The savages

Author Joe Kane first wrote about South America's rain forest in his national best seller, Running the Amazon. In his new book released in paperback this fall, he focuses on a tribe of Amazonian Indians isolated from the rest of civilization until very recently. The book titled, Savages, is partly an adventure story about the months Kane spent living in Ecuador's rain forest with the Huarani Indians, and in part it's a plea both to preserve the territory the Huarani roam and their fast disappearing way of life. This rain forest is one of the richest places on the planet in terms of biodiversity, but that diversity and that of the indigenous people there, has been threatened ever since the discovery of oil in the region called the Oriente.

Ecuador's population is ethnically diverse. Mestizos (those of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry) are by far the largest of all ethnic groups and constitute over 65 per cent of the current population. Amerindians are second in numbers and account for approximately a quarter of the people, around 25%. Whites/Caucasians are mainly criollos, unmixed descendants of Spanish colonist, and account for 7% of the Ecuadorian population. A small minority of Afro-Ecuadorians, including Mulattos and zambos, constitute the remainder.

More than 93% of Ecuadorians are descendants of Ecuador-Auca Indians.

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