What is special about the Uros Islands of Peru?
What is special about the Uros Islands of Peru?
The Uru or Uros people are believed to be descended from the earliest inhabitants of Lake Titicaca. They’ve preserved a floating lifestyle for hundreds of years. To protect themselves from invading groups, the Uros built mobile islands from the endemic totora plant.
What is Uros island?
The Uru or Uros (Uru: Qhas Qut suñi) are an indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia. They live on an approximate and still growing 120 self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno. They form three main groups: the Uru-Chipaya, Uru-Murato, and Uru-Iruito.
What is the island of Uros made of?
totora reeds
The fairytale-like Uros Islands are made entirely from totora reeds; the lives of the inhabitants of these artificial islands are entirely dependent upon the reed beds they live among.
Where do the Uros people live?
lake Titicaca
The Uros people live on floating reed islands in lake Titicaca. One of the famous reed islands on the world’s highest navigable lake. One of the famous reed islands on the world’s highest navigable lake.
How old are the Uros Islands?
History. The Uros are a unique indigenous race who migrated to Lake Titicaca an estimated 3,700 years ago.
What language do the Uros speak?
The Uros are descendants of an ethnic group, “qapi.” As their main language – Pukina – became extinct, Aymara is now the most spoken language along with Spanish. These two languages are the ones you will find when traveling through Bolivia and Machu Picchu.
How were the Uros Islands made?
The Uros islands are a group of 70 man-made totora reed islands floating on Peru’s Lake Titicaca.
What did the Uros people eat?
Fishing and hunting for birds is one of the main ways of getting food on the islands. The Uros also eat the guinea pigs and ducks that they keep on the islands. Waterbirds are also kept on the island but for helping them fish or for their eggs.
What do Uros people eat?
How many Uros are there?
The Uros depended heavily on the aquatic systems of Lake Titicaca and other area rivers and lakes for their livelihood, hunting birds, collecting eggs, and fishing. Today, there are about 2,000 Uros in Peru, many that live on floating islands made of reeds on Lake Titicaca.
What do the Uros people do?
Among the most common activities of the Uros, is the weaving and treatment of totora reeds (not only the islands are made of this material, but also their houses and their traditional boats). Also, fishing (especially pejerrey and Karachi) or hunting birds are some of the activities necessary for trade and subsistence.
When were the Uros Islands made?
Why do the Uros live in the lake?
The Uro tribe This indigenous group originally chose to live on the lake as a defensive tactic and consider themselves as the owners of the lake and its waters. The Uros people of Lake Titicaca also claim to have black blood and not to feel the cold.
Why did the Uros people move to the lake?
Because lands around the lake were most occupied and population was increasing, these Amazon people moved into the middle of the lake onto small floating islands that they made from many layers of cut totora, a thick reed that grows abundantly in the high altitude fresh water.
Is Lake Titicaca salt water?
Description. Lake Titicaca is the largest freshwater lake in South America and the highest of the world’s large lakes.
How are the islands and the houses of the Uros tribe the same?
BOATS AND HOUSES Like the islands, all the houses and boats owned by The Uros are built with the same dry reeds. They use a technique similar to that of island making. They also make handicrafts that they sell to different visitors and tourists who set foot on the islands.