Section 2

Distribution and Population of Nanti Groups and other Little-Contacted and Uncontacted Groups in the Camisea Region

2.1  Nanti Settlement on the Upper Rio Camisea

As of December 1997, the Nanti of the upper Rio Camisea live in two settlements, Montetoni and Malanksiá [Machiguenga: Marankeato]1, with a combined population of about 250 individuals. Montetoni, the settlement located furthest upriver, has a population of about 160 individuals, while Malanksiá, which lies some ten kilometers downriver, has about 90 inhabitants. At any given time, the combined population of these two settlements may lie between 240 and 260, as large numbers of births and epidemics of illness cause the population to vary. In November of 1997, for example, an epidemic of diarrhea killed 7 infants in the space of two weeks; see Section 6 for further discussion of health issues among the Nanti.

Montetoni was first settled in 1992 at the encouragement of Silverio Araña Gomez, the Machiguenga schoolteacher who has worked among the Nanti since 1991. The settlement lies some two kilometers upriver from the traditional varadero, or portage point, between the Manu and Camisea river systems. Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements taken in Montetoni indicate its position to be 11š 54' 02" S, 72š 21' 02" W (Lat.- Long. coordinates), or 18 788 500 E, 86 83 050 N (UTM coordinates). Malanksiá was settled in November of 1996 by some of the former residents of Montetoni, including Silverio Araña, and lies at 11š 51' 30" S, 72š 22' 51" W (Lat.- Long. coordinates), or 18 785 300 E, 86 87 800 N (UTM coordinates).

At present, Montetoni is inhabited solely by Nanti. Silverio Araña and the four other adult Machiguenga who formerly lived in Montetoni -- his wife Elva, his adult son Rudi, his brother-in-law Ignacio, and José "Pepe" Juan Arisha, a friend of Silverio's from Chokoriari -- all moved to Malanksiá upon its founding. Recent reports from Angel Diaz, a Machiguenga evangelist who visited Malanksiá in November of 1997, suggest that José has recently relocated to a small Machiguenga settlement at the mouth of the Rio Kuria, some 30 kilometers downriver from Malanksiá.

It is our belief that there are no longer any other Nanti living on the upper Rio Camisea apart from those in Montetoni and Malanksiá. Roughly a year ago, a settlement of some ten individuals that was located a few kilometers upriver from Montetoni joined the Montetoni settlement; and members of another small settlement at the varadero returned to Montetoni in September of 1997. With these two moves to Montetoni, the last of the smaller Nanti settlements on the Camisea disappeared.

In long discussions with the residents of Montetoni and Malanksiá, they repeatedly expressed their belief that no one else is presently living in the headwaters region of the upper Camisea. It should be noted that the Montetoni Nanti engage in long-range hunting and fishing expeditions in the headwaters regions that take them throughout much of the headwaters region, during which they would be likely to spot any signs of settlement. In September of 1997, for example, a party of some ten men went on a expedition to the headwaters of the Piriasanti (see Map 2) to search for tchipágori, a much prized species of fish. During this one expedition alone they covered a large area, and expeditions of this sort to tributaries further upriver are common. We believe that it is unlikely, then, that the residents of Montetoni might be in error about the presence of other inhabitants on the upper Rio Camisea.

2.2  Other Nanti Groups

Although our investigations indicate that Nanti settlement on the Camisea is limited to Montetoni and Malanksiá, there is solid evidence of further Nanti settlement on the upper Rio Timpia.

As we discuss in greater detail in Section 4.3, the present day residents of Montetoni and Malanksiá migrated to the Rio Camisea from the Rio Timpia in the mid 1980s. This migration was due in part from pressure exerted by other Nanti groups migrating downriver from the headwaters regions of the Timpia. At least one of these groups settled at Marientari, a site formerly occupied by the Camisea Nanti. A few members of one of the family groups presently living in Marientari now live in Montetoni, and one of them, Eseksera [Spanish: Ezekiel]2, visited Marientari as recently as 1996. Based on discussions with the Montetoni Nanti, we estimate the population of Marientari to be roughly 50. Further discussions have allowed us to hazard a guess at the location of Marientari. See Map 2 for the position of this settlement relative to Montetoni and Malanksiá.

