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As the navigator Vicente Y. Pinzon recorded, the Palikur
were sufficiently numerous at the beginning of the XVIth
Century as to lend their name to the territory that they
occupied. They entered the XXth Century, however, with
their population greatly reduced due to various epidemics,
slave-hunters and, since they were considered allies of
the French, the persecutions of the Portuguese “Coast
Guard Troops" . Their population only began to recover
during the XXth Century. Comparing the census figures
recorded for the Palikur of the Urukauá in 1925
(Nimuendajú, 1926), in which the total population
was 186 people and the Census of 1998, which showed a
total of 866 people (FUNAI – ADR/Oiapoque), one notes
a population increase of 365%. Since the delimitation
of the boundary markers between Brazil and French Guiana,
the Palikur have been divided between the two sides of
the border. But, instead of establishing fixed population
centers on both sides, they have never stopped making
boat trips to visit their kin on the other side of the
border. Whether it is to conduct commerce, visit kin,
pass holidays, or work for awhile to get some money, there
is always some motive for going to Guiana and vice-versa.
Despite their living together with other ethnic
groups of the region, among the Palikur there is a tendency
to endogamy. Nevertheless, they don’t entirely
exclude the possibility of exogamic marriages, which
is attested by the nine marriages with Galibi-Marworno
women, out of a total of ninety-seven marriages in Kumenê
village.
From data gathered in 1994 (A. Passes, 1998)
the Palikur population in French Guiana was nearly 48%
of the total, demonstrating a balanced distribution
between the two countries, which has remained stable
over the last few years. The population growth rate
is around 20% per decade, and there are no records of
any significant migration, only frequent cross-overs
between Brazil and French Guiana.
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Total Population of Urukauá
over four decades
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1925
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1978
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1988
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1998
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Male
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86
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292
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350
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456
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Female
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100
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282
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353
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410
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Total
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186
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574
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703
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866
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Sources: 1925, Nimuendajú; 1978,1988 e
1995, FUNAI – ADR-Oiapoque
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