A'I
From NativeWiki
The A'I (Cofan) number 600 and are assembled in the communities of Sinangué, Doriño, and Dureno and along the Bermejo river in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Part of their territory is included in the Cayambe-Coca Reservation. Their language is A'lngae.
The traditional dress of the Cofan (sometimes referred to as A'I, from the name of their language A'Ingae) is an important part of their identity, and includes the characteristic perforations in their noses and ears for the wearing of feathers, flowers, and other materials. Until the 1950s when the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) missionaries began efforts to evangelize them, the Cofan had remained relatively isolated from Western society. Since that time, outside forces have devastated their culture along with the Sionas and Secoyas. The region which they occupy has been an area of intensive petroleum exploitation, especially in the 1970s with the Texaco-Gulf consortium. Roads, pipelines, and penetrating colonists all have had a ravaging effect on their territory. Colonization of Cofan territory led to an increasing disruption of their traditional society which led to a further breakdown of their worldview.
