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The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
native to the northern coastal areas of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
,
Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
,
Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...
,
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...
, and
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. They speak a
Cariban language The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pockets ...
known as Carib. They may be related to the
Island Caribs The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
of the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
, though their languages are unrelated.


Name

The
exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...
''Caribe'' was first recorded by
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
. One hypothesis for the origin of ''Carib'' is that it means "brave warrior". Its variants, including the English ''Carib'', were then adopted by other European languages. Early Spanish explorers and administrators used the terms ''
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...
'' and ''Caribs'' to distinguish the peoples of the Caribbean, with ''Carib'' reserved for indigenous groups that they considered hostile and ''Arawak'' for groups that they considered friendly. The Kalina call themselves ''Kalina'' or ''Karìna'' , spelled variously. Variants include ''Kali'na'', ''Cariña'', ''Kariña'', ''Kalihna'', ''Kalinya''; other native names include ''Maraworno'' and ''Marworno''. Kalina may distinguish themselves as ''Kali'na tilewuyu'' ("true Kalina"), partly to differentiate themselves from the mixed
Maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are vari ...
-Kalina inhabitants of
Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...
. Use of "Kalina" and related variants has become common practice only recently in publications; many sources continue to use "Caribs" or associated names.


History

Lacking a written form of language before the arrival of Europeans, Kali'na history was passed down orally from one generation to the next through tales of myth and legend. For a long time, the few Europeans studying the history of the Amerindian people of this area did not distinguish between the various Caribbean tribes. Once the period of exploration was over, interest in the study of these people diminished greatly and did not re-emerge until the end of the 20th century, when a few French expatriates, notably Gérard Collomb, became interested in the Kali'na, and the Kali'na themselves began to relate their history, in particular Félix Tiouka, president of the Association of Amerindians of French Guiana (AAGF), and his son Alexis. For the reasons given, historical information regarding the Kali'na is rare and incomplete.


Pre-Columbian era

Making up for lack of written records,
archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...
have to date uncovered 273 Amerindian archeological sites on only 310 km² of the land recovered from the
Sinnamary River The Sinnamary is a river in French Guiana. It is long. It rises in the center of the country, flowing north until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean near the town of Sinnamary. Its longest tributary is the Koursibo. The Petit-Saut Dam The Petit-Sa ...
by the
Petit-Saut Dam The Petit-Saut Dam is a gravity dam on the Sinnamary River about south of Sinnamary in French Guiana. The primary purpose of the dam is to produce hydroelectric power and it supports a 116 MW power station. Construction on the dam and power statio ...
. Some date back as far as two thousand years, establishing the antiquity of the Amerindian presence in this area., The weak historical clues available indicate that before 1492, the Kali'na inhabited the coast (from the mouth of the
Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...
to that of the
Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
), dividing their territory with the
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...
, against whom they fought during their expansion toward the east and the
Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...
., They were prolific travelers even though they weren't nomads. They often traveled by land and by sea as far as the area around the Orinoco river to visit family, trade, and marry. They often went to the area surrounding the Essequibo river (now in Guyana) to collect pebbles of red porphyry (''takuwa''), which Kali'na women prized for polishing their pottery. The term ''takuwa'' also refers to jade, which was often traded in the Americas in general.


Colonization


The ''Palanakiłi'' arrive

In their first contact with Europeans, the Kali'na thought they were dealing with the spirits of the sea, Palanakiłi, a name they use to this day when referring to whites. One of the first consequences of the arrival of Europeans, as in the case of many other Native American peoples, was a decrease in population due to violence inflicted by European soldiers
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the ...
, and diseases brought over by the Europeans. The Kali'na quickly succumbed in large numbers, because their
immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...
s were not adapted to the viruses and bacteria of the Old World.


