The Ashaninka communities are scattered throughout the central rainforests of Peru in the provinces of Junin, Pasco, Huanuco, a part of Ucayali, and the Brazilian state of Acre.

They use the slash-and-burn method to clear lands and to plant yucca roots, sweet potato, corn, bananas, rice, coffee, cacao and sugar cane in biodiversity-friendly techniques.

The Antis, who gave their name to the Inca province of Antisuyu, were notorious for their fierce independence,[5] and their warlike skills in successfully protecting their land and culture against intrusion from outsiders.

While describing the suppression of this rebellion, anthropologist Stefano Varese wrote: "The government responded to these attacks by sending repressive military missions, but these were demonstrations of sovereignty and authority more than a true interest in retaking the lost rich rubber lands.

"[10] For over a century, there has been encroachment onto Asháninka land from rubber tappers, loggers, Maoist guerrillas, drug traffickers, colonists, and oil companies.

[13] In Peru, the Ashaninkas lived dispersed in a vast territory that included the valleys of the Apurímac, Ene, Tambo, Perené, Pichis rivers, a sector of the Alto Ucayali and the interfluvial zone of the Gran Pajonal, organized into small residential groups made up of around five nuclear families under the direction of a local chief or Kuraka.

The Asháninka traditional dress, commonly known as a kushma, is a robe made from cotton that is collected, spun, dyed and woven by women on looms.

Around their necks they wear a large variety of necklaces and bracelets made with seeds, the teeth of tapir, peccary and monkeys, and brightly colored feathers.

Traditionally the Asháninka men, women and children paint their faces in a variety of designs using the bright red crushed seeds of Achiote (Bixa orellana) (annatto) fruits.

[16] The Asháninka language is spoken in the central eastern territory of Peru, in the departments of Cusco, Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and Ucayali.