Orinoco Parima cultures

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Coordinates: 4 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  N , 65 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  W.

Venezuela rel93.jpg

Orinoco Parima cultures are Native American societies that settle in the Venezuelan states of Bolívar and Amazonas , in the Colombian states of Guainía and Vichada, and in the Brazilian states of Roraíma and Amazonas .

definition

Distribution area of ​​the Arawak

Isolates of Amazonia.png The Orinoco Parima cultures include the following tribes:

Neighboring and related cultures in Colombia and Brazil include:

similarities and differences

The cultures resident in this area show, despite comparable living conditions, some of the traditions, rites and beliefs that differ from one another.

Cultural similarities can be seen among the Baniwa, Baré, Piapoco, Wakuénai and Warekena (southwestern lowlands), because a. belong to the Aravak language group.

Further similarities can be seen between E'ñepa and Ye'kuana, not only because they belong to the Carib language group, but also in the processing of the cassava.

Geography and climate

geography

Landscape at the Orinoco

The settlement area of ​​these cultures in the western Sierra Parima extends north to the Venezuelan lowlands, west along the border to Colombia and into Colombia along the Río Ariporo , south to the state border with Brazil and south of the Río Uraricuera ( Río Branco ) into Brazil. In the east, the settlement area is roughly bounded by the Río Caroní .

The Sierra Parima is a mountain range overgrown by high, dense, almost impenetrable rainforest vegetation, with heavily eroded, sandy soil, on the western slope of the Guyana Shield, one of the oldest mountain ranges in geological terms. During the rainy season, the rivers overflow and the area becomes even more impenetrable due to the silting of the ground.

Savannahs predominate in the southern Venezuelan lowlands.

climate

The indigenous people living there live in an area with a hot and humid climate with an average annual temperature of 27 ° C. From May to October is the rainy season with approx. 15 rainy days per month, from January to March the dry season with max. 7 rainy days per month.

Political Affiliation

Their settlement area is mainly in the Venezuelan states of Amazonas (175,000 km²) and Bolívar (66,000 km²), as well as in the Colombian states of Casanare , Guainía , Guaviare , Meta and Vichada .

history

introduction

For almost five centuries the Amazon with its boundless jungle and the almost immeasurable network of waterways in Europe was an unknown part of the world. Hostile and repellent in its strange untouched nature, it tempted some conquerors to venture into the interior of the country in search of hidden treasures. Today we know that large parts of the Amazon are cultural landscapes that have been used and shaped for thousands of years by the people living there, whose descendants still inhabit the area between the Orinoco and the Sierra Parima mountain range. This is where the legendary Parima Lake was thought to be where El Dorado (The Gold Man) lived.

Some of these societies managed - despite colonial exploitation - to preserve their identity, to hold on to their traditions and at the same time to develop in a self-determined way.

Since the discovery of the “New World” by the Europeans, many of the peoples originally living in Latin America have been subjected to slavery or deprived of their land and lives as beings that hinder progress. The resources of the savannahs and rainforests (such as rubber, gold, cocoa) were rich and tempting, and so the powerful colonizers laid their hands on them and still do it today. Many missionaries also made their own contribution to the cultural alienation and ethnic uprooting of the Indians. It seems all the more astonishing that some indigenous groups managed - in the shadow of El Dorado, so to speak - to preserve their identity, to hold onto their traditions and at the same time to develop in a self-determined way. The societies between the Upper Orinoco and the Sierra Parima mountain range are representative of such surviving cultures.

History of cultures

The settlement of this habitat by humans took place before 17,000 BC. Instead of.

The cultures resident there have largely been able to retain their way of life and traditions to this day, all the more so as they were able to evade western influence through nomadization and retreat to inaccessible regions.

In Venezuela and Colombia, the indigenous people now make up only about 2% of the population, next to 60% Crillos , 20% Europeans and 8% Africans.

Exploration and conquest

The legendary Parima lake

On his third voyage (1498–1500), Christopher Columbus was the first to recognize the dimensions of the Orinoco. The expedition of Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci followed in 1499 .

The Spanish Conquista could not penetrate this region for a long time and fantastic ideas fed the imagination of possible conquerors, such as that of the non-existent "Parima Lake" on whose shores the legendary El Dorado should lie. In addition, the impregnability of the cataracts of Atures (10 km south of Puerto Ayacucho ) prevented civilization from advancing further into the Upper Orinoco until the 19th century.

Diego Ribeiro made the first map of the Orinoco in 1529.

From 1717 the region belonged to the viceroyalty of New Granada .

