Foto: Eliana Motta

Ingarikó

  • Other names
    Akawaio
  • Where they are
    RR
    Guiana Equatorial
    Venezuela
  • How many
    1.271 (Funasa, 2010)
    4.000 (1990)
    728 (1992)
  • Linguistic family
    Karib

Introduction

The Ingarikó inhabit the area surrounding Mount Roraima, the dominant landmark on the triple border between Brazil, Guiana and Venezuela, and, above all, the stump of the mythological tree of life, which was chopped down at the beginning of time. Occupying the highest portion of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory, they remained free of the various forms of recruiting indigenous labour that affected neighbouring peoples to the south for centuries. Contacts with their relatives in Guiana are today, as in the past, fairly frequent.