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43-495: The Asháninka are estimated between 25,000 and 100,000, although others give 88,000 to almost 100,000. Only little more than a thousand of them live on the Brazilian side of the border. The Ashaninka communities are scattered throughout the central rainforests of Peru in the provinces of Junin, Pasco, Huanuco, a part of Ucayali, and the Brazilian state of Acre. The Asháninka are mostly dependent on subsistence agriculture. They use

86-550: A local chief or Kuraka . The rivers where the Ashaninka are settled and where they can be found are the Lower Apurímac, Ene, Tambo, Satipo , Pichis, Lower Urubamba , Upper Ucayali , Pachitea and Yurúa , as well as their main tributaries. Due to migrations, whether due to political violence or interest in the extraction of forest resources, they have mobilized and shared territories with other ethnic groups, such as in

129-752: A northwesterly direction at a total length of 180.6 km (112.2 mi). The Ene River is part of the headwaters of the Amazon River whose origin is at the Mismi , south of the city of Cusco where it first becomes Apurímac River , then the Ene River and Tambo River before its waters meet the Ucayali River which later forms the Amazon. At 11°09′39″S 74°14′48″W  /  11.16083°S 74.24667°W  / -11.16083; -74.24667

172-651: A policy to end the method in the state. Some American civilizations, like the Maya, have used slash-and-burn cultivation since ancient times. American Indians in the United States also used fire in agriculture and hunting . In the Amazon, many peoples such as the Yanomami Indians also live off the slash and burn method due to the Amazon's poor soil quality . Slash-and-burn techniques were used in northeastern Sweden in agricultural systems. In Sweden,

215-688: A program started in Peru to teach Spanish language to indigenous people. In Peru, the Ashaninkas lived dispersed in a vast territory that included the valleys of the Apurímac , Ene , Tambo , Perené , Pichis rivers, a sector of the Alto Ucayali and the interfluvial zone of the Gran Pajonal , organized into small residential groups made up of around five nuclear families under the direction of

258-414: A ring of bark completely around the trunk of coniferous trees like pine or spruce or felling them, allowing them to dry, setting fire to the dried forest and growing crops on the fertile ash-covered soil. The resulting ash was highly fertile, but only for a short period. The clearing was initially planted to rye as soon as the ash had fully settled and sufficiently cooled. When the rain came, it packed

301-446: Is most unsuitable for the production of cash crops . A huge amount of land, or a low density of people, is required for slash-and-burn. When slash-and-burn is practiced in the same area too often, because the human population density has increased to an unsustainable level, the forest will eventually be destroyed. Tribal groups in the northeastern Indian states of Tripura , Arunachal Pradesh , Meghalaya , Mizoram and Nagaland and

344-416: Is that 250 million people worldwide use slash-and-burn. Slash-and-burn causes temporary deforestation . Ashes from the burnt trees help farmers by providing nutrients for the soil. In low density of human population this approach is very sustainable but the technique is not scalable for large human populations. A similar term is assarting , which is the clearing of forests, usually (but not always) for

387-404: Is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the soil fertile , as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species . After about three to five years, the plot's productivity decreases due to depletion of nutrients along with weed and pest invasion, causing the farmers to abandon

430-481: The Bangladeshi districts of Rangamati , Khagrachari , Bandarban and Sylhet refer to slash-and-burn agriculture as podu , jhum or jhoom cultivation. The system involves clearing land, by fire or clear-felling, for economically important crops such as upland rice , vegetables or fruits. After a few cycles, the land's fertility declines and a new area is chosen. Jhum cultivation is most often practiced on

473-583: The Neolithic Revolution , groups of hunter-gatherers domesticated various plants and animals, permitting them to settle down and practice agriculture, which provided more nutrition per hectare than hunting and gathering. Some groups could easily plant their crops in open fields along river valleys, but others had forests covering their land. Thus, since Neolithic times, slash-and-burn agriculture has been widely used to clear land to make it suitable for crops and livestock. Large groups wandering in

