Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
The Bolivian Amazon has always oozed mystery. The Incas believed that a powerful
civilization lived in the great rainforest, and tried to conquer the area in the 15th century.
Legend has it that the indigenous peoples of the western Bolivian Amazon, mainly the
Moxos tribe, are said to have offered such a mighty resistance to the invading army that,
once they realized they were unable to beat them, the Incas sought an alliance and settled
among the Moxos.
The tale of the Incas' experience fired the imagination of the Spanish conquerors a cen-
tury later - they were chasing their own legend in search of a rich and powerful civiliza-
tion in the depths of the Amazonian forest. The name of the kingdom was El Dorado (the
Golden One) which they thought lay somewhere east of the Andean Cordillera, near the
source of the Río Paraguay. The Spanish spent the entire 16th century trying to find the
elusive kingdom, but, unfamiliar with the rainforest environment, found nothing but death
and disease. By the 17th century they moved their search elsewhere.
Though the Spanish were disappointed with their search in the Moxos region, the Je-
suits saw their opportunity to 'spread the word' to the highly spiritual
moxeños
. The hardy
missionaries were the first Europeans to significantly venture into the lowlands. They
founded their first mission at Loreto in 1675. While they imposed Christianity and
European ways, the Jesuits also recognized the indigenous peoples' expertise in wood-
work, which eventually produced the brilliant carvings now characteristic of the missions.
They imported herds of cattle and horses to some of their remote outposts, and ranching
remains today the region's main source of income. The region is now under increasing
pressure from the expansion of the agricultural frontier, as vast tracts of forest are conver-
ted into ranch land.
Following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, the Franciscan and Dominican mission-
aries, as well as the opportunistic settlers who followed, brought mainly slavery and dis-
ease. Otherwise, the vast, steamy forests and plains of northern Bolivia saw little activity
for decades.
More recently finding a way to sustainably exploit the natural resources of the region
has become an increasingly hot potato. A proposed road building project that would link
Villa Tunari with San Ignacio de Moxos was canceled following demonstrations by indi-
genous groups and environmentalists who complained that the route would bisect the
Tipnis Reserve. This inspired a counter march in 2012 by indigenous groups from the
Moxos and Tunari areas who insisted that the road was vital for the economic develop-
ment of their isolated homeland.
