The Maku population is distributed within an area bordered to the north-west by the Guaviare river (one of the Colombian affluents of the Orinoco), to the north by the Negro River, to the south by the Japurá and to the south-east by the Uneiuxi (one of the Brazilian affluents of the Negro River). This lozenge adds up to a total of approximately 20 million hectares. Obviously, not all this area is occupied by Indians. The high level of spatial dispersion of the six Maku linguistic groups within this vast perimeter is due to the predominance of enormous areas of stunted forest and scrubland, a non riverine type of forest, with extremely poor soil, little plant variation and a low concentration of game animals. The Maku occupy precisely the patches of terra firma forest where game is more abundant and the vegetation richer in species useful as foods or in the manufacture of artefacts.

Human occupation of the area during the Pre-Colombian period probably took place in two waves: first, the Maku established themselves in the interfluvial zones, in the patches of terra firma; afterwards came the Arawak and the Tukano, establishing themselves on the high banks of the rivers, in the middle of the igapó (a lowland area bordering the river, periodically inundated during the rainy season from April to September). The already fairly ancient contact between these peoples with different origins and languages, each of whom occupied different ecological niches, resulted in a complex system of commercial and symbolic exchanges. These are discussed below.

On the Brazilian side of the border, five indigenous territories were recently ratified: Upper Negro River, Middle Negro River I, Middle Negro River II, Téa River and Apapóris River, adding up to a total of 10.6 million hectares of continuous and adjoining territories. The Brazilian Maku groups - namely, the Hupdu, Yuhupdu, Duw and Nadub - are distributed in the interfluvial regions of all these areas, with the exception of the Middle Negro River II. The following descriptions primarily relate to the Maku of the Uaupés (Bara, Hupdu and Yuhupdu) and are based on the ethnographies of Silverwood-Cope (1990), Reid (1979) and Pozzobon (1984, 1992). On the Maku of the Uneiuxi and the Paraná Boá-Boá, consult Schultz (1959), Münzel (1969) and Pozzobon (1998).