There are about 200 tribes that survive in Amazonia, but these have been driven deep into the forest with the arrival of foreign colonists. The Amazon has been inhabited by human beings for about 10,000 years, however, more than 90% of Amazonian tribes died out in the 1800s. With them went their knowledge of the rainforest and the life within it. The death of a medicine man or shaman is the same as the burning of a unique library, as all of the knowledge passed down over centuries is lost forever.

Of the drugs identified as useful to treat cancers, 70% of are only found in rainforests. To further state the importance of rainforests, in the US 40% of medically useful drugs are derived from living organisms. As the tropics contain 50% off all living species they are a good bet to unlocking the answers to current medical issues e.g. an arrow poison called Curare from an Amerindian tribe has become useful as a muscle relaxant in modern surgery. With the vanished Amerindians went information that would have significantly improved modern medicine, not to mention knowledge of new crops, pesticides, and genetic material.

Because the tribes utilised natural materials to make their settlements and camps, little is left behind to alert archaeologists to their presence. Instead, researchers look for other clues. They have discovered unusually high patches of soil overly rich in nutrients found in parts of Amazonia. These suggest the existence of now gone societies that increased the fertility of the soil for agriculture. This as well as other evidence suggest people have inhabited the rainforest for thousands of years. They lived in a variety of ways and only a fraction survived to this day. It is thought the original inhabitants were hunter gatherers that later started farming, either independently or it was introduced by newcomers.

Early Amazon explorers describe large colonies of indigenous people living along the Amazon River. Today these numbers of Amerindians can only be imagined. One early document from the area now known as Tefe in western Brazil of the Omagua people, who introduced the world to rubber and plastics, described the community being able to furnish 60, 000 warriors. These settlers of the Amazon Basin were farmers existing on crops of cassava, hunting, and fishing. Another account from a Portuguese expedition in 1967 describes the native inhabitants as, “so numberless that if a dart were to fall from the air, it would strike an Indian and not fall on the ground.” Their populations and culture crashed due to slave trading, introduced diseases, warfare, and missionary intervention upon arrival of foreign colonists. Many tribes have gone completely. Those that remain are generally the more ferocious tribes who are suspicious of outsiders and act aggressively to those encroaching on their homes. This behaviour is what has protected them while their neighbours perished.  These tribes are deep in the forest and could only be encountered by large-scale specific expeditions, which would ultimately negatively impact the tribes welfare. The non-welcoming attitude is justified considering how the outside world treated the tribes greeting strangers with hospitality and open arms.

Ayahuasca and Shamanism

Shamans are spiritual leaders of the Amerindians. They are the ones called upon by the village to interpret dreams and make sense of what is happening around them, whether it is disease, famine, or invasion. The knowledge is obtained from understanding and communicating with the spiritworld. This is done using the shaman’s unique knowledge of the spirits and his knowledge of hallucinogenic plants. Among one of their uses, hallucinogenic drugs are taken by shamans to interpret the meaning of dreams.  The hallucinogen of choice in the Rio Ucayali region is ayahuasca, derived from the rainforest vine Banisteriopsis. Figuring prominently in the culture of Amerindians are serpents, the dream equivalent of snakes. The dreams can consist of serpents playing the parts of their cultural roles, such as lords of forests and lakes, impregnators of women, forest spirits, and even the ayahuasca vine itself.  The sacred plant chosen to give hallucinations varies throughout the continent. In Ecuador the plant of choice is a member of the nightshade family, Datura arborea. The plants are no longer mysterious, as scientists have chemically analysed their constituents. The juices of these sacred plants contain neuromodulators that in high doses cause delirium, excitation, and vision. The chemicals alter the brain in the same way as the chemicals that cause normal dreaming. The difference is that uncontrolled dreaming is no longer restricted to sleep.