The majority of the Amazon Basin and the
Orinoco are the lowlands of a
tropical rainforest, rich in edible vegetables and animals. Archeologists estimate that this territory has been populated for less than 12,000 years. The entire population of the area would have arrived only a couple millennia ago. The principal source of
protein is fish, supplemented by hunting
pecaris,
tapirs,
rodents and
monkeys. The domestication of plants, at first concentrated in the bitter
yuca root, dates back 5,000 years. The
Neolithic Revolution brought agricultural expansion, with its version of
slash and burn cultivation, began in the mountainsides of the western
Andes and was brought to the majority of the main rivers in the Amazon. The villages based on
hunting and gathering were pushed to the more inaccessible areas. Each linguistic group tends to share certain characteristics relative to the type of territory they occupy, the
mode of production and the
material culture. For example, practically all the
ethnic groups of the Arawakan, Cariban, and Tupi families occupy areas of tropical rainforest, extensively use agriculture and make canoes, hammocks, and ceramics. On the other hand, the Gê ethnic groups usually live in
grasslands, have little agriculture and do not make canoes, hammocks, or ceramics. Nevertheless, they have a more complex social organization. Scattered among the farming villages, in the heart of the jungle, live hunter-gatherers that belong to minor language families, such as the
Nadahup,
Pirahã and
Guajiboan families, more or less the direct descendants of the first hunter-gatherers. Some groups, especially the agriculturally based ones, have been particularly aggressive and are prone to attack their neighbours. Nevertheless, symbiotic relations exist between different groups: for example the Tucanoans, who are agricultural based, trade with the Nadahup, who are hunter-gatherers. The latter provide animal meat from the jungle and poison obtained from fish, and in exchange receive tapioca flour from the Tucanoan plantations, as well as ceramics. Even so, the Nadahup are considered "inferior" by the Tucanoans and are not considered in inter-ethnic marriage as the Tucanoans do with other ethnic groups. The
Europeans invaded the region in the 16th century, quickly taking control of the coastal areas and the main rivers as far as they were navigable. The indigenous population began to drastically diminish around 1900; it is estimated that the population was only a 10th of what it had been in 1500 (estimated at between 2 and 5 million). The majority of this loss of life was involuntary, due to European diseases the native Amazonian population didn't have immunity to. The Europeans also used the native Amazonians as slaves. There are testimonies of the Europeans navigating upriver from the mouth of the Amazon, capturing entire tribes and carrying them downriver to the plantations where they worked under difficult conditions, dying in a few years. The Europeans, due to their superior weapons, were able to take whatever piece of land they wanted. Previously the incursions of the colonists were motivated by the possession of resources like
rubber or certain minerals, that frequently were preceded by violent actions against the indigenous Amazonians. == List of smaller families ==