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The roots of San José de Payamino lie in the Quijos culture, who lived the eastern slopes of the Andes at the time of the Spanish invasion. Around five hundred years ago, a group of the community’s ancestors left the Quijos community of Sumaco, located at 1,600 m.a.s.l. on the shores of the River Suno, eventually reaching the present Payamino territory by the 19th Century. After trying their luck at a number of locations, the community finally settled on its present settlement pattern along the banks of the Payamino River in the late 1970’s. Early colonial chroniclers describe the area’s previous residents as living in small nomadic family units scattered through the jungle. Artefacts dating back to these earlier inhabitants, including stone axe heads and petroglyphs, have been found in the territory.

In those days, contact with the outside world was maintained through trade in the fruit of the cinnamon-like ispingo tree. Trade in this fruit definitely reached the highlands of Ecuador (inspiring Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana’s ill-fated search for ‘The Land of Cinnamon’, which lead to the discovery of the Amazon River), and it is possible that, as a result, the pre-hispanic inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Payamino River had some knowledge of the Quechua language, which had become widespread throughout the Andes as a result of the expansion of the Inca Empire.

After settlement by the ancestors of the present-day community of San Jose de Payamino, trade with the highlands was maintained. Many community members can still describe the journey that their grandparents would make on foot to Quito to trade the fibre of the pita plant (a relative of the pineapple) in exchange for salt, tools and other goods that they could not obtain locally.

Integration into Spanish-speaking society began with the arrival of Jesuit missionaries late in the 19th Century, another event that is recalled in the oral history of Payamino, and was continued through the presence of Josphine and Dorothean missionaries from the 1920’s onwards. It was these last two groups of missionaries who taught the Payamino Runa to speak Spanish, persuaded them to move to their current location in the territory, and established a school there.

Despite the ongoing presence of missionaries, the Ecuadorean Amazon remained a backwater until well into the 20th Century. Colonisation didn’t begin in earnest until the area was opened up for oil exploitation following the discovery of oil reserves in the area by Texaco-Gulf in 1969. Road building projects created a new frontier for migrant workers from the coastal and highland area of Ecuador, who flooded into the Amazon lowlands in their droves; in the mid 1970’s this area had the highest immigration rates in the world.

However, the new-found wealth of oil was slow to bring prosperity: as recently as the 1990’s Coca, which is now a thriving, modern city, consisted of eight blocks of one and two-story buildings, surrounded by swamps and there was no road connection or electricity supply at all in nearby Loreto. As Coca grew, its size and accessibility by river from San Jose de Payamino opened the community up to trading crops with local markets, and cash crops including cacao, coffee, maize and rice were introduced to the community.

With time, access and communications have improved between Payamino and the outside world. In 2007, a road was completed to the community, linking it to the Coca - Loreto highway, and by mid 2011, the community should be receiving mains electricity, and possibly even a phone and internet connection.