Amerindians in Paris

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the heyday of
World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
s, in which European countries were displaying their wealth with colonial "villages" representing the colonized cultures. Although the World's Fairs of Paris did not have "Amerindian villages", public curiosity was such that Kali'na were sent to the capital twice - once in 1882 and again in 1892 - to be exhibited as oddities at the Jardin d'Acclimatation. Gérard Collomb, Félix Tiouka et M.P. Jean-Louis, ''Pau:wa Itiosan:bola : Des Galibi à Paris en 1892'', décembre 1991.,


=1882

= Fifteen Kali’na, all members of one family living in Sinnamary and
Iracoubo Iracoubo is a commune on the coast of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America]. Geography The settlement of Iracoubo, seat of the commune, is located between the settlement of Sinnamary and the hamle ...
, were sent to ''Pau:wa'' ("The Land of the Whites") in July 1882. Almost nothing is known about them, except their names and the fact that they were housed in Hut (dwelling), huts on the lawn of the Jardin d'Acclimatation. The trip lasted four months, including three in Paris and a month's journey by boat (round trip). They were accompanied by a Creole who acted as intermediary and, presumably, interpreter. There are several portraits of them, taken by photographer
Pierre Petit Pierre Petit may refer to: * Pierre Petit (engineer) (1594–1677), French military engineer, mathematician, and physicist * Pierre Petit (scholar) (1617–1687), French poet, doctor, and classicist * Pierre Petit (photographer) (1832–1909), Fr ...
.


The Kali'na today

The part of South America where the Kali'na live is very sparsely populated. However, the people of this ethnic group are such an extreme minority in all of the countries in which they are well established that locally they are a majority only in certain very secluded areas. Their current geographic distribution covers only a small fraction of their Pre-Columbian territory.


Brazil

The Kali'nas in Brazil are localized in two groups. The Galibi do Oiapoque can only be found in São José dos Galibi, a village founded in 1950 on the right bank of the Oyapock River by several families who came from the region of the Mana River.''Galibi do Oiapoque''
/ref> The Galibi Marworno or Uaçá Galibi mainly live along the
Uaçá River Uaçá River is a river of Amapá state in Brazil. It is a tributary of the Oiapoque River The Oyapock or Oiapoque (; ; ) is a long river in South America that forms most of the border between the French overseas department of French Guia ...
further land inwards. The main settlement is
Kumarumã Kumarumã is an Amerindian village of the Galibi Marwono people in the Brazilian municipality of Oiapoque, Amapá. It is the largest village of the tribe. Kumarumã was founded in the 1930s as Santa Maria dos Galibis. Kumarumã is located on an is ...
. The Galibi Marworno were originally from French Guiana, but mixed with the Arua and Marworno Amerindians. The term Galibi Marworno is a recent self-designation of the group.


French Guiana

Still present in significant numbers in their original territory, the region between the Maroni and the Mana rivers (in particular, the communities of
Awala-Yalimapo Awala-Yalimapo () is a commune on the north coast of French Guiana, close to the border with Suriname. The seat of the commune is the settlement of Awala where the town hall is located. Other settlements in the commune are: Yalimapo, Ayawande, an ...
, the only one where they are a majority,
Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (; gcr, Senloran di Maronni) is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is one of the three sub-prefectures of French Guiana and the sea ...
, Mana and
Iracoubo Iracoubo is a commune on the coast of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America]. Geography The settlement of Iracoubo, seat of the commune, is located between the settlement of Sinnamary and the hamle ...
), and the Amerindian village of Kourou as well as, in fewer numbers, the island of
Cayenne Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's m ...
.


Suriname

Kali'na are a strong presence on the left bank of the Maroni River and on the banks of the Coppename River. A large proportion of the population lives in the
Para District Para is a district of northern Suriname. Para's capital city is Onverwacht, with other towns including Paranam, and Zanderij. Para has a population of 24,700 and an area of 5,393 km2. The district is the mining and forestry centre of S ...
often in villages shared with the Lokono people. The main settlement are Bernharddorp,
Wit-Santi Witsanti (also ''Wit Santi'') is an indigenous village of Lokono and Kalina Amerindians in the resort of Zuid in the Para District in Suriname. The village is located on the John F. Kennedyweg near the Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport ...
, Galibi, Powakka and Bigi Ston. The Kali'na lived in the same area as the colonizers, and have a peace treaty with Suriname since 1686. A Kali'na member of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
, Sylvia Kajoeramari,Dagblad De West
Ramses Kajoeramari niet meer op lijst ndp
19 maart 2015
successfully led efforts to recognize the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples as a public holiday in Suriname.


Guyana

In Guyana, Kali'na are stereotyped as the most "proud, aggressive, and warlike" of the Amerindian groups. Kalina were paid by plantation owners to capture indigenous slaves as well as recapture African slaves who escaped. One of the smaller indigenous groups in Guyana, Kali'na are settled on the Barama and
Pomeroon River The Pomeroon River (also ''Río Pomerón'' ''or Pomaron'') is located in Guyana, South America, situated between the Orinoco and the Essequibo rivers. The area has long been inhabited by Lokono people. The Pomeroon River is also one of the deep ...
s, and in the Northwest of the country. Malaria has had a detrimental impact on the population of Kalina in Guyana, and is exacerbated by hinterland mining that creates still-water pools that serve as vectors for the disease. Many Kalina are also employed in the mining sector.


