People profile

Matsés

The Matses, also known historically as Mayoruna, are an Indigenous people of the Javari River basin on the Peru-Brazil border. They speak a language of the Panoan family, transmitted to all generations, though Peru's education ministry classifies it as endangered because of the small number of speakers. On the Peruvian side they live in the Loreto region, in the basins of the Galvez and Yaquerana rivers near the Brazilian frontier; on the Brazilian side their communities lie within the vast Vale do Javari Indigenous Land. Sustained contact with national society began only in 1969, through missionary linguists, after decades of open conflict with outsiders. Matses livelihood combines hunting, fishing and swidden gardens of plantain, cassava and maize, and their ethnobiological knowledge is exceptionally documented, including community-produced encyclopedias of traditional medicine. Older generations are remembered for distinctive facial ornaments resembling whiskers, which gave rise to the outside nickname "cat people," and practices such as the use of frog secretions in hunting preparation are part of their documented heritage. In Peru, the Comunidad Nativa Matses, titled in 1993, is one of the country's largest native communities, and the Matses National Reserve, established in 2009, protects a further expanse of their traditional lands. Documented contemporary concerns include past oil-exploration concessions over their territory, illegal logging, limited health and education services, and the responsibility of living alongside neighboring peoples in voluntary isolation.