WAORANI
The Saga of Ecuador's Secret People:
A Historical Perspective
© Adrian Warren,
Last Refuge Ltd., March 2002, in association with Dr. James Yost
Waorani Indian children,
rio Cononaco, 2002
"How can the
Indians assume goodwill when we ferret them out so relentlessly
... We approach them from the sky, the sphere which they do
not control ... We are offering them unknown territory for
known, a foreign land instead of home, dependency for self
sufficiency, subjection to outside powers instead of resistance,
and hunger where once there was plenty?
Quote from a Missionary,
reflecting on his life
For most of us, as individuals,
life is defined by family and village; but on a grander scale, human
migration, trade and the inter penetration of cultures are as old
as the human experience. Globalization is not a phenomenon of the
last decade, it is the human condition; as population increases,
we need more room; the powerful relentlessly subdue the weak. Mankind
has followed this universal pattern throughout history - whether
in Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Americas. It is happening now, in
Amazonia; outsiders arrive, engulf, overwhelm, and consume, leaving
a trail of irreversible destruction behind. It is a natural evolutionary
process; it seems inevitable, and unstoppable.
Waorani Indian girls: using
Achiote for face decoration, rio Cononaco, 2002
The history of the Waorani
of eastern Ecuador, and for that matter all of the Amazonian tribes,
is sketchy, but first contacts with outsiders were often both tragic
and violent. Records show that explorers arrived in the Amazon in
the sixteenth Century, when Gonzalo Pizarro, brother of Francisco
Pizarro who conquered the Incas, allowed some of his lieutenants
to follow the river Amazon to its mouth. Of the hundreds of soldiers
who set out on this perilous journey, only a few survived the debilitating
diseases and hostile tribes they encountered on the way. For Indians
who had never seen white people before it must have been a terrifying
encounter, and they defended themselves against the unwelcome intrusion.
For the soldiers, fierce looking Indians who could move silently
through the undergrowth and strike without warning, usually at night,
became formidable adversaries.
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