Our informants believe that the Marientari group is just one of many such groups that moved down from the headwaters regions of the Rio Timpia during the early 1980s. Other evidence corroborates this conclusion: In roughly 1985 a large party of men approached the Nanti settlement that existed at that time near the mouth of the Piriasanti (see Map 2). The party approached the settlement from the headwaters of the Piriasanti, and were driven back in that direction by the frightened inhabitants of Piriasanti. Gustavo and Erenesto [Spanish: Ernesto], who fired arrows at that party to warn them off, now live in Malanksiá and said that the men in the party spoke Nanti and were dressed and adorned like Nanti. Asking if the party encountered at Piriasanti was connected to the one at Marientari, we received a negative answer. Indeed, the route the party took to reach Piriasanti suggest they came from further upriver on the Timpia, indicating at least a second group on the Timpia. Eseksera also speaks of other Nanti groups on the Timpia, apart from that of his kinsfolk at Marientari.

Another indication of multiple groups on the Timpia is given by Arora [Spanish: Aurora], one of the older women living in Montetoni. She described long journeys she undertook with her husband when she was younger, perhaps during the 1960s, that took her through the headwaters regions of the Timpia and Tigompinia [Machiguenga: Ticumpinea]. She speaks of several settlements she visited on the Timpia, and one on the Tigompinia.

The above evidence makes clear that at least two distinct Nanti groups live on the Timpia, one at Marientari, and one further upriver. It is also plausible that other Nanti groups live yet further upriver. Our investigations indicate that the normal size of a Nanti group lies between 20 and 50 individuals, which influences us to make a conservative estimate of the current Nanti population on the Timpia to be between 100 and 300 individuals. It should be noted that we have also heard accounts that suggest Nanti groups on the Tigompinia and in the headwaters of the Manu, but at this point, we do not have enough evidence to discuss their location or size.

2.3  The Kirineri

As we discuss in Section 4.3, the present-day residents of Montetoni and Malanksiá migrated to the Camisea from the Timpia during the early 1980s. Prior to this time we know of no Nanti per se who lived on the upper Rio Camisea. Nevertheless, reports of "Kogapakori" on the upper Rio Camisea date from at least the mid 1960s. Furthermore, occasional attacks on Machiguenga and mestizos continued into the late 1980s, but the Camisea Nanti strenuously deny ever participating in attacks on Machiguenga or mestizos. The authors of this report have noted that the Camisea Nanti are singularly nonaggressive, and their history suggests that they avoid confrontation, and flee from conflict, rather than attack people they fear.

We argue that these apparent discrepancies arise from the fact that the term "Kogapakori" is being used to refer to two distinct Arawakan groups: the Nanti, and a second group we are calling the Kirineri. Although the Nanti migrated to the Camisea only recently, we believe the Kirineri have been present in the region for decades, though they have abandoned the Camisea in recent years and now are found on the upper Rio Paquiria and upper Rio Serjali (see Map 2).

The varied sources we have on the Kirineri all agree on a number of characteristic features: Kirineri men are unusually tall for members of a rain forest indigenous group; they are bearded; they are entirely naked, lacking even a penis-cord; and when attacking outsiders, paint themselves entirely red with achiote.

The earliest reliable account of the Kirineri that we have come across dates from the mid 1970s. At the time, Antonio Davila, a mestizo mechanic who now lives in Sepahua, was working on the upper Camisea. He was one of the workers in a construction project to build a landing field near the mouth of the Sagontuari (see Map 2). This project was overseen by a Spaniard named Juan Mendoza, and was apparently part of a larger government project to penetrate the region of the upper Camisea. In the course of the project the camp was attacked a number of times by groups of bow-and-arrow wielding men which match the physical description given above. Davila, who can speak a little Machiguenga, said he was able to recognize the cries of the attackers as Machiguenga, or at least a closely related language. Davila added that the Machiguenga who worked with him said that the Kirineri lived at the headwaters of the Kuria at that time. It should be noted that the term "Kirineri" is a Machiguenga term which refers to the beards of the Kirineri men.

The next account we have dates from the early 1980s, at which time an attack took place on Shell workers on the upper Camisea. One of the attackers was captured and brought to Sepahua by helicopter. Many of the present-day residents of Sepahua recall seeing him, and describe him as tall, completely naked, and bearded. José Choro, a Yaminahua man living in Sepahua at the time, was brought to the Kirineri man to translate, but Choro found the man's speech entirely unintelligible. At the very least this suggests that the man did not speak a Nahua language. Accounts of what happened to the man after being brought to Sepahua are conflicting.

We have another account from an Amahuaca woodcutter who worked in the region of the upper Serjali in the late 1980s. At this time he was a member of a party which went to the headwaters of the Serjali in search of suitable trees, where they encountered a family of what he described as "wild Machiguenga". The Amahuaca woodcutter, who spoke a little Machiguenga, communicated with them and gave them a few small gifts. The "wild Machiguenga" wore no clothes and apparently had no modern manufactured items. Thinking it best to avoid the region, the woodcutters left, and he has not been back to the area since.

