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People group profile · PG046591

The Iquito of Peru

The Iquito of Peru, numbering about 350 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a nearly extinct Zaparoan people of Peru's Loreto region along the Pintoyacu and Nanay rivers, whose population collapsed from an estimated 5,000 before contact to just 150 by the 1920s amid disease and rubber-boom exploitation.

They are an indigenous people in the Amazon people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion, and they primarily speak Spanish.

Pray for the IquitoPrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Iquito people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Iquito

Fast facts

Country
Peru
Population
350
Affinity group
American Peoples
People cluster
Amazon
Primary language
Spanish (spa)
Primary religion
Ethnoreligion
Strategic Progress Index
Engaged yet Unreached
Evangelical
Less than 2%
GSEC
Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
Lostness priority
Expanding Unreached People Group
Region
South America, Americas
Location
Loreto region: Atalaya and San Antonio on Chambira, Nanay, and Pintoyacu rivers

Where they live

Gospel status

The Iquito are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.

  • Congregations exist No
  • Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted

Next steps for the Iquito

  • Continue prayer and fasting for this group
  • Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
  • Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Primary religion

Ethnoreligion

99% adherents

Primary language

Spanish · Indo-European family

100% speak Spanish

Gospel resources in Spanish

  • Bible available
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources available
  • Bible stories not available

Films

Bibles

Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.

Pray for the Iquito

  1. Revelation 7:9. Pray for the day when people from this group stand before the throne with every nation, tribe, people and language.
  2. John 17:3. Pray that many will come to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
  3. Psalm 27:1. Pray that new believers will be strengthened in the face of persecution, with the Lord as their stronghold.
  4. Romans 12:4–5. Pray that believers from many cultures will work together as one body so that the church is built up.

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