Ethnic groups in Venezuela - 2001 Census

Ethnic group - Linguistic Family - State - Population
Akawayo - Carib - Bolivar State - 811
(Kapon)
Añu - Arawak - Zulia State - 17,440
(Paraujano)
Arawako - Arawak - Bolivar State/Delta Amacuro - 159
(Arhuaco, Lokono)
Baniva - Arawak - Amazonas State - 2,408
Baré - Arahuaca - Amazonas State - 2,815
Bari - Chibcha - Zulia State - 2,200
Eñepa - Carib - Bolivar State - 4,269
(Panare)
Jivi - Independent - Amazonas State/Apure State - 14,751
(Jiwi, Hiwi, Guajibo, Guahibo, Skuani in Colombia)
Jodi - Independent - Amazonas State/Bolivar State - 767
(Hoti)
Kariña - Carib - Anzoategui/Bolivar/Monagas/Sucre - 16,679
Kuiva - Independent - Amazonas State/Apure State - 454
Mako - Independent - Amazonas State - 1,130
Ñengatu - Arawak - Amazonas State - 1,294
(Yeral)
Pemon - Carib - Bolivar State - 27,270
(Pemong, Arecuna, Aricuna, Jaricuna, Kamarakoto, Camaracoto, Taurepan, Taulipang)
Piapoko - Arahuaca - Amazonas State - 1,939
(Piapoco, Tsase, Tsaase, Dzase, Dzaze)
Puinave - Arawak - Amazonas State - 1,307
Pumé - Independent - Apure State - 7,904
(Yaruro)
Sanema - Independent - Amazonas State/Bolivar State - 3,035
(Yanomamo)
Saliva - Independent - Amazonas State - 265
Sape - Independent - Bolivar State - 25
Uruak - Independent - Bolivar State - 29
(Arutari, Arutani)
Wanai - Independent - Amazonas State/Bolivar State - 365
(Mapoyo)
Warao - Independent - Delta Amacuro/Monagas/Sucre - 36,027
(Guarauno, Guarao, Warrau)
Warekena - Arahuaco - Amazonas - 513
(Guarekena)
Wayuu - Arawak - Zulia/Merida - 293,777
(Guajiro, Goajiro)
Wotuja - Saliva - Amazonas/Bolivar State - 14,494
(Piaroa)
Yabarana - Independent - Amazonas State - 292
(Yavarana)
Yanomami - Independent - Amazonas State - 15,000
(Guaica, Waika, Guajaribo)
Yekuana - Carib - Amazonas State/Bolivar State - 6,523
(Ye'cuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, Dekuana, Maiongong, So'to)
Yukpa - Carib - Zulia State - 10,424
(Yup´ka, Yupe, Yupa, Yuko, Yucpa, "Motilones mansos")

No longer considered living languages:

Chaima - Carib - Monagas/Sucre/Anzoategui
Cumanagoto - Carib - Monagas/Sucre

Confused with Yukpa or now living on Colombian side of the border:

Japreria - Carib - Zulia State

For ethnic groups not covered by the 2001 census I have used figures from the book "Situacion de las Lenguas Indigenas" by Esteban Emilio Mosonyi (Caracas, 2003, Casa Nacional de las Letras, Andres Bello).

Russell Maddicks

Yanomami-Sanema

The Yanomami

The Yanomami are easily the best-known of Venezuela's indigenous peoples. But not for the best of reasons. A series of National Geographic articles describing them as Stone Age savages or isolated survivors of a prehistoric age have only perpetuated stereotypes about the group. The main person responsible for this depiction of the Yanomami as warlike and primitive is anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, whose book "The Fierce People", perhaps the most succesful anthropological book ever published, focuses on warfare between different groups.
Yanomami groups are found in Venezuela and Brazil and appear under a host of different names in the literature: Yanomami, Yanomame, Yanomam, Yanam, Ninam, Guaika, Waika, Guaharibo, Guajaribo, Sanuma, Tsanuma, Sanema, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari, Chirichano and Shirishano.

Yanomami vs. Sanema

Some people classify the Sanema and Yanomami in separate linguistic groups, but generally they are lumped together as Yanoama speakers, an independent group not linked to the main Arawak, or Carib language families found in the region.
There are four branches to the Yanoama language family: the Yanomami, who make up over half the population, the Yanomam, who represent about a quarter, the Sanema, who represent just under a quarter, and the Yanam (or Ninam), who are the smallest group.
In Venezuela, the Yanomami are mainly found in the Orinoco basin and the Sanema in the Caura River basin. The Yanomam live mostly in Brazil and the Yanam are divided into communities living on both sides of the border.

Russell Maddicks

Click here to read Sanema Myth on Origin of Fire

Click here to read Yanomami Myth 2: The Origin of Endo-Cannibalism

Video of Sanema Shaman Ritual with Bruce Parry

Yanomami-Sanema: The Origin of Fire

Yanomami Myth 1: The Origin of Fire

This Sanema myth is taken from a report by Daniel de Barandiaran which appeared in the Venezuelan journal Antropologica in January 1968 and was republished in "Mitos de Creacion de la Cuenca del Orinoco" (FUNDEF, 1993).