The Yabashta (or Nahua) who now live at the confluence of the Mishagua and Serjali rivers have told us that they have run into signs of human activity in the region of the upper Rio Serjali a number of times. On hunting trips that have taken them far from the Serjali and its major tributaries, they have seen small abandoned farming plots and shelters. We have also spoken to a mestizo woodcutter who traveled to the headwaters of the Jimblijimjileri (also known as Agua Hervida, See Map 2) in late 1996, but hastily left the area when he encountered a large number of footprints in the area.

The final and most detailed information we have pertaining to the Kirineri comes from information about a small Kirineri settlement on the Paquiria, which is in sporadic contact with some members of the Machiguenga community of Nueva Luz. Apparently, in the late 1980s, contact was made with a small Kirineri group on the upper Rio Paquiria. At least one of the men of this group visited Nueva Luz, but decided not to stay, returning upriver after a while. However, his family group moved further downriver, apparently to be closer to manufactured goods like machetes and metal pots. This Kirineri settlement is about a day by peke peke3 from the mouth of the Paquiria, and is located at the confluence of the Paquiria with its downrivermost major tributary. Although still fearful of outsiders, the group has been visited several times by Edgar Barrientos, a resident of Nueva Luz, and the regional coordinator of bilingual teachers in the lower Urubamba river valley. Barrientos describes the level of technology of the Kirineri as very low. According to him, the Kirineri lack weaving and pottery, and their dwellings are very crude. They do practice agriculture, however. Superficially, at least, their level of technology is reminiscent of that of the Nanti.

Unfortunately, the linguistic information we have on the Kirineri is conflicting. Barrientos describes their speech as essentially Machiguenga, but with a small number of lexical differences. Angel Diaz says that he has heard that the Kirineri possesses one of the most noticeable phonological features of Nanti in comparison to the Machiguenga, palatalized velar consonants, such as "ks", "ksh", and "gj". Yet other reports we have heard suggest a similarity to the Piro language. All that we can conclude at this point is that the Kirineri speak some Arawakan language, probably closely related to Machiguenga.

At this point there is too little evidence to conclude that the Kirineri are either simply an isolated Machiguenga group, a group closely related both culturally and linguistically to the Nanti, or yet another distinct Arawakan group.

In discussions with Edgar Barrientos, he revealed to us that the Kirineri settlement on the Paquiria is in sporadic contact with other family groups on the Paquiria and Serjali. Barrientos estimates the total Kirineri population in the region to be 300 individuals. This number strikes us as high; it seems unlikely to us that such a large number of people could have remained hidden in an area with such intensive logging activity. We believe a figure on the order of 100 individuals is more plausible.

2.4  Nanti Settlement Patterns and the Question of Nomadism

It is widely believed by the Machiguenga of the Camisea region, and hence by many non-Machiguenga interested in the Nanti, that the Nanti are a traditionally nomadic people. In this section we discuss traditional Nanti settlement patterns, and examine whether classifying the Nanti as nomadic is warranted.

In Montetoni we conducted extensive interviews to gather the life histories of individuals and record the migrations of the various Nanti groups that have settled in Montetoni and Malanksiá. As a result, we devoted much time to determining where individuals have lived and how long they spent living in a given place. Discussing location was not difficult -- it was always possible to localize a given settlement near a particular tributary for discussion purposes. Time was a more difficult matter, as the Nanti count "patiro, piteti, towaiti" (one, two, many). However, by cross-checking with the birth of children, and the perceived size of both our informants and their children at the various settlements, we feel that our chronology is accurate to within a year, for the last ten years, and within 2 to 5 years prior to that point.

Our investigations indicate that a traditional Nanti settlement consists of one or two extended family groups, with a population that ranges between ten and 60 individuals. A given settlement may have one or two large communal dwellings, depending on the number of inhabitants. Furthermore, these settlements tended to cluster together. The settlement cluster near Marientari is a good example of this. The largest settlement, consisting of two communal dwellings with a total population of roughly 60 individuals, lay close to the mouth of the Marientari. Two other settlements, some one or two kilometers up and downriver of Marientari consisted of a single dwelling each, with a population of roughly 20 inhabitants apiece, bringing the total population of the Marientari settlement cluster to about 100. Gaps between these settlement clusters were large. The other major settlements on the Timpia were one to two days by foot from Marientari: Igonani upriver, and Chingateni downriver.

