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The Amazonian Kichwas normally refer to themselves as Runas, which simply means men. They speak an Amazonian dialect of Kichwa, the Ecuadorean member of the Quechua language family, which was spread around much of Andean South America by the Inca Empire, and is still the most widely spoken indigenous language group in Latin America today. In fact, with some sources estimating a maximum total of 10 million speakers, it is spoken by more people than the combined population of Irish and Scots Gaelic and Welsh speakers combined. In both Quechua and Kichwa, the language is known as Runa Shimi, which literally translates as man’s tongue or mouth.

The historical origins of the Amazonian Kichwa culture are unclear, but the likeliest theory is that it came about as a result of the influence of Jesuit missionaries, who arrived in the Ecuadorean Amazon in the 19th Century. They gathered together members of a wide variety of different, and often rival, tribes in their reductions, each of whom had their own distinct language and culture. Spanish colonists had learned to speak Quechua from the Incas from the very earliest days of the colony, so the Jesuits would have been well-versed in the language, and many of the lowland tribes would also have had some knowledge of it from their trading relations with the highland natives. Therefore, it became the most convenient language to establish for use as a lingua franca in the Amazonian missions, and it was taught to all the natives who went into them.

Today there are two principal Amazonian dialects – Napo Kichwa and Archidona Kichwa, of which the residents of San Jose de Payamino speak the former. However, it is also said that each community has its own unique linguistic particularities, and any one Kichwa can tell you which community another one comes from just by listening to him or her talk.

There are about 60,000 to 100,000 Kichwas living in the Ecuadorian lowlands, organized into 450 communities. The Kichwa communities are spread across the Amazon provinces of Napo, Sucumbíos, Orellana and Pastaza, with the greatest numbers in the Province of Napo. Today, many Kichwas also live in urban areas in and around the cities of Tena, Puyo and Coca.
 
There are no exact numbers of the land held by the Kichwa as much is still held informally and not recognized by the government. In 1992 they were granted 1.115.000 hectares, but it is estimated that at least an additional 1.569.000 hectares belongs to the Kichwa of Napo, Sucumbíos, Orellana and Pastaza.
 
Traditionally, the Kichwa lived in small kinship-based groups called ayllus (the Kichwa word for family) or muntun in fixed settlements called kikin llakta. They lived from subsistence agriculture, hunting, fishing and collection in the forests and rivers. The hunting often took place in so-called purina llaktas, special and more primitive hunting settlements, further from the kikin llakta.

The political and spiritual organization of each muntun was controlled by a shaman or yachak tayta (learned father – the word ‘shaman’, although widespread in Latin America, is of Siberian origin and was introduced to the New World by European anthropologists) who was the ritual and political leader. Today, the family or ayllu still constitute the central part of their social organization.

The Kichwas are monogamous. Traditionally, marriages have been between Kichwas, but exogamous marriages with other nationalities are increasingly accepted. When married, the wife moves in with her husband and would be considered part of their family, despite retaining her maiden surname. In return, the husband must pay his father-in-law a dowry, which normally consists of a large quantity of food and drink – traditionally this would have been bush meat and chicha, but nowadays, this more frequently consists of chickens, beer and sugar cane spirit.

During the last decades of the 20th Century, the Kichwa have rapidly become politically organised, with the aim of defending their collective and territorial rights. The Kichwa of Orellana fall under the FICCKAE (Federacion Indigena de Comunas y Comunidades Kichwas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, or Federation of Indigenous Kichwa Communities of the Ecuadorean Amazon), who in turn are members of CONFENIAE (regional organization) and CONAIE (national movement).
 
Most Kichwa families still live from subsistence farming, hunting, fishing, gathering and selling or bartering these products. More recently, activities such as cattle farming and ecotourism have come to play an important part of life. The chacras or gardens are the main source of food. The Kichwa cultivate a variety of species including plantain, sweet manioc, sweet potato, taro, white maize, squash, peanuts, sugar cane, coffee, cacao, bananas, pineapples, small onions, papaya and chonta palm. Traditionally the gardens are subject to many rituals drawing on the Kichwa cosmology which must be respected in order to assure a good output.

Hunting is another important aspect of subsistence. The hunter is subject to a series of restrictions and rituals to ensure the efficiency in the hunting. The Kichwa hunt a large variety of animals such as woolly and spider monkey, paca, agouti, capybara, squirrel, anteaters, armadillos, otters, peccaries, deer, lizards, toucans, parrots, guans, curassows and other birds. Hunting used to be an activity exclusively practiced with the pucuna or blowgun with poisoned curare arrows, but now the shotgun and rifle have been introduced by the mestizo society. The fishing is mainly carried out with nets, spears, traps, using the poisonous barbasco root and the more recent introduction of fish hooks.  Dynamite has been used in recent years. However, it is now illegal.