Historical context
Historically, the Andwa civilization was located in the middle basin of the Pastaza river and its main tributaries. Concerning the equatorial territory, Andwa can be found in the lower sub-basin of the Bobonaza river, under the jurisdiction of the Montalvo Parish, Canton and Pastaza Province.
The evangelization process, started more than 450 year ago, signified a set of substantial cultural changes for our communities, on account of the missionaries that forced the teaching of the Kichwa language, thus leading to diminishing the use of our own Andwa language, Katsakati, almost to the point of extinction. Later on, along with the beginning of the rubber exploitation process, between the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth century, the Andwa were put through a brutal process of extermination by forced labor, slavery and the introduction of severe diseases (yellow fever, smallpox, measles and influenza). Next, the war between Ecuador and Peru broke out in 1941, leading to the division of the Andwa civilization’s ancestral territory due to the new frontiers established between the two countries. Following this, the Andwa is now a bi-national people.
Starting 2003, we
have founded NAPE (The Nationality of Andwa in Pastaza Ecuador) and we have
been constitutionally recognized by the Ecuadorian state, part of 
- CONFENIAE and
- CONAIE. Currently, with the help of the National Government, through the 
- ECORAE, we are in the process of
establishing our nation’s Autonomous Government of Territorial District.
