News of this people
- Projeto revela relação indígena com o conhecimento
22/04/2013 - Ministro da Justiça assina portaria declaratória de três terras indígenas
22/04/2013 - Ministro dança no Dia do Índio
20/04/2013
Baniwa
- Other names
Baniva, Baniua, Curipaco - Where they are
AM
Colombia
Venezuela - How many
6.206 (Siasi/Sesai, 2012)
7.000 (2000)
2.408 (INE, 2001) - Linguistic family
Aruak
Introduction
The Baniwa live on the borders of Brazil with Colombia and Venezuela, in villages located on the banks of the Içana River and its tributaries the Cuiari, Aiari and Cubate, as well as in communities on the Upper Rio Negro/Guainía and in the urban centers of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Isabel and Barcelos (AM). The Kuripako, who speak a dialect of the Baniwa language and are kin of the Baniwa, live in Colombia and on the upper Içana (Brazil). Both groups are highly skilled in the manufacture of arumã (aririte) basketry, an age-old art that was taught to them by their creator heroes and which is being commercialized today in Brazilian markets.
Recently, they have also become outstanding for their active participation in the indigenous movement in the region. This movement includes a cultural complex of 22 different indigenous groups who are articulated through a network of trade and are very similar in their social organization, material cultural, and worldview.