The southernmost mission station (from 1745) was founded on the Río Meta by José Gumilla (1686–1750) north of today's city of Puerto Ayacucho . The mission stations of San Juan de Atures and San José de Maipures , founded by the Jesuits, were also early settlements, but these were abandoned after the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, fell into disrepair and were rediscovered as ruins by Humboldt in 1799. Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans Capuchins and Salesians also evangelized in the middle Orinoco, founded settlements, built paths and churches and mapped them. Chroniclers like Antonio Caulin , Salvatore Gilij , José Gumilla and Manuel Román gave vivid reports on the life of the indigenous people living there.

From 1755 the systematic exploration of the middle Orinoco began under the leadership of José Solano , who u. a. reported on the storms in October 1780. This research served mainly to expand the sphere of influence of the Castilian royal family, which set up a border commission for this purpose. Solano pushed up to the Rio Negro and in 1759 founded the localities of San Felipe , San Fernando de Atabapo , San Carlos de Río Negro and in 1760 La Esmeralda .

Between August and November 1799, Alexander von Humboldt and the naturalist Aimé Bonpland were the first to explore the Río Orinoco and the Río Negro in what was then New Granada on a 75-day river trip . Both make essential contributions to botany, zoology and cartography. Humboldt also provided evidence of the connection between the two great river systems of South America, the Orinoco and the Amazon, via the Brazo Casiquiare and the Rio Negro.

Inspired by Humboldt, the German botanist Moritz Richard Schomburgk traveled with his brother Robert Hermann Schomburgk to the Guyanese-Venezuelan border area from 1835 to 1844 . He was followed from 1853 to 1854 by Richard Spruce , who collected a variety of plants in the Orinoco Valley and made significant contributions to anthropology, archeology and linguistics for this region.

After Venezuela's independence in 1821, the settlement along the Orinoco was promoted from 1860 and the systematic exploitation of the natural resources there, such as wood , rubber , iron ore , etc. began. a.

In 1886 the French Jean Chaffanjon tried in vain to find the source of the Orinoco. His travelogues flowed into the novel Le Superbe Orénoque (1898) by Jules Verne .

In 1911 the anthropologist Theodor Koch-Grünberg traveled to the Orinoco region and made a significant contribution to the understanding of cultures with his linguistic work.

The American geographer Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr. (1875-1956) started an expedition to the Yanomami area in 1920, which failed after an armed conflict with the natives.

Alain Gheerbrant (* 1920) undertook a 330-day expedition to the Sierra Parima between 1949 and 1954 with Pierre Gaisseau and Ye'kuana guides. His publications about this expedition were not very scientific and primarily serve a sensation-loving audience, similar to the horror literature of the 19th century.

In November 1951 the source of the Orinocos was discovered by a Franco-Venezuelan expedition.

The systematic collection of anthropological and ethnological data began after 1945. Johannes Wilbert and Miguel Layrisse , in collaboration with the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), carried out fundamental anthropological studies of the Orinoco-Parima cultures.

In the mid 1950s Otto Zerries and Meinhard Schuster undertook a 12-month research trip to the Yanomami on behalf of the Frobenius Institute . Schuster mainly researched the Ye'kuana on the Río Cuntinamo .

Edgardo González Niño (1926–2002) studied various ethnic groups in the region from 1956 and for years collected objects from the indigenous people that were incorporated into the Colección Cisneros .

forecast

Mestizo is a sociological process that culturally degrades the indigenous population across Latin America.

Malaria , tuberculosis, and hepatitis are the greatest health threats facing indigenous people today.

economy

The creation of an object symbolically always means work on the continuation of the world. The material evidence is the result of processes of change that began in the world of ideas. The exchange of objects stands for the other great guiding principle of these civilizations: Mutuality strengthens and maintains social cohesion in this world, it also reflects cosmic processes that create creative relationships between life and death, people and gods, animals and spirits.

resources

Vegetable resources

Cassava plantation in Piaroa (Venezuela)

The following plants were collected by the indigenous people or cultivated by the indigenous people who had settled down for subsistence purposes:

  • Acai (cabbage palm; Euterpe oleracea) is a species of palm of which both the fruits and the palm hearts contribute to the region's nutrition.
  • Achiote (Bixa orellana) is a 5 meter high shrub from which a red vegetable pigment is extracted.
  • Amarillo lagarto (Centrolobium paraense) is a tree (butterflies) whose wood is recycled
  • pineapple
  • Awara palm (Astrocaryum tucuma) is a species of palm with edible fruits
  • Banisteriopsis caapi is a type of liana from whose bark the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca is made.
  • cotton
  • Barbasco is a fish poison.
  • Beans
  • Casca de marima (Antiaris sacciadora) is a species of tree whose wood is used.
  • Cashew
  • chili
  • Chiqui-Chichi-Palm (Leopoldinia piassaba) provides piassava, strong, water-repellent fibers, which u. a. used to make brooms. The fruits are used to make jewelry.
  • Chusquea sp. Is a type of bamboo whose wood is used
  • Curauá (Ananas lucidus) is a species of the bromeliad family , from whose leaves fibers are obtained.
  • Cola de pava (Iriartella setigera) is a type of palm, the trunks of which are processed into blowpipes and the leaves are used to make an insecticide.
  • Ducürä (Couma caatingae) is a type of wood from the dog poison family
  • Fustik (Lafoensia punicifolia) supplies wood
  • Heteropsis spruceana is a climbing arum plant
  • Inaja (Cucurito palm; Maximiliana regia) supplies fibers for making baskets
  • Cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) provides fruits and wood
  • Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) is a tree whose fruits produce cotton-like fibers ( kapok ).
  • potato
  • Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis)
  • Plantains
  • Corn
  • manioc
  • Manicaria (Manicaria saccifera) is a type of palm that provides wood and the large leaves are used to extract fibers or to cover roofs
  • Maranta (Ischnosyphon aruma) belongs to the arrowroot family . A starch flour is made from the rhizomes of the plant to draw poison (arrow) from wounds.
  • Melons
  • Ocotea (Ocotea cymbarum) provides wood, but above all fragrant oils
  • Ojiru (also: Moriche palm; Mauritia flexuosa). Your fruit (oji) is stored in water to ripen and then eaten as a side dish or a juice is prepared with the fruit pulp, which is very refreshing with sugar and rich in vitamins and fats. Palm starch (ojiru amutu) is extracted from the pulp of the trunk, which is then baked into bread. In addition, a beetle (mo arani) lays its eggs in the rotten trunk, from which a larva (mo) develops, which is very fat and tastes good.
  • papaya
  • Brazil nut
  • pepper
  • Pijiguao palm (Bactris gasipaes) is a species of palm with edible fruits
  • Sassafras spp. is a laurel plant that is used for teas or for oils against insects
  • Seje palm (Oenocarpus bacaba) supplies wood from the u. a. Arrows are made
  • Shimbillo (Inga spp.) Belongs to the mimosa family and provides a light wood
  • Star nut palm (Astrocaryum sp.)
  • Strychnos guianensis is a type of liana (nugget plant) from which both hallucinogens and an arrow poison (curare) are obtained.
  • Sweet potatoes
  • tobacco
  • tomatoes
  • Yams
  • Sugar cane

Animal resources

Agouti
Orinoco crocodiles

The following animals were hunted, collected or bred by the indigenous people:

Mammals
Birds
Amphibians and reptiles
fishes
insects
  • Mo (beetle larva)

Geological resources

The following minerals and ores can be mined in the region. Mining and metalworking have played no role for most of the indigenous people.

Food production

Agriculture and hunting

Agriculture in this region is based on shifting cultivation by means of logging or fire clearance.

The staple food in the region is cassava . Herbal food supplements are offered by wild growing bananas , taro , papaya , Brazil nuts and a dozen other plant species.

Small livestock farming of poultry and guinea pigs is neglected.

The hunt is mainly for small game such as birds, monkeys, armadillos , agoutis and pecaris . Big game such as the tapir are seldom shot in this region.

Craft

Tools, cult objects and other consumer goods are made exclusively from vegetable and animal raw materials. Metal processing is not in use. Even the processing of stone tools is hardly available for these cultures. The blades used for hunting are more like found objects.

trade

Since the communities in this region are self-sufficient , trading with other tribes is not essential. Forays into other areas replace this one.

In addition, the belief in what is "given by nature", not barter, but makes the idea of ​​trade in goods insignificant.

Cultural Achievements

Writing was not developed, traditions were transmitted orally until the arrival of the Europeans

Beliefs, religion and worldview

Orinoco sunset

Animistic religion

The ethnic religion of the Indigenas des Parimas is animistic , which means that every appearance, no matter how small, has a soul.

For them, the spiritual world is the real reality.

Transformation and Metamorphosis

The awe-inspiring knowledge of appearance and disappearance as something that can be experienced every day, as well as the shadowy realm of the spirit world, is life-determining for them and shapes all areas of life. The spirits are responsible for the constant change in the world and therefore have to be respected, honored and in order to have a positive influence on events to be tempered. The "transformation" of the poisonous cassava into edible products also plays a major role in the beliefs of these people.