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516-708: The Old Norse word sviða , which means "to burn". This practice originated in Russia in the region of Novgorod and was widespread in Finland and Eastern Sweden during the Medieval period. It spread to western Sweden in the 16th century when Finnish settlers were encouraged to migrate there by King Gustav Vasa to help clear the dense forests. Later, when the Finns were persecuted by the local Swedes, svedjebruk farming

559-460: The slash-and-burn method to clear lands and to plant yucca roots, sweet potato, corn, bananas, rice, coffee, cacao and sugar cane in biodiversity-friendly techniques. They live from hunting and fishing, primarily using bows and arrows or spears, as well as from collecting fruit and vegetables in the jungle. The Asháninka were known by the Incas as Anti or Campa . The Antis, who gave their name to

602-855: The 1980s and 90s, the Asháninka suffered forced conscription, forced labour and massacres at the hands of the Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA . Of the 55,000 Asháninka in Junín , around 6000 were killed, 10,000 were displaced, and 5000 imprisoned in camps of the Sendero Luminoso. About 30 to 40 Asháninka villages were obliterated. Malaria is on the rise in Asháninka communities. Current threats (either directly or indirectly) are from oil companies, drug traffickers, colonists, illegal lumberers, illegal roads, and diseases brought by outsiders. In 1988

645-546: The 2,000-megawatt Pakitzapango Dam is that it has a permanent location that is proposed to be located in the heart of Peru's Ene valley and could displace as many as 10,000 Ashanínka. These encroaching problems have not only extremely changed the generational culture of the Ashanínka tribal societies, but has also changed landscape of what we call modern-day Peru. The Asháninka are known historically to be fiercely independent, and were noted for their "bravery and independence" by

688-417: The Amazon, are nutritionally extremely poor, slash-and-burn is one of the only types of agriculture which can be practiced in these areas. Slash-and-burn farmers typically plant a variety of crops, instead of a monoculture, and contribute to a higher biodiversity due to creating mosaic habitats. The general ecosystem is not harmed in traditional slash-and-burn, aside from a small temporary patch. This technique

731-503: The Ashanínka way of life, so they treat this biodiversity hotspot as their natural capital . Beginning in AD 1542, the European settlers pushed to overtake the natural resources. In June 2010, however, the Brazilian and Peruvian governments signed an energy agreement that allows Brazilian companies to build a series of large dams in the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Amazon. The problem with

774-509: The CEDI of 1991. It is very probable that the presence of Asháninka in Brazil is due to the action of the mine owners who forced them to move from Gran Pajonal. The presence of Asháninkas in Brazilian territory, actually, goes back to the eighteenth century. They are of fine physique and generally good-looking. Their dress is a robe with holes for the head and arms. Their long hair hangs down over

817-676: The Ene River joins the Perené River at the town Puerto Prado , 295 m (968 ft) above sea level, and is called the Tambo from then on. The proposed 2,200-megawatt Pakitzapango hydroelectric dam would flood much of the Ene River valley. Protests by the Central Ashaninka del Rio Ene (CARE, Asháninka Center of the Ene River) and Ruth Buendia (president since 2005) have halted the construction. For her efforts, Buendia

860-451: The Inca province of Antisuyu , were notorious for their fierce independence, and their warlike skills in successfully protecting their land and culture against intrusion from outsiders. Ashanínka tribal societies have faced overwhelming obstacles in disputes over territory and culture against the immigrating Spanish culture and neighboring tribal societies. Biodiversity is the establishment of

903-653: The Lower Urubamba, where they share space with the Machiguenga . The Asháninka in Brazilian territory add up to more than 1,000 inhabitants. Known as Kampas in Brazil and also as Campas in Peru (pejorative term), they are distributed in small towns along the Breu, Amônia, and Arara rivers, tributaries of the Envira and Yurúa rivers, in the state of Acre. Its population was estimated at 689 people according to data from

