Pukamuru

The Pukamuru, called Bracamoros or Pacamuros in Spanish sources, a name meaning painted face, were a loose confederation of Amazonian tribes in the Zamora, Chinchipe and Marañón watersheds. They farmed maize, manioc and sweet potatoes in independent villages that the Spanish treated as separate provinces.

Inca armies never subdued them; Pedro de Cieza de León recorded a failed expedition around 1520, and remains of a battle between the two sides were later found at Palanda. Spanish expeditions began in 1536, Juan de Salinas y Loyola took Cumbinamá in 1539, and Jaén de Bracamoros was founded in 1549.

Forced labour under the encomienda system and disease cut the native population from about 20,000 in 1549 to roughly 1,500 by 1606, and the tribes disappeared as distinct peoples.