The Piaroa's also called the Wothuja, are indigenous people of the Amazonia, traditionally living along the middle course of the Orinoco river, and the middle and upper course of the Sipapo and Cuao rivers in the Vichada Department. They currently inhabit the Gran Selva de Matavén Reserve, where the San Luis de Zama and La Urbana communities are located.
The Piaroa first came into contact with white men around the 1940s, and since then they have gone through a process of adaptation and establishment of external relationships. The communities that form the Piaroa people of Colombia make their living mainly from fishing, growing yuca (family-size plots), and gathering wild fruits.
The Piaroa have kept their traditions and beliefs, even throughout the most intense period of colonization of the last few decades. Largely influenced by evangelical groups during the mid-20th century, many of their customs and traditions were transformed by the process of evangelization.