Huaorani People - Recent History

Recent History

Around the time of World War II, inter-clan killings greatly increased. At this time, it was estimated that up to 60% of all Huaorani deaths were due to murder. Some of the Huaorani trace the beginning of the killing to the breakdown of clan relationships around ten generations prior to this time. Prior to this period, large gatherings frequently brought distant clans together from time to time to celebrate and arrange marriages, among other activities. These were organized by informal tribal leaders (although the Huaorani had no chiefs or formal leadership in general). When these gatherings became less common, clans became estranged from and offended by one another. Conflicts began to escalate until the Huaorani became one of the most violent cultures ever documented.

In 1956, a group of five American missionaries, led by Jim Elliot and pilot Nate Saint, made contact with the Huaorani in what was known as Operation Auca, in which they lowered gifts in a basket from a plane to a Huaorani clearing below. Two days after friendly contact with three Huaorani, a man, woman and young child, all five of the missionaries were killed in a Huaorani spearing raid. Rachel Saint, Nate Saint's sister, had befriended a Huaorani woman named Dayuma prior to these killings. Saint, Dayuma, and Jim Elliot's wife Elisabeth converted the majority of that Huaorani villiage to Christianity. The incident was told in the film End of the Spear. Nate Saint's personal story, Jungle Pilot, with an epilogue by his son, Steve Saint, was written in 1997.

In 1987, Catholic Bishop Alejandro Labaka and Sister Inés Arango were also killed by Huaoranis.

Huaorani schools were set up to teach the Bible and beliefs of Christianity. Teachers were mainly of the neighboring Quichua. New systems of government were also introduced.

Currently (2012), the Huaorani have about 6,800 km² of land, about one third of their original territory. Some work with tourism companies, and others obtain education until university level. Half of the small children attend schools in Spanish, but others still spend their days hunting and gathering.