Long, long ago, Iwarame, the caiman, was a person like all the other animals. All the animals could speak.
There were Sanema-Yanomami Indians as well back then but the people ate their food raw because they did not have the secret of fire.

Iwarame, the caiman, was the only one who had fire. Iwarame, who was also known as Iwa, spent the whole day in the water hunting but he prepared his food in the cave where he slept.
All the other animals knew that Iwarame had fire. They also knew that everything he ate was roasted and when he roasted his food it smelled fantastic.
The other animals thought that Iwarame was the the most powerful of all the animals because he ate his food cooked.
When Iwarame opened his mouth you could see the fire, so the Sanema Indians and many of the animals brought meat to place in front of Iwarame's cave so that when he opened his mouth it would be cooked.
Usually the Indians and the animals could only take away a little of this food as Iwarame would eat a large part of the food that they placed outside his cave and then he would sleep.
When he was asleep he would close his mouth and nobody could see the fire.
When he awoke he would go hunting and would bring back different prey, animals and fish. He would bring it back home and when he wanted to eat it he would open his mouth and that would set light to the wood and over the fire he would roast everything he ate, meat or fish, but only at night and then he would close his mouth so nobody could steal the fire.
One day a young Sanema hunter, who was out hunting with his father, got lost in the jungle and arrived, by chance, at Iwarame's cave. Iwarame was asleep.
As soon as the boy realised he was in the home of the "owner of fire" he was really scared. He looked all over for some cooked food or a burning log but he couldn't find anything except a burnt leaf, which, shaking with fear he took with him as he left the cave.
In the jungle he found his father and he showed him the burnt leaf.
- Father, he said, I found this burnt leaf.
- Where did you find it?
- In the house of Iwarame, the caiman
- Did you find fire?
- No, nor any roast meat. He keeps the fire inside his mouth.
His father thought long and hard about it: How are we going to steal the fire from Iwarame?
His father continued to think of a way to steal the fire from that terrible caiman and one day he organized a big party for all the Sanema and all the animals.
It was going to be a fun party with eating and drinking and it had to be immediately after sunset. Iwarame was invited and he left his house to come to the party.
All the Indians and all the animals had been told they had to make jokes, do tricks and anything else that would make them laugh.
So, they were all falling about laughing. All except Iwarame. He didn't laugh. He kept his big mouth tightly shut.
All the animals showed off their skills, especially the birds, who did swoops and turns in the air.

Jashimo, the purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) danced around and jumped from side to side, lifting its tail and shooting out streams of excrement as it cried: Plo, plo, plo.
All the guests fell on the floor laughing and some held their bellies they were laughing so much.
But Iwarame did not even smile. And he did not open his mouth.
Then Hiima, the dog, dancing and doing turns, did a massive shit and threw it at the other animals who were dancing and they all laughed again.
But Iwarame was as serious as before.
Finally, Jiomonikoshwan, the clever green-tailed jacamar, its belly as red as fire, began a very exotic dance and lifted its tail and showed its arse to all the other dancers. When it passed in front of Iwa, it lifted its tail, stuck its arse in his face and then sent a fine stream of shit into his face. This did make Iwa laugh and he let out a thunderous chuckle: ha, ha ha...
The fire then started to leap out of his mouth in bursts of flame, making a "flum, flum" sound.
Immediately, Maipomue, who is a hummingbird with a very long double tail. flew quickly and shot into Iwa's mouth like a bolt of lightning, grabbed the ball of fire in his beak and then flew over the heads of the guests, taking the ball of fire to the heart of the Puloi tree.
Iwa's wife, called Blajeyoma, ran over to the Puloi tree and urinated on the roots of the tree to put out the flame but as it was in the heart of the tree she couldn't.
When the fire came out of the caiman's jaws his tongue shrank and now it's small.
Since then, Iwa the caiman, ashamed by his defeat has left his cave and gone to live in the water. That's where he lives now, sharing his territory with Lalakilpara, the great water snake, who is the true master of the water.
From that time on, the Sanema and the Yanomami go to find fire in the heart of the sacred tree, Puloi, because that is where Maipomue left it.

Translated by Russell Maddicks


Click here to read Yanomami Myth 2: The Origin of Eating the Dead

Video of Sanema Shaman Ritual with Bruce Parry

Click here to return to Venezuelan Indian main page

This Blog

What's it all about?

I lived in Venezuela from 1989 to 2001 and it's an experience I shall never forget, especially trips to the Gran Sabana, the Rio Caura and the Orinoco.
One day, if I win the lottery or get a decent job offer I shall go back there permanently. In the meantime, I try and go back every year to keep up with what's happening.
This Blog is my attempt to put together all the threads from my investigations into the myths and legends of Venezuela's Indigenous peoples.
I also want to cover all the latest news stories about Venezuelan Indians, all the books that deal with the subject and any important features that I come across.
I also hope to publish stories from sources in Spanish that have never been translated into English before.
As much as a diary of my progress towards a published book I want this to be a place where others interested in Venezuela and its indigenous peoples can come together and swap stories and photos of their travels.
So get in touch and let me know how I'm doing.

Russell Maddicks