Chambira River

The Chambira River is a major tributary river of the Marañón River, and has been the traditional territory of the Urarina peoples for at least the past 350 years, if not much longer. Located in the Amazon jungle of Peru, otherwise known as the Selva, this river is a tropical waterway with many purposes. There is a diversity of plants and animals in this region which creates a unique ecosystem around the Chambira River. Made up of "palm-swamps," the region takes its name from the Chambira palm. Until relatively recently, the Chambira Basin has not been the focus of mapping by the Spanish empire or the Peruvian nation. No major geographical surveys of the Chambira Basin were mounted during the nineteenth century heyday of exploration. It was not until the 1970s discovery of hydrocarbons in the region and subsequent indigenous peoples' mobilization and government-backed neo-liberal legislation that the Chambira River's lands have been mapped.