Editing Shuar (section)

== Social organization and contacts with Europeans ==

From the time of first contact with Europeans in the 16th century, to the formation of the Shuar Federation in the 1950s and 1960s, Shuar were semi-[[nomadic]] and lived in separate households dispersed in the rainforest, linked by the loosest of kin and political ties, and lacking corporate kin-groups or centralized or institutionalized political leadership.<ref name="Salazar1977">{{cite book|author=Ernesto Salazar|title=An Indian federation in lowland Ecuador|url=http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/0106_28Ecuador.pdf|access-date=16 February 2013|year=1977|publisher=[[International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs]]|page=13}}</ref>

The center of Shuar life was a relatively autonomous household consisting of a husband, his wives (usually two), unmarried sons, and daughters. Upon marriage sons would leave their natal household, and sons-in-law would move in (see [[matrilocal residence]]). Men hunted and wove clothes; women gardened. In 1527, the Shuar defeated an incursion by the [[Inca Empire|Inca]] armies of [[Huayna Capac]].<ref name="Salazar1977"/>

When Shuar first made contact with Spaniards in the 16th century, they entered into peaceful trade relations. They violently resisted taxation, and drove Spaniards away in 1599.

Colonization and missionization in the 20th century have led Shuar to reorganize themselves into nucleated settlements called ''centros''. Centros initially facilitated evangelization by Catholic missionaries but also became a means to defend Shuar land claims against those of non-indigenous settlers. In 1964 representatives of Shuar centros formed a political Federation to represent their interests to the Ecuadorian state, non-governmental organizations, and transnational corporations.