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946-526: The Spanish conquistadors. They resisted with some success missionary endeavors by Roman Catholic missionaries from the 17th to 19th centuries, especially near the Cerro de la Sal (Salt Mountain) and the Gran Pajonal (Great Grassland) in the central part of the Amazon basin in Peru. During the rubber boom (1839–1913), the Asháninka were enslaved by rubber tappers and an estimated 70% of the Asháninka population

989-422: The ash around the rye. The rye germinated and grew prolifically, with anywhere from 25 to 100 stalks (or straws), each with multiple grains. Only two tools were required, the axe and the sickle. The axe cut the trees to start the cycle. When the rye had ripened, it was harvested with a sickle , which could reach among the rocks and stumps where a scythe would have been ineffective. In the second and third year

1032-516: The border area, but did not do so because it was judged they were too poor to survive if evicted. This type of agriculture is discouraged by many developmental or environmentalist organisations, with the main alternatives being promoted are switching to more intensive , permanent farming methods, or promoting a shift from farming to working in different, higher-paying industries altogether. Other organisations promote helping farmers achieve higher productivity by introducing new techniques. Not allowing

1075-437: The departments of Cusco, Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and Ucayali. Such a wide distribution certainly offers multiple dialectal varieties. Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden . The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation , or "slash",

1118-578: The eastern slopes of the Andes . It is a headwater of the Amazon River . The Ene is formed at 12°15′45″S 73°58′30″W  /  12.26250°S 73.97500°W  / -12.26250; -73.97500 at the confluence of the Mantaro River and the Apurímac River , circa 400 m above sea level, where the three Peruvian Regions Junín , Cusco , and Ayacucho meet. The river flows in

1161-482: The field and move to a new area. The time it takes for a swidden to recover depends on the location and can be as little as five years to more than twenty years, after which the plot can be slashed and burned again, repeating the cycle. In Bangladesh and India , the practice is known as jhum or jhoom . Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation , an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another. A rough estimate

1204-420: The field would be sown with turnips or cabbages . It then might be grazed for several years before being allowed to return to woodland. Svedjebruk required felling new forest and burning a new area every year. It was necessary to allow the former fields to regrow with forest for 10–30 years before repeating the cycle. As a result, the dwellings were often many kilometers from the fields. Furthermore, since

1247-451: The former field. After a few decades, another family or clan may then use the land and claim usufructuary rights . In such a system there is typically no market in farmland, so land is not bought or sold on the open market and land rights are traditional. In slash-and-burn agriculture, forests are typically cut months before a dry season. The "slash" is permitted to dry and then burned in the following dry season. The resulting ash fertilizes

1290-525: The men also wear woven circles of palm leaves decorated with feathers on their heads, and the women wear a woven cotton head dress. The Asháninka language belongs to the Arawak linguistic family, as do the Matsiguenga, Yine, Caquinte, Yanesha and Nomatsiguenga languages. In Peru it is spoken by approximately 25,000 Asháninka. The Asháninka language is spoken in the central eastern territory of Peru, in

1333-585: The practice is known as svedjebruk . Telkkämäki Nature Reserve in Kaavi , Finland, is an open-air museum where slash-and-burn agriculture is demonstrated. Farm visitors can see how people farmed when slash-and-burn was the norm in the Northern Savonian region of eastern Finland beginning in the 15th century. Areas of the reserve are burnt each year. Svedjebruk is a Swedish and Norwegian term for slash-and-burn agriculture derived from

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1376-481: The process was man-power intensive, extended families tended to work together and live in compact communities. The svedjebruk farming approach required a large area. When forest was plentiful, the Finns were very prosperous. As population grew and restrictions were placed on the forest which could be burned, it became increasingly difficult. By 1710, during the conflict with Sweden, because of their suspect loyalties Norwegian authorities considered expelling them from