The Marientari settlement endured for roughly 20 years, from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The Chingateni settlement appears to have endured for a similar amount of time, and it appears that the Igonani settlement may have endured from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. As we discuss in Section 4.3, these settlements were abandoned in the early 1980s for two principal reasons: one, the desire to avoid possible conflict with the Nanti groups which were at that time migrating downriver from the headwaters region of the Timpia; and two, to seek access to metal tools on the Camisea. There is no indication whatsoever that the Timpia settlements would have been abandoned without these motivating factors.

Upon the abandonment of the Timpia settlements in the early 1980s, the Nanti began a period of slow migration to the headwaters of the Rio Camisea, and then further and further downriver. This migration involved the creation of settlements that lasted 2 to 3 years and were then abandoned for a new settlement further downriver. We have records of four such short-term settlements on the Camisea: Mayobeni, Shinchebe, Piriasanti, and Piegiá. The short-term nature of these settlements seems to have had nothing to do with a traditional Nanti settlement or subsistence pattern, but was instead motivated by the desire to distance themselves from the Timpia Nanti, whom they feared, and the cautious desire to move closer and closer to a perceived source of metal tools. It was during this period of migration and short-term settlement that the Camisea Nanti first encountered the Machiguenga on the upper Camisea.

In short, there is no evidence that, in the absence of external motivating factors, the Nanti lead what could be called a highly nomadic lifestyle. Of course, whether one calls the Nanti nomadic or not depends on the definition one chooses for this term. It should be noted, for example, that while both the village sites and farming plots of the Nanti can be described as stationary, the Nanti make use of a large range of territory in their hunting, fishing and wild food gathering activities. Trips of several days' duration, in any direction from the village site, and involving anywhere from a few men to a large family group, are commonly made to this day by the Nanti, in search of food resources that they consider staples of their diet. In other words, the amount of territory necessary for them to maintain their traditional food acquisition patterns is quite large, and is not defined or limited by the either the size or the location of their village and chacra sites. Regardless of disputes over terminology, however, our investigations have revealed that without unusual circumstances, Nanti settlements endure on the order of decades.

This said, the reputation the Nanti have for nomadism demands some explanation. We believe that this reputation derives from two sources. The first we have already mentioned, that the Machiguenga first encountered the Camisea Nanti while they were in a period of unusual mobility. It would have been easy for Machiguenga observers to conclude, erroneously, that the state of affairs found on the upper Camisea during the late 1980s was typical for the Nanti. The second source of this reputation are the stories told by those Machiguenga more intimately involved with the Nanti, especially those of Silverio Araña, the schoolteacher presently residing in Malanksiá, that exaggerate the primitiveness and savagery of the Nanti. These stories, repeated by many Machiguenga downriver who have never seen the Camisea Nanti, depict them as living an almost inhuman life -- nomadic, and without homes or agriculture. The last two claims, especially, are patently false, but are part of a rhetorical stance that justifies Machiguenga intervention, especially on the part of Silverio, on the basis of the primitiveness and helplessness of the Nanti. In short, it has served the political interests of some of the Machiguenga involved with the Camisea Nanti to depict them as nomadic. Please refer to Section 8 for further discussion of the political aspects of Machiguenga involvement with the Nanti.

In closing, we would like to point out that the issue of Nanti nomadism has recently taken on a larger political dimension. One of the criteria that justify the existence of the Reserva de Kugapacori y Nahua is the nomadic nature of the little- or uncontacted groups within its boundaries. With the settlement in the last six years of the Yabashta (Nahua) at a community at the confluence of the Rio Mishagua and Rio Serjali, and the settlement of the Camisea Nanti in Montetoni and Malanksiá, the criterion of nomadism is no longer satisfied for these particular groups. The next likely step, the acquisition of Comunidad Nativa status for these settlements, could have profound political effects in the region. For this reason, supporters of the reserve find it expedient to insist that the Nanti are (by some criterion) nomadic. We know of no official definition for nomadism, however, so this argument is unlikely to abate any time soon. It should be noted, in this regard, however, that the nomadic status of the uncontacted Kirineri and Nanti groups remains unknown, so any decision about the reserve as a whole based on the present-day nomadic status of the Camisea Nanti or Yabashta would be premature.


1 In discussing Nanti settlements or places frequented by the Nanti, we use the Nanti name. If a commonly used Machiguenga name also exists, we will place that name in square brackets after the first appearance of the Nanti name.

2 The Nanti traditionally do not employ personal names, but rely exclusively on kinship terms. The Camisea Nanti, however, have all been given names by Silverio Araña. We use the Nanti form of these names, providing the Spanish equivalent after the first appearance of the name.

3 A peke peke is a long-shafted boat motor of either 10 or 16 horsepower, and is commonly used for river travel in this region.