The word AMACAYACU means “Hamacas' river”. This area of 293,500 hectares was declared a National Park in 1975. It is located on the edge of the Amazon basin, and runs along the Amazon river to the south, the Cotuhé river to the north, the Amacayacu river to the west and the Pamaté and Pupaña creeks, and the Matamata and Lorena creeks and the Purité river to the east.
There is evidence of pre-Columbian indigenous settlements of the Tupí and Ticuna linguistic families; 10% of the area is formed by indigenous reservations from Buenos Aires (Northern sector), San Martín de Amacayacu, Palmeras and Mocagua (Southern sector), and in their zone of influence the Macedonia, Vergel and Zaragoza Reservations. These reservations belong to the Ticuna ethnic group and there are smaller groups of Yaguas and Cocamas. Their subsistence mainly comes from fishing, craftwork, agriculture, and hunting. There is also some ecotourism, research and resource monitoring in their areas.