1419-427: The purpose of agriculture. Assarting does not include burning. Historically, slash-and-burn cultivation has been practiced throughout much of the world. Fire was already used by hunter-gatherers before the invention of agriculture, and still is in present times. Clearings created by the fire were made for many reasons, such as to provide new growth for game animals and to promote certain kinds of edible plants. During

1462-465: The shoulder, while typically men wear their hair short or in "bowl" cuts below the ear. Around their necks they wear a large variety of necklaces and bracelets made with seeds, the teeth of tapir , peccary and monkeys , and brightly colored feathers. Traditionally the Asháninka men, women and children paint their faces in a variety of designs using the bright red crushed seeds of Achiote ( Bixa orellana ) ( annatto ) fruits. For ceremonial purposes,

1505-547: The shoulders, and round their necks a toucan beak or a bunch of feathers is worn as an ornament. – Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , 1911 The Asháninka traditional dress, commonly known as a kushma , is a robe made from cotton that is collected, spun, dyed and woven by women on looms . Typically the robes are dyed either brown or a bright royal blue. The shoulders of the garments are ornamented with seeds. A full-length robe can take up to three months to complete. Traditionally, women wear their hair long, and over

1548-436: The slashed vegetation to burn completely and ploughing the resultant charcoal into the soil ( slash-and-char ) has been proposed as way to boost yields. Promoters of a project from the early 2000s claimed that slash-and-burn cultivation could be reduced if farmers grew black pepper crops, turmeric, beans, corn, cacao, rambutan and citrus between Inga trees, which they termed ' Inga alley cropping '. A method of improving

1591-427: The slopes of thickly-forested hills. Cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the land, burning the trees and grasses for fresh soil. Although it is believed that this helps fertilize the land, it can leave it vulnerable to erosion . Holes are made for the seeds of crops such as sticky rice , maize, eggplant and cucumber. After considering jhum ' s effects, the government of Mizoram has introduced

1634-440: The soil and the burned field is then planted at the beginning of the next rainy season with crops such as rice, maize, cassava, or other staples. This work was once done using simple tools such as machetes , axes , hoes and shovels . This system of agriculture provides millions of people with food and income. It has been ecologically sustainable for thousands of years. Because the leached soil in many tropical regions, such as

1677-473: The suppression of this rebellion, anthropologist Stefano Varese wrote: "The government responded to these attacks by sending repressive military missions, but these were demonstrations of sovereignty and authority more than a true interest in retaking the lost rich rubber lands." For over a century, there has been encroachment onto Asháninka land from rubber tappers , loggers , Maoist guerrillas , drug traffickers , colonists , and oil companies. During

1720-423: The woodlands was once a common form of society in European prehistory . The extended family burned and cultivated their swidden plots, sowed one or more crops, and then proceeded on to the next plot. Slash-and-burn fields are typically used and owned by a family until the soil is exhausted. At this point the ownership rights are abandoned, the family clears a new field, and trees and shrubs are permitted to grow on

1763-477: The yields in a type of traditional assarting cultivation used to grow common beans in Central American called 'slash-and-cover', has been proposed, by additionally planting leguminous shrubs to act as a fallow crop after the soil is exhausted and one is ready to clear a new patch of forest. Ene River The Ene River ( Spanish : Río Ene ; Quechua : Iniy mayu ) is a Peruvian river on

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1806-459: Was killed. The rubber enterprise founded by Carlos Fitzcarrald killed many Asháninka people during the rubber boom and enslaved the Asháninka which would not voluntarily extract rubber for Fitzcarrald. In 1914, there was an Asháninka rebellion against the settlers, missionaries and rubber tappers in the Pichis area and the latter group was evicted from the region by this rebellion. While describing

1849-573: Was spread by refugees to eastern Norway , more specifically in the eastern part of Solør , in the area bordering Sweden known as Finnskogen ("the Finnish woods"). The practice also spread to New Sweden in North America. Reinforced by the use of fire in agriculture and hunting by American Indians , it became an important part of pioneering in America. Svedjebruk involved stripping

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