Amazonian languages

It is this distribution of many small and historically unrelated speech communities that makes Amazonia one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world.

The precise reasons for this unusual diversity have not yet been conclusively determined, but Amazonian languages seem to have had fewer than 10,000 native speakers even before the invasion of European colonists wrought havoc on the societies by which they were spoken.

[citation needed] The majority of the Amazon Basin and the Orinoco are the lowlands of a tropical rainforest, rich in edible vegetables and animals.

For example, practically all the ethnic groups of the Arawakan, Cariban, and Tupi families occupy areas of tropical rainforest, extensively use agriculture and make canoes, hammocks, and ceramics.

The latter provide animal meat from the jungle and poison obtained from fish, and in exchange receive tapioca flour from the Tucanoan plantations, as well as ceramics.

[3] The majority of this loss of life was involuntary, due to European diseases the native Amazonian population didn't have immunity to.

There are testimonies of the Europeans navigating upriver from the mouth of the Amazon, capturing entire tribes and carrying them downriver to the plantations where they worked under difficult conditions, dying in a few years.

Previously the incursions of the colonists were motivated by the possession of resources like rubber or certain minerals, that frequently were preceded by violent actions against the indigenous Amazonians.