Indigenous peoples of the Colombian Amazon
Approximately a third of the southern part of Colombia is covered by
Amazon rainforest which meets the borders of Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. The
Colombian Amazon forest is inhabited by numerous native ethnic groups,
migrants and colonists. They speak diverse languages and dialects, many of
them from totally unrelated linguistic families and they all have their own
particular traditions including medical practice. The sabedoreslive mainly in
resguardosof the departments of Amazonas and Caquetá medio. Resguardos
are areas protected by the Colombian government for the benefit of the
indigenous people and environment. In the department of Amazonas alone
there are 26 different ethnic groups recorded who live in 19 indigenous
resguardos.^3 Examples of these ethnic groups are the Uitoto, Muinane,
Nonuya, Yukuna, Makuna, Andoke, Tikuna and Cocama tribes. As these
groups live in the tropical forest, they have unsurpassed knowledge of survival
and living in this environment. However, also due to living in this highly
diverse habitat, the indigenous groups have been exposed to the effects of
colonists and outsiders who have come to search for plants, animal skins and
minerals. In particular, the Uitoto groups were victims of the rubber trade of
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries where their numbers were reduced to
a minimum as a result of slave labour and torture. Notwithstanding these
influences, many of the ethnic groups have maintained their language and
traditions.^4 Some are undergoing a process of recuperation.
We refer to selected examples of traditional medicine used by a few of
these Amazon ethnic groups, including indigenous elders who live on the
border of Peru/Brazil/Colombia or in the Ecuadorian Amazon forest. Figure
4.1 shows the approximate location of the sabedoresand ethnic groups
represented in this text.
Traditional Amazonian medical practice
The Historia
In spite of the problems involved, the elders of the Amazon ethnic groups
continue to practise the traditions of their oral Historia, a mythical work
that contains all the historical actions of the gods of creation of the universe,
the world, humanity, origin of the pueblos and punishments (illnesses and
healing, evilness and how to combat it). It also includes their traditional
medical system and botanical knowledge. In this way, the ethnic groups
follow their ancestral knowledge to achieve a valid manner for survival and
maintenance of their daily lives. The Historiais related by means of ‘words
of power’ in a sacred space in the maloca– the plurifamilial house for the
extended family by the sabedores (see below).^5 According to the sabedores,
66 |Traditional medicine