Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011)
Article: Missionary Work Among The Waorani People Of Ecuador The Brethren Contribution
Author: Kenneth C. Fleming

EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011) p. 77

Missionary Work Among The Waorani People Of Ecuador
The Brethren Contribution

Kenneth C. Fleming1

Early Waorani History

Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador, landed briefly on the Ecuadorian coast in 1526. Then his men heard of gold in Tumbes, near the southern border of Ecuador. Returning to Spain in 1528, he obtained funding from Charles V of Spain for two hundred soldiers and sixty-five horses to explore for gold. In 1532, he returned to the west coast of South America and led an expedition inland to Cajamarca, in today’s Peru. Atahualpa, the Emperor of the vast Inca Empire, was visiting nearby. Pizarro invited Atahualpa to a meeting. When Atahualpa refused, Pizarro attacked, defeated Atahualpa’s bodyguard, and took him prisoner. Pizarro demanded as a ransom a room full of gold. When he received the gold, he murdered Atahualpa. The next year, 1533, he marched unopposed into Cusco, the Inca capital. The Inca Empire never recovered. The Spanish then took over what is today Peru and Ecuador, plus parts of Chile and Bolivia. In 1534, they made Quito a regional capital. The Spanish promptly established Roman Catholicism as the state religion and forcibly converted the indigenous population to Catholic Christianity. Ecuador remained a colony of Spain until Simon Bolivar captured Quito in the Battle of Pichincha (1822). In 1830, Quito became the capital of the Independent Republic of Ecuador.

EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011) p. 78

When the Spanish colonized Ecuador, the Waorani people occupied the lower eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes. Spanish explorers and ranchers came eastward from Quito and took much of the best farmland from those called Yumbos, today known as Jungle Quichuas. East of the Yumbos the Waorani were living on the edge of the jungle. The pressure from the Spanish settlers forced the Yumbos eastward, and they in turn forced the Waorani into the jungle between the Napo and the Curaray rivers, where they have lived to the present time. The Yumbos called them Aucas, a term meaning “savages.” They call themselves Waorani, meaning “people.” The term for one person is Wao. They have traditionally lived in semi-nomadic clans by hunting and growing manioc in temporary gardens. They developed a lifestyle of settling every dispute by killing their enemies and then relocating to reduce the chance of vengeance.

First Contacts With Christianity

The first contact the Waorani had with Christianity came when a Jesuit priest, Father Suarez, penetrated their territory and managed to live among them for a year or so before being killed, reportedly for trying to reform their moral behavior. River traders, gold prospectors, and cinnamon gatherers sometimes ven...