Humans in all tropical regions have had millennia in
which to learn about and adapt to their environments.
Indigenous knowledge, passed down orally over
generations, is deeply ingrained in local tribal
populations (plate 17- 1). For example, Amerindian
peoples make diverse use of Moriche Palm (Mauritia
flexuosa) throughout its extensive range. Called the koi
in Suriname and the buriti in Brazil, this species, which
has been called the “tree of life,” provides wood for
canoes and houses, thatch, and material for weaving. It
is also used for making bow staves, spears, arrow shafts,
and manioc strainers. Its unopened flowers are used to
make wine or for flavoring. Fruit from Moriche Palm,
used for oil, is reported to be the third most important
fruit, after bananas and plantains, sold at the markets
in Iquitos, Peru. A long time ago, people figured out all
of those uses.
Some aboriginal groups have learned to extract and
refine potent poisons, ranging from batrachotoxins in
frog skin (chapter 11) to curare from various plants.
The spiritual world is extremely important in many
tribal cultures, hardly surprising when one considers
how many hallucinogenic drugs are extracted from
tropical plants and mushrooms. Consequently, one
of the most important members of many traditional
tribal societies is the village shaman, the person who
holds the knowledge about the varied uses of local
plants and animals and who, it is believed, is able to
communicate with the spirit world. In addition to their
local knowledge of plants, the hunting skills of tropical
indigenous peoples have been widely documented,
from the stealth and speed with which they move
through the forest to their accuracy with a bow and
arrow or blowgun.
This chapter considers some of the aspects of how
people successfully thrive in tropical rain forests and
how they have adapted certain agricultural practices to
sustain crops in the tropics.Human Occupation of Amazonia
The indigenous peoples of tropical America inhabited
Amazonia for several millennia before the Spaniards
arrived (usually dated to 1492, the first voyage of
Columbus). Their total population number remains an
open question (see more on this later in chapter). When
Europeans began staking claims in Amazonia between1500 and 1600, the indigenous population crash
began, largely due to the introduction of such diseases
as smallpox, diphtheria, and influenza. Questions
remain as to just how dense human populations were
in pre- Columbian times and what their collective
influence on the landscape was. Human prehistory in
Amazonia remains uncertain, but archaeological data
are being uncovered. Some evidence now suggests that
widespread urbanization, population concentration,
and agriculture thrived within parts of Amazonia.
Vá r z e a regions, where soil fertility is annually renewed
during the flood cycle, may have supported large and
permanent settlements from about A.D. 500 until the
European conquest. Francisco de Orellana, European
discoverer of the Amazon River, reported dense
human populations along much of the river when
he navigated it in 1542. However, many of Orellana’s
observations (actually reported by his scribe, Friar
Gaspar de Carvajal) are considered questionable as to
veracity. It was Carvajal, for example, who reported
an aggressive tribe of women, who became known as
the Amazons, very likely a mythical tribe but one from
which a sizeable river obtained its name.
Until recently, it was generally believed that South
American Amerindian civilization originated in the
Andes and slowly spread eastward into Amazonia.
That view has been challenged by the discovery of
artifacts that may predate Andean artifacts. Middens
have been uncovered in the Santarém region of Brazil,
near the confluence of the Tapajós and Amazon rivers,Chapter 17. Human Ecology in the Tropics
Plate 17- 1. Humans live close to nature in most tropical
regions and have learned how to extract resources and
nutrition from the landscape. This is Blue Creek Village in the
Toledo District of Belize. Photo by John Kricher.chapter 16 365