Tukano

  • Other names
    Tucano
  • Where they are
    AM
    Colombia
    Venezuela
  • How many
    6.241 (Dsei/Foirn, 2005)
    6.330 (1988)
    11 (INE, 2001)
  • Linguistic family
    Tukano

Introduction

The Indians who live on the banks of the Uaupés River and its tributaries - the Tiquié, Papuri, Querari and other minor rivers - today belong to 17 ethnic groups, many of which also live in Colombia, in the Uaupés and Apaporis river basins (tributary of the Japurá), the principal tributary of which is the Pira-Paraná River.

These indigenous groups speak languages of the Eastern Tukanoan family (only Tariana is of Arawak origin) and participate in a wide-ranging network of exchanges, which include marriages, rituals and commerce, which form a definite socio-cultural complex, called the “social system of the Uaupés/Pira-Paraná”. This, in turn, is part of a broader culture area, including populations of the Arawak and Maku language families.

Ethnic groups: Arapaso, Bará, Barasana, Desana, Karapanã, Kotiria, Kubeo, Makuna, Mirity-tapuya, Pira-tapuya, Siriano, Tariana, Tukano, Tuyuca, Tatuyo, Taiwano, Yuruti (the last three live only in Colombia)

How many people: 11,130 in Brazil (in 2001) and 18,705 in Colombia (in the year 2000)

For further informations read the special entry about the region