Venezuela

The country where their numbers are the greatest, Kali'na can be found in two distinct zones: in the
Llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grassla ...
of the
Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
river valley and on the Cuyuni River valley part of which is in
Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
. See also Chimire, Venezuela.


Culture

Kasiri, a cassava-derived beer, is an important part of traditional Kalina celebrations. For Kalina of
the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France ...
, the death of family members initiates a period of mourning that can last for a year or more, and is concluded with a celebration known as ''Epekotono''. Preparations are made by a respected member of the village, and can take several months to assemble. Collecting money is a more contemporary addition to the responsibilities. ''Epekotono'' is a public event that draws attendance from neighboring villages, including body-painting, music, dancing, and symbolic burning of the deceased's belongings to mark their spirit leaving. At the conclusion, mourning ends and normal social behaviors resume, along with the option for widows to remarry. While non-Kalina can attend as guests, the event serves to reinforce the Kalina identity, marked by explicit use of the Kalina language. Nowadays, the ''epekotono'' is the only occasion for such gatherings among the Kalina.


Music

They use mostly
percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
s. Their ''sanpula'' (or ''sambula'') is a large
drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
with two skins stretched over either end of the shell by hoops pulled together with cord and is played with a
mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...
. They also have two kinds of
maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...
s, called a ''kalawasi'' (or ''kalawashi'') and a ''malaka''. Their flute, the ''kuwama'', is still made but is more and more often replaced by the European
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...
. There is also a terra cotta horn called a ''kuti'


Language

They speak Kali'na, belonging to the family of
Cariban languages The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pocket ...
, is today still spoken by above 10,000 people in the coastal strip that stretches from Venezuela (5,000 speakers) to Brazil (100) passing through Guyana (475), Suriname (2,500) and French Guiana (3,000 people). Thanks to the relatively significant number of speakers, it is one of the most likely Amazonian tongues to survive. Some experiments with written transcription were undertaken in
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...
.
Linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
standardization of a Kali'na
writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
system however is plagued by the diversity of the many different forms of the written language currently in use, which have been influenced by the languages of the
colonists A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...
of the countries in which the Kali'na live, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
. Thus, even as far as their
ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...
is concerned, Kali'na, there are no fewer than nine different writing systems. Kali'na therefore remains a primarily oral language.


See also

*
Adaheli Adaheli was the personification of the sun in the Carib mythology of the Orinoco region of South America. This sun god is referred to in an origin story collected in the early 20th century by , a missionary in Suriname. In the story, Adaheli ...
, the Sun in the
mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
of the
Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
region * Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas


Notes


References

* Gérard Collomb and Félix Tiouka
''Na’na Kali’na - Une histoire des Kali’na en Guyane''
; Ibis Rouge Éditions, 2000 ; * Gérard Collomb, Félix Tiouka and M.P. Jean-Louis ; ''Pau:wa Itiosan:bola : Des Galibi à Paris en 1892'' ; Awala-Yalimapo, December 1991 * Gérard Collomb ; ''Kaliña. Des Amérindiens à Paris. Photographies du prince Roland Bonaparte.'' ; Éditions Créaphis, Paris, 1992. * Jean Hurault ; ''Français et indiens en Guyane. 1604-1972'' ; Paris, 1972 ; Guyane Presse Diffusion, Cayenne, 1989. * Jil Silberstein ; ''Kali’na : Une famille indienne de Guyane française'' ; Albin Michel, 2002 ; * Serge Mam Lam Fouck
''Histoire générale de la Guyane française''
Cayenne, Ibis Rouge Éditions, 1996;

researcher at
CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...
and specialist in Kali'na culture.


Further reading

* Magaña, Edmundo et Jara, Fabiola. "The Carib sky". In: ''Journal de la Société des Américanistes''. Tome 68, 1982. pp. 105-132. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/jsa.1982.2212www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1982_num_68_1_2212 {{authority control Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Suriname Indigenous peoples in French Guiana Indigenous peoples in Venezuela Indigenous peoples of the Guianas Indigenous peoples in Guyana