A group of indigenous people called the Zápara people live in a part of the Amazon jungle straddling Ecuador and Peru. The Zápara people developed in a biodiverse area. They are the last remaining members of an ethnolinguistic group that included many other peoples before the Spanish conquest. They developed an oral culture that is particularly rich regarding the understanding they have of their natural surroundings. The abundance of their vocabulary for flora and fauna is evident, as well as their knowledge of the medicinal plants of the forest, which are expressed through myths, rituals, artistic practices, and language. The language is the depository of traditional oral knowledge and practices, constituting a people's memory and the region's heritage.
People of the Sapara tribe do not have a religion. What they believe in and how they express themselves depends on their environment. Dreams and the spiritual significance of Amazonian animals play an important role in their decision-making process.
A family of languages known as the Zaparoan or Saparoan. Included in this group are the Coronado, Omurano, Andoa, Gae, and Záparo languages. More than a dozen extinct tribes spoke these languages. Because of diseases, forced migrations, and slavery, the Sápara population decreased. Disease brought by rubber companies and religious missionaries caused the Sápara to become one group. The separation of the Sápara people took place in the war between Ecuador and Peru in 1941. However, this process has also resulted in the loss of their identity.
The Sáparas have been fishermen, hunters, gatherers, and farmers. During the 1940's, they began moving to cities for study and job opportunities. At the same time, some men were drafted into the Army. Some Sápara people attended mainstream education, while others went to Kichwa-language schools located in their villages. Sápara people also have a second education system, the Intercultural Bilingual Education System of the Governmental Education Division of Ecuador.
Currently, the Zápara people are in a very critical situation, and today they are in serious danger of disappearing entirely. In 2001, there were not more than 300 people in the Zápara region (200 in Ecuador and 100 in Peru), and only five still speak the Zápara language, all over 70. The Zápara history illustrates that Europeans continue to exercise devastating repercussions on native peoples in the Americas as the result of their conquest over five hundred years ago. However, it also demonstrates the vitality and survival of IndigenousEver
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/oral-heritage-and-cultural-manifestations-of-the-zpara-people-00007) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1para) (https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A1para_People) (http://abyayala.nativeweb.org/ecuador/zaparo/)