Napuruna

The Napuruna, or Napo Runa, are the Quijos people of the upper Amazon, rainforest villagers below the eastern Andes, whose civilization grew from the older Cosanga-Píllaro tradition from about 500. They kept their independence while the Incas overran the nearby sierra.

Their old tongue, Shillipanu, whose guttural sounds imitated birds and animals, gave way to Kichwa through Inca contacts and later Jesuit missions. Spaniards first entered their country in 1538 with Gonzalo Díaz de Pineda, and Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition of 1540 set out from their territory on its descent of the Amazon.

Baeza was founded in 1559 as seat of the Governorate of Quijos, and forced labour and indoctrination provoked the rising of 1578 under Jumandi, who burned Archidona and Ávila before being captured and executed in 1579.