Achuar, Ai’Kofán, Waorani, Siekopai (also known as Secoya), Quijos, Andwa, Shuar, Siona, Shiwiar, Sapara, and Amazonian Kichwa (comprised of multiple autonomous peoples, including the Kichwa People of Sarayaku). The Amazon region is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples in isolation,3 or “peoples in voluntary isolation,” as Saraguro, Paltas, and higland Kichwa. Ecuador A national analysis on the status of territories of life several studies estimate that at least 40% of Ecuadorian territory (104.06 km) corresponds to the territories Author(s):1 Paola Maldonado, Jaime Robles, Verónica Potes of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The 1 Paola Maldonado Council Co-chair of the theme on “Documenting Territories of Amazon is the region with the largest area of Indigenous Life” territories, representing 73% of the country’s territories Jaime Robles Verónica Potes is a lawyer and activist for human rights and collective It is estimated that at least 40% of Ecuadorian the equator in South America, it is one of the smallest territory (approximately 104,059.1 km) are territories of and most densely populated countries in the region. 2 nations. In a plurinational and intercultural state, the which is home to the country’s largest areas of tropical recognition and guarantee of territorial and collective forest in good state of conservation. The highland region rights and the rights of nature is an essential path to (Sierra Kofán, Siona, Siekopai (Secoya), Shuar (in Ecuador, 3 The Tagaeri Taromenane are isolated family groups, linguistically Wampís nation in Peru) and the Achuar in Ecuador Pueblos indígenas aislados y de reciente contacto and Peru.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Revisiting First Contacts on the Amazon 1500-1562
    Tempo ISSN: 1413-7704 [email protected] Universidade Federal Fluminense Brasil Harris, Mark Revisiting first contacts on the Amazon 1500-1562 Tempo, vol. 23, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2017, pp. 508-527 Universidade Federal Fluminense Niterói, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=167053642006 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Amazônia e Dossiê História Global Abstract: This article revisits four well-known Revisiting first accounts of the first European encounters with Amerindians in the Amazon. The sporadic character of these encounters make the impact on Amerindian contacts on societies irregular and uneven. My analysis is directed to the present condition as encountered, especially the the Amazon variety of contacts. This approach obliges the text be treated as a whole, rather than being read selectively. Maintaining the integrity of the text allows us to see 1500-1562 the different kinds of relations in their contexts. My intention is to use these reports to search for the brid- ges across cultural separations. Each drew the other Mark Harris[1] towards them, in their own ways. These steps opened the way for the “refounding” of indigenous riverine so- cieties in the seventeenth century. Keywords: Amazon; encounter; Indians. Revisitando os primeiros contatos na Amazônia, 1500-1562 Resumo: Este artigo analisa quatro relatos bem co- nhecidos dos primeiros encontros europeus com ameríndios na Amazônia. O caráter irregular desses encontros torna o impacto nas sociedades amerín- dias desigual.
    [Show full text]
  • Gold, Landscape, and Economy in Cristobal De Acuña’S Nuevo Descubrimiento Del Gran Rio De Las Amazonas (1641)
    Gold, Landscape, and Economy in Cristobal de Acuña’s Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio de las Amazonas (1641) DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Daniel Dinca M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Professor Ulises Juan Zevallos-Aguilar, advisor Professor Ignacio Corona Professor Fernando Unzueta Copyright by Daniel Dinca 2015 Abstract This dissertation analyzes how nature is represented and the functions it serves in the discourse of Nuevo descubrimiento del Gran rio de las Amazonas (1641) written by Cristobal de Acuña, one of the first detailed published accounts about the “discovery” of the Amazon region by Europeans. I argue that in Cristobal de Acuña’s narrative, Nuevo descubrimiento del Gran rio de las Amazonas (1641), the narrating subject tries to persuade the Spanish Crown to acknowledge the great economic potential that the natural resources from the Amazon region have to offer, how they would add to the wealth of the Spanish Empire and implicitly begin the Spanish efforts to colonize and evangelize the Amazon region. I claim that Acuña is “ahead of his time” and thinks like an innovative entrepreneurial capitalist proposing a new economic model for generating sustainable wealth: extraction and manufacture of the natural resources found in the Amazon region under a “state-guided” capitalistic system. Acuña does not just describe the unique, exotic landscapes he encounters in his voyage down the Amazon River, but rather these landscape descriptions serve the purpose of emphasizing the economic value of nature in the region.
