 |
::01 |
 |
|
The hydrographic basin of the Içana River has
its sources in Colombia, but after a short distance it
defines the border with Brazil, then flowing directly
into Brazilian territory in a southwesterly direction.
The Içana is about 696 kilometers in length. From
its headwaters to the Colombia/Brazil border it flows
for 76 kilometers. It forms the border with Colombia for
another 110 kilometers and from there it flows another
510 kilometers until it joins the Rio Negro. In Brazilian
territory, the river has 19 rapids.
At its sources, the Içana is a whitewater
river and begins to change its color to reddish and
then becomes a blackwater river after receiving the
waters from feeder streams such as the Iauareté
(or Iauaiali, as the Baniwa and Kuripako call it) and
others. The principal tributaries of the Içana
are the Aiari, Cuiari, Piraiauara and Cubate rivers,
all of these being blackwater rivers. The Içana
flows into the Rio Negro above the mouth of the Uaupés
River.
|
|
::02 |
 |
|
The Baniwa in Brazil are distributed in 93 settlements,
between villages and smaller sites; out of a total approximate
population in the year 2000 of 15 thousand individuals,
around 4,026 live in Brazil. The villages on the Brazilian
side are located on the mid- and lower Içana and
on the Cubate, Cuiari and Aiari rivers. The Baniwa also
live in communities along the upper Rio Negro, and in
the cities of São Gabriel, Santa Isabel and Barcelos.
The Kuripako are found almost exclusively on the upper
Içana and, in Brazil, total approximately 1,115
people.
There has been a Salesian mission at Assunção
on the Içana since 1952. There are four other
mission bases along the Içana River, all of them
maintained by the New Tribes Mission of Brazil: Boa
Vista, located at the mouth of the river; Tunuí,
at a rapids of the same name on the middle Içana;
São Joaquim and Jerusalém, on the upper
Içana (among the Kuripako). In São Joaquim,
there also is a Frontier Platoon of the Army.
|
