The people of the campaign: the characteristic, the main occupations and the way of life

Currently, there are many small nations on Earth that are at a primitive level of development, are subsistence and do not have a desire to change anything in their lives. One of them is the people of the campaign, whose characteristic is a vivid example of life in unity with nature.

Who is the campaign?

Kampa are considered the most numerous people among the Indian tribes of South America. Their number is estimated in different ways - 50 or 70 thousand people. Most live in Peru on the banks of the rivers Tambo, Ucayali, Perene and Apurimac. A small part of the tribe lives in Brazil on the right tributary of the Amazon - the river Jurua.

Assignment: "Give a description of the people of the campaign" can cause difficulties, since the name "campaign" is now rarely found. It is considered obsolete and sometimes even disparaging. More often, this tribe uses its own ethnonym, Ashaninka.

From time immemorial Ashaninka live in the wilds of the Amazon. They contacted the Incas, met with Spanish colonizers in the XVII century, French Catholic missionaries in the XIX century, drug dealers in the XX century. But until now, the Indians continue to live the same life as their ancestors hundreds of years ago. The people of the campaign have frozen in their development.

Basic Occupations

Like all archaic peoples, in the life of Ashaninka an important role is played by gathering, fishing and hunting, the latter, however, is rather an additional source of food than the main one. Although with a bow and a spear hunters are masterfully mastered.

The main occupation of this tribe, as well as many centuries ago, is slash-and-burn agriculture. Manioca, sweet potato, pepper, pumpkin, bananas - these are the main crops that the people grow the campaign. Characteristics of his studies will be incomplete without mention of a variety of crafts.

Ashaninka are engaged in the manufacture of pottery, rough fabrics of wood fibers or wild cotton and primitive tools, that is all that is necessary for the farm. It is very self-sufficient and independent of the benefits of civilization people.

Growing coca bush

But if a resident of Peru is asked: "Give a characterization of the people of the campaign," he most likely will remember this, and the habit of chewing coca leaves. Indeed, the valley of the Apurimac River, where the campaign lives, is recognized as the world's first coca grower. But the Indians themselves rarely cultivate it, but collect the leaves of wild plants and protest against the plantations that are being bred by drug dealers. Coca-merchants, cutting down the forest and often conducting real wars with each other, pose a danger to the people of the campaign.

Lifestyle

Ashaninka 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 also shamans, but they, though respected, do not play a serious role in the leadership.

The people of the campaign are a semi-nomadic tribe. The sloppy nature of farming makes them change their place of residence from time to time to give the land a rest, and the forest to recover naturally.

This is not a warlike tribe, but Ashaninka is ready to defend their land and way of life. And often they have to fight with wild tribes, which the local call "bravos". These so-called non-contact tribes sometimes strongly oppress the people of the campaign. Where savages live, it is not known exactly, but they assume that outbursts of their aggression may be related to mass deforestation. The elders of Ashaninka even appealed to the government of Brazil for help.

Equally, the problems faced by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon were created by drug dealers, as well as by military actions during the internal conflict in Peru in 1980-2000.

Religious Beliefs

The religion of this tribe, according to official figures, is Catholicism. But in fact traditional old beliefs continue to occupy an important place in the minds of people, and shamans perform their rituals, as well as many centuries ago. Who does not worship the people of the campaign. Characteristics of his beliefs include both primitive animism, and veneration of plant spirits, and elements of the Christian cult, and even shards of religious views of the ancient Incas.

One of the objects of the people's worship of the Campanian Una de Gato is a "cat's claw". It can reach thirty meters long and lives more than a dozen years. Indians have long used the healing properties of the bark and especially the roots of this plant. Now a lot is said about the use of extracts from the roots of this creeper as an anticancer agent. A ashaninka believe that these vines, like mothers, protect their children - the Indians.

Kampa in the modern world

Despite the fact that this tribe continues to lead a predominantly traditional way of life, it does not avoid contact with more civilized nations. Since the 20s of the last century, people from the Amazon tribes have been working as hired workers in logging, livestock farming, rubber harvesting, etc. No exception, and the people of the campaign. Characteristics given by employers to employees from the Ashaninka tribe, as a rule, are positive: they are hardworking, do not fear difficulties, know the jungle very well and are well versed in plants, which is very useful in agricultural plantations.

And since the end of the XX century, the campaign is actively involved in political life, mainly defending the idea of protecting the Amazonian forests from logging. The Amazonian alliance, formed by the tribes living in the foothills of the Andes, includes the Ashaninka Indian community. There is a people of the campaign, more precisely, its representatives, and in the inter-ethnic association that works to protect the natural habitat of the Indians of the Amazon.