Ethnic groups: Baniwa, Kuripako, Dow, Hupda, Nadöb, Yuhupde, Baré, Warekena, Arapaso, Bará, Barasana, Desana, Karapanã, Kotiria, Kubeo, Makuna, Mirity-tapuya, Pira-tapuya, Siriano, Tariana, Tukano, Tuyuca, Tatuyo, Taiwano, Yuruti, Kakwa, Nukak (the last five mentioned live only in Colombia)
How many people: 31,625 in Brazil, 26,281 in Colombia and 7,290 in Venezuela (data from 2000)
Languages: of the Arawak, Tukano and Maku language families

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Northwest Amazon    
The region of the Northwest Amazon, which covers the basin of the Upper Rio Negro, where the border line between Brazil and Colombia traces a shape that looks like a dog’s head, has been traditionally
inhabited for at least two thousand years by ethnic groups who speak languages belonging to three language families: Arawak, Maku and Tukano. Despite the multilingualism and cultural differences, the 27 ethnic groups who inhabit the region – 22 of them being in Brazil – are part of a single culture area, and are in large part articulated by a network of trade, and identical in terms of their material culture, social organization, and worldview. In this section, the reader will find general data on this area. More specific information regarding the peoples who inhabit it are on the following pages: Ethnic groups of the Içana; the Maku ethnic groups; Ethnic groups of the Uaupés; Ethnic groups of the Xié and Upper Rio Negro.



 





  

• Sociodiversity
• Location and population
• Languages
• Social organization
• Malocas [Longhouses]
• Religious life and ritual
• History of contact: XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries
• History of contact: XIXth Century

 • History of contact: XXth Century
• Evangelicalism on the Içana
• Indigenous lands and organizations
• Ecology and resource management
• Daily life of the “Indians of the river"
• Specializations and trade
• Sustainable indigenous development
• Note on the sources
• Sources of Information
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