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 Yaneshaʼ girls of the Peruvian Amazon | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 10,000[1] (2000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Peru | |
| Languages | |
| Yanesha,Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| traditional tribal religion |
TheYaneshaʼ orAmuesha people are anethnic group of thePeruvian Amazon rainforest. Presently, the most recentcensus count puts theirpopulation at over 7,000 distributed among 48 communities located inPuerto Inca Province (Huánuco),Chanchamayo Province (Junín) andOxapampa Province (Pasco). They are a relatively small group, making up barely 2.91% ofindigenous inhabitants located in the Peruvian Amazon. Their communities are situated in altitudes ranging from 200 to 1600 meters abovesea level and can also be found along the shores of variousrivers including thePichis,Palcazu,Pachitea,Huancabamba,Cacazú,Chorobamba, and theYurinaqui Rivers.
The Yaneshaʼ are also known as Amage, Amagues, Amaje, Amajo, Amoishe, Amueixa, Amuese, Amuesha, Amuetamo, Lorenzo, and Omage.[1]
The Yanesha people speakYaneshaʼ, a language belonging to theMaipureanlanguage family,[1] that also includesAsháninka,Yine, and others. A dictionary and grammar have been published in Yaneshaʼ, which is written in theLatin script.[1]
The tribe's first contact with non-native people came throughfriars who, in the second half of the 16th century, made an incursion into the region. However, it was not until the 18th century that missionaries (this timeFranciscans) managed to establish steady relations with the Yaneshaʼ and other ethnic groups living nearby. Father Francisco de San José founded various missions aroundCerro de la Sal (Villa Rica District) and Quimiri (La Merced, Junin) to convert the indigenous populations toChristianity. However, in 1742, indigenous people commanded byJuan Santos Atahualpa rebelled against the Spaniards and destroyed a number of missions, effectively cutting off outside contact for several decades.
It's not known for sure the population of the Yaneshaʼ people at this time but they had certainly already begun to die off from European diseases. During the 19th century, the area inhabited by the Yaneshaʼ and other groups was reexplored by expeditions looking to establish routes to the lower Amazon and tocolonize the area.
The arrival of westerners represented for the Yaneshaʼ the loss of land and a dramatic change of living customs ensued; they were grouped into towns and their extensive territories became the property of colonists. With this situation, they were compelled to group together and became the first ethnic group to form a professional organization: the Amuesha Congress. This later became the Yaneshaʼ Federation. The Law of Indigenous Communities (sp:La Ley de Comunidades Indígenas), promulgated in 1974, partly repaired the situation of dispossession by granting some land to Yaneshaʼ groups.
The Yaneshaʼ people once lived throughhunting,fishing, andsubsistence agriculture; in modern times, the emphasis is onagricultural diversification and cultivation ofcash crops likecoffee andannatto. Hunting became much rarer after the Yaneshaʼ people began raising animals for consumption. In addition, groups have begun exploitingCat's claw. The marketing of ceramiccrafts has also become a source of income.
In 1988, a territory of over 34,774hectares was set up inPalcazu District as theYaneshaʼ Communal Reservation (Reserva Communal Yaneshaʼ) with the purpose of protecting importantfauna that serves as sustenance to Yaneshaʼ communities in the area.
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