Peru: Fire Ravages Community of Amazon Natives in Lima
Peru: Fire Ravages Community of Amazon Natives in Lima
by Associated Press
Nov 4 2016, 4:23 pm ET
A fast-moving fire has destroyed Lima's only community of Amazon natives, devouring nearly 300 simple wooden homes just 10 blocks from the Peruvian capital's presidential palace and parliament.
Authorities report one serious injury, a child with burns who was hospitalized.
The fire broke out early Friday in Cantagallo, home to more than 3,000 Shipibo indigenous people. Officials say 46 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters tried to douse the flames, but water was in short supply and narrow streets impeded their access. Residents say the fire started near workshops where clothes, suitcases and shoes are made and where there were inflammable chemicals.
Cantagallo was founded in 2000 and its older residents hail from an Amazon region battered by the country's 1980-2000 internal conflict.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/peru-fire-ravages-community-amazon-natives-lima-n678171
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The Shipibo
The Shipibo are one of the largest tribes in Peru’s Amazon with a population of approximately 35,000 – 38,000 people. Their ancestral territory runs north and south of Pucallpa, a jungle city on the Ucayali River. The Ucayali is a large river originating from the Andes Mountains that joins the Amazon River in Northern Peru. The Shipibo live in at least 150 small communities along the Ucayali River, its tributaries and oxbow lakes. Communal living in multiple family groups is the traditional way in which the Shipibo have lived for many generations. In the past, the three groups the Shipibo, Konibo, and Xetebo were considered separate tribes. Today, they are blended into one group after years of intermarriage. They are related culturally and are of the same linguistic family, the Pano. They are most often simply referred to as the Shipibo or the Shipibo Konibo tribe.
The Shipibo were never conquered by the Inca Empire and they resisted colonization by Spanish priests who began appearing in the rainforest around 1600. The Franciscan priests eventually established a settlement in Shipibo territory by the present port city of Pucallpa. Pucallpa is in the central area of the Shipibo territory and grew rapidly in the early 1900’s during the time of the rubber boom. Then in the 1950’s missionaries descended upon the Shipibo with intense efforts to convert them to Christianity. There is still a strong missionary presence around Pucallpa.
More:
https://shipibojoi.wordpress.com/the-shipibo-3/
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Shipibo man
Historical photograph
Shipibo ceramics
Ceremonial dress [/center]
