Waorani - History and Cultural Relations



Wao oral history says simply that the Waorani originated "downriver" and migrated into their present homeland "long ago." The lack of linguistic affiliation, archaeological data, and adequate historical references to them makes any precise statement of origins and movements impossible. Serologically, they have the same blood type and genetic markers as most indigenous groups in Amazonia. Their oral traditions make it clear that they have maintained extremely hostile relationships with all outside groups for many generations. The earliest reference to them, in the late 1600s, indicates that a peaceful contact with Europeans ended in violence seven years later. When European traders began plying the major Ecuadoran rivers in the 1700s, the Waorani developed only sporadic and tenuous trading relationships, often raiding the traders rather than trading peacefully. Rubber gatherers captured Wao slaves in the late nineteenth century, and Europeans and surrounding indigenous groups like the Lowland Quichua and Zaparoans conducted punitive raids on Wao settlements in reaction to the hostilities the Waorani directed toward outsiders.

Since the early 1940s petroleum exploration companies have conducted systematic activities in Wao territory, often punctuated by Wao spearing raids against company workers and retaliations against the Waorani. Until 1958 the Waorani did not enter into continuous relationships with any other peoples. In that year two missionary women succeeded in establishing peaceful contact with one small settlement on the Río Tewaeno, and in the ensuing two decades all the Waorani except for a roving band of a dozen were contacted. The hostilities waned, and the Waorani began to establish trading and marriage relationships with other peoples, the Lowland Quichua from Arajuno and Tena in particular. As a result of the end of hostilities, the traditional lands were entered by oil and timber companies and taken over by Ecuadoran colonists in the early 1980s. Yasuní National Park was established in the eastern end of the territory, and Waorani are permitted to remain there if they live a "traditional" lifestyle. Others must live in the small protectorate.


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