    [Show full text]
  • The Corrientes River Case: Indigenous People's
    THE CORRIENTES RIVER CASE: INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S MOBILIZATION IN RESPONSE TO OIL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON by GRACIELA MARIA MERCEDES LU A THESIS Presented to the Department of International Studies and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Master of Arts December 2009 ---------------- ii "The Corrientes River Case: Indigenous People's Mobilization in Response to Oil Development in the Peruvian Amazon," a thesis prepared by Graciela Marfa Mercedes Lu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of International Studies. This thesis has been approved and accepted by: lT.. hiS man.u...s. c. ript .has been approved by the advisor and committee named~ _be'oV\l __~!1_d _~Y--'3:~c~_ard Linton, Dean of the Graduate Scho~I_.. ~ Date Committee in Charge: Derrick Hindery, Chair Anita M. Weiss Carlos Aguirre Accepted by: III © 2009 Graciela Marfa Mercedes Lu IV An Abstract of the Thesis of Graciela M. Lu for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of International Studies to be taken December 2009 Title: THE CORRIENTES RIVER CASE: INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S MOBILIZATION IN RESPONSE TO OIL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON Approved: Derrick Hindery Economic models applied in Latin America tend to prioritize economic growth heavily based on extractive industries and a power distribution model that affects social equity and respect for human rights. This thesis advances our understanding of the social, political and environmental concerns that influenced the formation of a movement among the Achuar people, in response to oil exploitation activities in the Peruvian Amazon.
    [Show full text]
  • State of the World's Indigenous Peoples
    5th Volume State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples Photo: Fabian Amaru Muenala Fabian Photo: Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources Acknowledgements The preparation of the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources has been a collaborative effort. The Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch/ Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues within the Division for Inclusive Social Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat oversaw the preparation of the publication. The thematic chapters were written by Mattias Åhrén, Cathal Doyle, Jérémie Gilbert, Naomi Lanoi Leleto, and Prabindra Shakya. Special acknowledge- ment also goes to the editor, Terri Lore, as well as the United Nations Graphic Design Unit of the Department of Global Communications. ST/ESA/375 Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Inclusive Social Development Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch/ Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 5TH Volume Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources United Nations New York, 2021 Department of Economic and Social Affairs The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environ- mental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities.
    [Show full text]
  • Years in the Abanico Del Pastaza - Why We Are Here Stop Theto Degradation of the Planet’S Natural Environment and to Build a Nature
    LESSONS LEARNED years10 in + the Abanico del Pastaza Nature, cultures and challenges in the Northern Peruvian Amazon In the Abanico del Pastaza, the largest wetland complex in the Peruvian Amazon, some of the most successful and encouraging conservation stories were written. But, at the same time, these were also some of the toughest and most complex in terms of efforts and sacrifices by its people, in order to restore and safeguard the vital link between the health of the surrounding nature and their own. This short review of stories and lessons, which aims to share the example of the Achuar, Quechua, Kandozi and their kindred peoples with the rest of the world, is dedicated to them. When, in the late nineties, the PREFACE WWF team ventured into the © DIEGO PÉREZ / WWF vast complex of wetlands surrounding the Pastaza river, they did not realize that what they thought to be a “traditional” two-year project would become one of their longest interventions, including major challenges and innovations, both in Peru and in the Amazon basin. The small team, mainly made up of biologists and field technicians, aspired to technically support the creation of a natural protected area to guarantee the conservation of the high local natural diversity, which is also the basis to one of the highest rates of fishing productivity in the Amazon. Soon it became clear that this would not be a routine experience but, on the contrary, it would mark a sort of revolution in the way WWF Patricia León Melgar had addressed conservation in the Amazon until then.
    [Show full text]
  • Languages of the Middle Andes in Areal-Typological Perspective: Emphasis on Quechuan and Aymaran
    Languages of the Middle Andes in areal-typological perspective: Emphasis on Quechuan and Aymaran Willem F.H. Adelaar 1. Introduction1 Among the indigenous languages of the Andean region of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and northern Argentina, Quechuan and Aymaran have traditionally occupied a dominant position. Both Quechuan and Aymaran are language families of several million speakers each. Quechuan consists of a conglomerate of geo- graphically defined varieties, traditionally referred to as Quechua “dialects”, not- withstanding the fact that mutual intelligibility is often lacking. Present-day Ayma- ran consists of two distinct languages that are not normally referred to as “dialects”. The absence of a demonstrable genetic relationship between the Quechuan and Aymaran language families, accompanied by a lack of recognizable external gen- etic connections, suggests a long period of independent development, which may hark back to a period of incipient subsistence agriculture roughly dated between 8000 and 5000 BP (Torero 2002: 123–124), long before the Andean civilization at- tained its highest stages of complexity. Quechuan and Aymaran feature a great amount of detailed structural, phono- logical and lexical similarities and thus exemplify one of the most intriguing and intense cases of language contact to be found in the entire world. Often treated as a product of long-term convergence, the similarities between the Quechuan and Ay- maran families can best be understood as the result of an intense period of social and cultural intertwinement, which must have pre-dated the stage of the proto-lan- guages and was in turn followed by a protracted process of incidental and locally confined diffusion.
    [Show full text]