Waorani - Orientation

Identification. "Waorani" literally means "they are true people" and must not be confused with warani, "they are other Waorani." "Wao" is used to distinguish members of the tribe from other peoples or cowode, "nonhumans, barbarians." The noun may be inflected like a verb: waobo, "I am Wao," waomoni, "we are Wao," and so on.

Location. The traditional homeland of the Waorani encompassed over 20,000 square kilometers of tropical-moist and tropical-wet forest in the eastern foothills of the Ecuadoran Andes. It embraced the first parallel south and was bound on the north by the Río Napo and on the south by the Manderoyacu and Curaray rivers. From west to east it extended approximately between 76° and 77°30′ W. The elevation of the territory ranges from 245 meters to over 600 meters.

Demography. At the time of the first sustained peaceful contact in 1958, approximately 500 Waorani lived scattered over 20,000 square kilometers (.025 persons per square kilometer). By 1988 the population had grown to more than 950 and the land base had been reduced to 2,200 square kilometers (.43 persons per square kilometer). In 1983 the Ecuadoran government deeded to the tribe a "protectorate" one-tenth the size of the original Wao lands, and all but 90 of the tribe moved there. Those who remain outside the protectorate live on the lower Cononaco and upper Yasuní rivers.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Waorani call their language wao tededo. To date no known linguistic congeners have been found, leaving the language an unclassified isolate. Although at least four subdialects can be identified, Waorani from the various areas have no difficulty communicating with those from other areas.