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More than 70 different ethnic groups to be mapped out in upcoming national atlas

More than 70 different ethnic groups will be identified on an ethno-linguistic map, which is to be included in national atlas sponsored by Peru’s National Geographic Institute and scheduled to be published this year.

“The map is a wake-up call to the fact that we are multilingual, different and all living in one country,” said Mayta Cápac Alatrista, President of Peru’s National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afroperuvian Peoples, or Indepa.

“A national atlas is edited every 15 years,” added Alatrista, “and this year calls for a new edition.”

Last February, during the latest nationwide population census, Peru’s national Statistics Institute geographically and cartographically identified a total of 1,786 indigenous communities living in 11 Peruvian departments.

The recently published results of Peru’s 11th Population Census and Second Indigenous Communities Census — both conducted in 2007 — indicate that 1,786 indigenous communities live in Peru, making it the most heterogeneous country in the Americas.

These communities belong to 13 distinct linguistic families including the arahuaca, cahuapana, huitoto, jíbaro, quechua and zaparo, and 60 ethnic groups, including the ashánika, chamicuro, piro, resígaro, jebero, amarakaeri, bora, aguaruna and quichua.

Of the 60 ethnic groups known to exist, 9 have been assimilated into larger and often Spanish-speaking, mestizo communities. And, in some cases, researchers found that two different ethnic groups, such as the chamicuros and the cocama-cocamilla, share a given community or settlement.

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