The Canelo, a South American people that…
1581 CE
The Canelo, a South American people that have traditionally lived along the upper Pastaza, Bobonaza, and Napo rivers on the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes, are first settled in a Dominican mission in 1581.
Because the Canelo are among the first Amazonians to embrace Christianity, their original language and culture are poorly documented.
The Canelo abandon their native language for Quechua, the Amerind language familiar to the missionaries, and drop many of their old ways in favor of the customs of the Spanish.
Traditionally, the Canelo had been slash-and-burn farmers who grew sweet cassava, corn (maize), and beans.
They have begun in post-Columbian times to growing bananas and plantains for their own consumption and cultivating bitter cassava, which they process into farinha and trade with the Spanish.
The Canelo fish with spears, harpoons, and fishnets made of cotton and palm fiber; and they hunt birds, monkeys, and small mammals with blowguns, spears, nets, traps, and poison.