Important explorers and scientists for the region

literature

  • Lajos Boglár : Wahari. A South American jungle culture. Kiepenheuer, Leipzig / Weimar 1982.
  • Marc de Civrieux : Leyendas Maquiritares. In: Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle. Memoria. Vol. 20, No. 56, 1960, ISSN  0037-8518 , pp. 105-125, No. 57, pp. 178-188 (also special reprint).
  • Alain Gheerbrant: Journey to the Far Amazon. An expedition into unknown territory . Victor Gollanz, London 1953.
  • David M. Guss : To Weave and Sing. Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rain Forest. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1989, ISBN 0-520-06427-5 .
  • Gabriele Herzog-Schröder : Okoyõma - the cancer hunters. About the life of the Yanomami women in southern Venezuela (= women's cultures, men's cultures. Vol. 8). Lit, Münster et al. 2000, ISBN 3-8258-5082-X (At the same time: Berlin, Free University, dissertation, 1999: Okoyõma - the cancer hunters of the Upper Orinoco. Gender, ritual and representation. ).
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg - From Roroima to the Orinoco. Results of a trip to northern Brazil and Venezuela in the years 1911–1913. 5 volumes. Reimer, Berlin 1916–1928;
    • Volume 1: Description of the trip. 1917;
    • Volume 2: Myths and legends of the Taulipang and Arekuna Indians. 1916;
    • Volume 3: Ethnography. 1923;
    • Volume 4: Languages. 1928;
    • Volume 5: Type Atlas. 1923.
  • Wolfgang Lindig , Mark Münzel : The Indians. Cultures and history. Volume 2: Central and South America. From Yucatán to Tierra del Fuego. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-423-04435-7 .
  • Marie-Claude Mattéi-Muller - Yoroko. A Panare Shaman's Confidences. Armitano Editores, Caracas 1992, ISBN 980-216-088-1 .
  • Marie-Claude Mattéi-Müller: Basketry. In: Petra Kruse (Ed.): Orinoko - Parima. Indian Societies from Venezuela - the Cisneros Collection. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit 1999, ISBN 3-7757-0872-3 .
  • Wolfgang Müller : The Amazonian Indians. Peoples and cultures in the rainforest. Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39756-5 .
  • Walter Edmund Roth : An introductory Study of the Arts, Crafts, and Customs of the Guiana Indians. Johnson Reprint, New York NY 1970.
  • Richard Schomburgk : Travels in British Guiana in the years 1840-1844. Weber, Leipzig 1847-1848.
  • Meinhard Schuster : Dekuana. Contributions to the ethnology of the Makiritare (= results of the Frobenius expedition 1954/1955 to Southeast Venezuela. Vol. 3, ZDB -ID 2294651-2 & key = zdb 2294651-2 = publication of the Frobenius Institute at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Results of the Frobenius expeditions. Vol. 17). Renner, Munich 1976.
  • Johannes Wilbert : Indios de la región Orinoco (= Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Monografía. Vol. 8, ZDB -ID 1108430-3 ). 1st edition, 1st reimpression. Instituto Caribe de Antropología y Sociología, Caracas 1966.
  • Johannes Wilbert, David M. Guss: Navigators of the Orinoco. River Indians of Venezuela (= UCLA Museum of Cultural History Pamphlet Series. No. 11, ZDB -ID 2500413-X ). UCLA Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles CA 1980.
  • Otto Zerries : Pumpkin rattle and head ghosts in South America. In: Paideuma. Vol. 5, 1953, ISSN  0078-7809 , pp. 323-339.
  • Otto Zerries: Waika. The cultural-historical position of the Waika Indians of the upper Orinoco in the context of ethnology of South America (= results of the Frobenius expedition 1954–1955 to southeast Venezuela. Vol. 1). Renner, Munich 1964 (at the same time: Munich, university, habilitation paper, 1961).
  • Otto Zerries: Wild and Bush Spirits in South America. An investigation of the phenomena of hunting times in the cultural image of South American Indians (= Studies on Cultural Studies. Vol. 11, ISSN  0170-3544 ). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1954.
  • Otto Zerries, Meinhard Schuster : Mahekodotedi. Monograph of a village of the Waika Indians (Yanoama) on the upper Orinoco (Venezuela) (= results of the Frobenius expedition to Southeast Venezuela. Vol. 2). Renner, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-87673-034-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amazon - cannibals in the jungle (SPIEGEL 34-1954)

Web links