The peoples of the Javari — including the Marubo, Matsés, Kanamari, and Kulina — primarily belong to the Pano linguistic family. Their cosmology understands the forest as a living system inhabited by multiple layers of existence: forest spirits, ancestral beings, and natural forces that regulate balance, health, and disorder. The relationship to land is not one of ownership, but of spiritual belonging. The visible and invisible worlds coexist in their social and political organization.

Historically, the region has endured cycles of violence since the rubber boom, followed by contemporary conflicts involving illegal exploitation and territorial invasions.