ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN PERU: THE 13 MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The ethnic diversity in Peru is recognized worldwide as an important cultural wealth. The Peruvian population is made up of mestizo, white, Afro-Peruvian, Asian and indigenous races.

Only the indigenous race, also known as Amerindian, is home to 68 ethnic groups, of which 7 live in isolation, that is, on the fringes of civilization.

Each of these ethnic groups conserves traditions, beliefs, customs and ancestral wisdoms that respond to a unique way of understanding the world, in which the relationship of man with nature, the land in production and the community predominate.

The Amerindian population is divided into 16 ethnolinguistic families, among which the Quechua, Aymara and Arawak stand out; each of these ethnic groups speaks their own language.

In 2007, the Quechuas reached a population of 3 million speakers, the Aymara 500,000 and the Arawaks 60,000. Ethnic groups that voluntarily remain isolated have managed to keep their cultures almost intact.

There are others who have integrated into modern life, who have discarded many of their customs or have merged them, losing in many cases the language, a fundamental element for the transmission of their culture.

Most of the ethnic groups of Peru inhabit the Amazon jungle and the highlands. They have suffered the wars between Inca armies and, in the 20th century, many of them were made slaves to develop an illegal rubber industry in the Amazon.

The main ethnic groups of Peru

1- Aymara

The Aymara inhabited the Andean plateau of Lake Titicaca long before the Inca Empire and the Spanish conquest. They live mainly from agriculture, raising animals on their plots and fishing.

The basis of their diet is corn flour, jerky, American camelid meat, chuño, potato and quinoa, a cereal with great demand worldwide.

The Aymara live in the south east of Peru and are also found in Bolivia and Brazil; They have the second most widely spoken Amerindian language after Quechua.

2- Awajun - Aguaruna

This ethnic group is recognized for the production of textiles and lives between the Marañón, Cenepa, Chinchipe, Nieva, Mayo, Apaga, Potro and Bajo Santiago rivers, in the regions of Amazonas, Loreto, Cajamarca and San Martín.

It has a population of 55,366 people who are characterized by a sense of belonging to their group, a particularity that has allowed them to preserve their culture and, especially, their spiritual values.

This condition has marginalized them from opportunities for a better quality of life, and many of them live in misery.

3- Amahuaca

The Amahuaca have a population of 247 inhabitants and live on the banks of the Mapuya, Curanja, Sepahua, Inuya and Yurúa rivers. It is an isolated group since the 18th century and is in danger from deforestation and illegal mining.

This ethnic group lives from itinerant slash-and-burn horticulture, hunting, fishing and the production of wood for commercial purposes; they have also managed to commercialize peanuts, rice and beans.

Currently its population is peasant and they speak the Panoan language. The Amahuaca are said to practice cannibalism within their ethnic group.

4- Amrakaeri

The Amrakaeri belong to the Arawak linguistic family and have a population of 1,600 inhabitants, spread over ten communities.

This ethnic group is made up of small groups, such as the Amarakaeri, Arasaeri, Huachipaeri, Kisamberi, Pukirieri, Sapiteri and Toyoeri.

They live by growing cassava, sugar cane, banana, peanut, pineapple, corn and the extraction of wood for commercial use.

5- Asháninca

Also known as campas, it is an Amazonian ethnic group known in earlier times as antis or chunchos.

It has the largest Amerindian population in the Peruvian Amazon and a strong history of struggle and resistance to the Inca invasions.

It has a population of almost 100,000 inhabitants and they have inherited the metal work for the manufacture of homemade weapons, manufacture of textiles, musical instruments and stone sculpture, mainly.

6- Cocama

This aboriginal town has a population of 12,000 people and bases its economy on agriculture and fishing.

They grow bananas, rice, beans, corn and sweet cassava; and they commercialize fish, wood, cattle, chickens and handicrafts.

They are recognized for the practices of witchcraft and shamanism used for the resolution of conflicts and the cure of diseases, in which they use tobacco leaves, palm leaves, camphor and flowery water.

7- Chamicuro

This ethnic group lives in the Lagunas area by the Huallaga River, in the Loreto region, and only integrates a community of 63 people, mostly men.

The community has suffered the invasion of Inca warriors, and in the 20th century the indigenous people were enslaved to work in the extraction of rubber.

It is a group in danger of extinction, due to its low population and its proximity to another indigenous tribe called the Kukamiria.

8- Matses

The Matses are also known as Mayorunas and they live in the Peruvian Amazon, on the border with Brazil.

They have a population of 3,000 people and inhabit a vast territory.

They are recognized for being warriors and very cunning. They live in chacras, communal houses shared by several families.

9- Matsiguenga

Also known as machiguenga, it is an ethnic group that lives in the Peruvian Amazon, between the departments of Cuzco and Madre de Dios, in the Urubamba, Picha, Camisea, Timpía and Manu river basins.

Approximately 15,000 people belong to this ethnic group and 12,000 speak the Matsiguenga language, part of the Arawak linguistic family.

They live from slash-and-burn horticulture, hunting and fishing, and crops of cassava, sachapapa, pituca, sweet potato, peanut, corn and banana. The raising of free-range animals, such as guinea pigs, is also typical of this ethnic group.

Currently they sell cocoa, coffee and achiote, and some of them develop livestock and timber extraction for commercial uses.

10- Nuquencaibo

Also known as capanahua, it is an ethnic group from the Amazon that inhabits the banks of the Tapiche and Buncuya rivers, in the Loreto region.

It was a group oppressed by the colonists who exploited rubber at the beginning of the 20th century.

Their language is Capanahua, which is part of the Pano linguistic family.

11- Wampis

Also known as Huambisas, they have the peculiarity that in 2015 they formed their own autonomous government. This was due to the constant threats from the extractive industries that operate in the Amazon, the place where they live.

12- Yagua

Indigenous population located in the Loreto region, as well as in some areas of the Colombian Amazon. The population includes about 4,000 people, who develop agriculture, fishing and hunting as a means of subsistence. They are good craftsmen and speak a language that has not yet been classified.

13- Arabé

Ethnic group descended from the ancient oas, they call themselves tapueyocuaca and are located in the Loreto region. They are estimated to have a population of 300-500 people and live mainly from agriculture and harvesting fruits.

References

1. Proulx, P. (1987). Quechua and Aymara. Language Sciences, 9 (1), 91-102
2. Aikhenvald, AY (1999). The Arawak language family. The amazonian languages, 65-106
3. Varese, S. (2004). Salt of the mountain: Campa Asháninka history and resistance in the Peruvian jungle. University of Oklahoma Press.
4. Varese, S. (1972). The Forest Indians in the Present Political Situation of Peru
5. Forbes, D. (1870). On the Aymara indians of Bolivia and Peru. The Journal of the Ethnological Society of London (1869-1870), 2 (3), 193-305