Currently, there are many small nations on Earth that are at a primitive level of development, subsistence farming and do not feel like changing anything in their lives. One of them is the Kamp people, whose characteristic is a vivid example of life in unity with nature.
Who are Kampa?
Kampa are considered the most numerous people among the Indian tribes of South America. Their number is estimated differently - 50 or 70 thousand people. Most live in Peru on the banks of the Tambo, Ucayali, Perene and Apurimac rivers. An insignificant part of the tribe lives in Brazil on the right tributary of the Amazon - the Jurua River.
The task: “Give a characterization of the Kamp people” can be difficult, since the name “Kamp” is now rare. It is considered obsolete and sometimes even dismissive. More often, in relation to this tribe, its own ethnonym is used - ashaninka.
Since time immemorial, Auchaninka have been living in the wilds of the Amazon. They contacted the Incas, met with the Spanish colonialists in the 17th century, French Catholic missionaries in the 19th, and drug dealers in the 20th century. But until now, the Indians continue to live the same life as their ancestors hundreds of years ago. The Kamp people froze in their development.
Core activities
As with all archaic peoples, gathering, fishing and hunting play an important role in the life of the Auchanink, the latter, however, is more of an additional source of food than the main one. Although with bow and spear hunters masterfully mastery.
The main occupation of this tribe, like many centuries ago, is slash-and-burn agriculture. Cassava, sweet potato, pepper, pumpkin, bananas - these are the main crops that the Kamp people grow. The characteristics of his studies will be incomplete without mentioning a variety of crafts.
Auchaninka is engaged in the manufacture of pottery, coarse fabrics from wood fibers or wild cotton and primitive tools, that is, everything that is needed in the household. This is a very self-sufficient and independent of the benefits of civilization people.
Cocaine bush cultivation
But if you ask a resident of Peru: “Give a characterization of the Kamp people, ” he will most likely remember not this, but the habit of chewing coca leaves. Indeed, the Apurimak River Valley, where the Kampa live, is recognized as the first coca plant in the world. But the Indians themselves rarely cultivate it, and they collect leaves of wild plants and protest against the plantations that drug dealers breed. Coca merchants who cut down forests and often wage real wars with each other pose a danger to the Kamp people.
Lifestyle
Auchaninka live in communities in small villages. Usually a married couple builds a round hut, and bachelors live separately. Communities are governed by elders, there are shamans, but they, although respected, do not play a serious role in leadership.
The Kamp people are a semi-nomadic tribe. The slashing nature of agriculture makes them change their place of residence from time to time to give the earth a rest, and the forest to recover naturally.
This is not a warlike tribe, but Auchaninka are ready to defend their land and way of life. And often they have to fight with wild tribes, which the locals call “Bravos”. These so-called non-contact tribes sometimes greatly oppress the Kamp people. It is not known exactly where the savages live, but they suggest that bursts of their aggression may be associated with massive deforestation. Ashaninka elders even turned to the Brazilian government for help.
No less problems for the indigenous peoples of the Amazon were created by drug dealers, as well as military operations during the internal conflict in Peru in 1980–2000.
Religious beliefs
The religion of this tribe, according to official figures, is Catholicism. But in reality, the traditional old beliefs continue to occupy an important place in the minds of people, and shamans perform their rites, as they did many centuries ago. To whom only the Kamp people do not worship. The characteristics of his beliefs include primitive animism, and veneration of plant spirits, and elements of the Christian cult, and even fragments of the religious views of the ancient Incas.
One of the objects of worship of the Kamp people is the liana of Una de Gato - “cat's claw”. She can reach thirty meters in length and lives for more than a dozen years. The Indians have long used the healing properties of the bark and especially the roots of this plant. Now there is much talk about the use of extracts from the roots of this vine as an anti-cancer agent. But the Ashaninka believe that these creepers, like mothers, protect their children - Indians.
