The Sharanahua lived in the upper Rio Taruacá region, to the north, at the time of contact. Fleeing a Peruvian attack, they migrated to the Rio Curanja in about 1935. They left the Curanja after a measles epidemic and reached their present location in the 1940s, where they fought the Jamináwa. In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the Sharanahua fell victim to epidemics of flu, whooping cough, and measles, which cut their population in half; they believe that these epidemics were caused by Peruvian bombs. Today the Sharanahua tribe includes the remaining populations of Mastanawa, Chandinahua, and perhaps some Jamináwa people. Many authorities consider the Marinahua to be also a part of the Sharanahua tribe. The population of this mixture of culturally similar and intermarrying peoples has been estimated at 1,350 to 1,8501 Around 1900, the Sharanahua left their tribal homeland near the headwaters of the Taruaca River because they were being crowded by other Indian tribes fleeing the rubber gatherers in Brazil. They reached the Upper Purus region in the 1940s. Those were difficult years for the tribe. Between 1925 and 1950 half their populations was lost due to epidemics of whooping cough and measles. In the 1960s, they adopted canoes and fish nets to improve their fishing production and began to dress like other Peruvians. Their population today exceeds 1,500 people and is slowly expanding. Although some work as migrant laborers in the neo-Peruvian economy the tribe maintains a strong sense of identity.