Cultural and socio-economic aspects:

In the last few years, the number of Yurakaré has reduced dramatically, so that today only 150-200 Yurakaré families remain. The Yurakaré live in the departments of Cochabamba and Beni in communities of 10-30 families. Fishing continues to be one of the most important activities. Fish, Yucca, bananas, rice and corn are the most important food sources. Within a community, belonging to a family is the most defining factor of identity. Contacts within the communities are also based on family ties. The Yurakaré are a christianized people. In the last years evangelist groups have gained influence, which has contributed to a loss of the mythology of the Yurakaré. The people still follows some traditional rites and maintain their belief in the spirits of the forest and of the ancestors. The majority of the Yurakaré communities are not connected to electricity and don't have basic sanitary services. In a few communities that are located more closely to the recent settlements (mainly consisting of cocaleros (cocagrowers), the Yurakaré families have also begun to plant and harvest the coca leaf. The sale of coca in these communities is an important source of income.

Language:

Until today it has not been proven that the language of the Yurakaré belongs to any Latin American linguistic family. The active use of the language is restricted to communities deep in the rainforest. In many communities the children don't learn their native language anymore.

History:

Already a long time before the Spanish conquest the Yurakaré lived at the foot of the Cordillera Oriental in the Bolivian Amazon. The Yurakaré were a nomadic people that organized themselves in extended families and lived of fishing, hunting and the harvest of fruits. The Yucca was one of the most important foods and was mainly used to produce chicha. As the Yurakaré don't have a written language there are no exact sources about this time. The missionaries produced the first written sources at the end of the 17th century. However, it is known that the Tembe palm always has been and still is of great spiritual importance for the Yurakaré. It was a crucial factor for the decision to move to a new place to live. If there wasn't enough Tembe in one place, they moved to a different place. The most important instance to make decisions was the head of the family. A political leader of the Yurakaré communities did not exist. At the times of the Inca the Yurakaré territory formed part of the Eastern border of the empire.

During the Spanish conquest, the Yurakaré region was hardly affected by lootings and expeditions. This was on the one hand because the region didn't have the wealth/resources (gold, spices) the Spanish were looking for; on the other hand the region was little accessible. It wasn't until the middle of the 18th century that the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in the region and tried to christianize the Yurakaré systematically. Not even 50 years later the Jesuits were followed by the Franciscans. With the missions, the Yurakaré started to settle down and to dedicate more time to agriculture. New products like chocolate and cotton were introduced in the region and the production of coca for the first time became important. Other consequences were that the Yurakaré didn't dress in the traditional way anymore, started to give themselves European names and changed their nutrition. Little changed for the Yurakaré after Bolivia became a Republic in 1825. Bigger was the influence of the rubber boom at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when the Yurakaré men were forced to work in the rubber plantations and production. Many Yurakaré fled from this forced labour and settled deeper in the forest.
This retreat deeper into the forest increased after the revolution of 1952. As a result of the revolution, free migration and settlement became possible and many peasants migrated and settled in rainforest areas. The consequence of this process, which still is ongoing, is not only the retreat into areas deeper in the forest, but also the cultural and social assimilation of those that stay closer to the peasants´ settlements. This process of colonization has generated serious conflicts about landrights. The encounter of the Andean cultures and the Indigenous cultures of the rainforest demonstrate the two completely different perspectives on property: Whilst the Aymara and Quechua have the expectation that land belongs to a family, for the Yurakaré land belongs to a whole community. Thus, fixed land titles were neither necessary nor available. Only a few years after the revolution evangelical groups arrived and started again missionizing the Yurakaré. In the seventies, the trading of exotic skins peaked. The deforestation taking place in this period also contributed to a reduced territory of the Yurakaré. In the nineties, the indigenous movement in Bolivia reached its zenith. The Yurakaré population also participated in the “Indigenous Marches” demanding the autonomous management of their territories. In 1996, the Yurakaré’s territory in the Isiboro Securé National Park was named TCO (Tierras Comunitarias de Origen=communal indigenous territory).