Awala-Yalimapo () is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
on the north coast of
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. ...
, 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, and Piliwa. The majority of the inhabitants are
Kaliña
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, ...
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
people.
History
The Kalina people have been living along the
Maroni River
The Maroni or Marowijne (french: link=no, Maroni, nl, Marowijne, Sranan Tongo: ''Marwina-Liba'') is a river in South America that forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname.
Course
The Maroni runs through the Guianan moist fores ...
since before the European colonization. In 1596,
Lawrence Kemys
Lawrence Kemys or Keymis ( 1562–1618) was a seaman and companion of Sir Walter Raleigh in his expeditions to Guiana in 1595 and 1617–18.
First voyage to Guiana
Raleigh's 1595 voyage to Trinidad and Guiana consisted of four vessels, with Ke ...
noted that Iaremappo, a big village, was located near the mouth of the river. European diseases reduced the number of Kalinas in the area to several hundred in the mid 19th century. In 1858, the Hattes
penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
was established in the region and operated until 1950.
In the late 1940s, Amerindians from
Pointe Isère founded the village of Awala. In 1950, families from Ayawande and
Galibi
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, ...
in Suriname founded the village of Yalimapo.
The commune of Awala-Yalimapo was created on 31 December 1988 by detaching its territory from the commune of
Mana
According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...
. The commune is a protected area for its ecology, flora, and fauna (
ZNIEFF).
In 1987,
Jacques Chirac as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
established Zones of Collective Use Rights (ZDUC).
Since 1998, the commune has 1,593 hectares of
communal land
Communal land is a (mostly rural) territory in possession of a community, rather than an individual or company
. This sort of arrangement existed in almost all Europe until the 18th century, by which the king or the church officially owned the l ...
located in Point Isère to be used for fishing, hunting and
subsistence farming
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
.
Nature
Awala and Yalimapo are French Guiana's northernmost settlements, located just to the south of the ''
région
France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...
s northernmost point, the beach of Plage des Hattes, the world's largest
leatherback turtle nesting site.
The
Amana Nature Reserve
The Amana Nature Reserve ( French: ''Réserve naturelle nationale de l'Amana'') is a nature reserve in French Guiana, France. It has been protected, because it is one of the world's largest leatherback turtle nesting site. It is part of the commun ...
has been established in 1998 to protect the turtles. The reserve covers 14,800 hectares.
See also
*
Communes of French Guiana
References
External links
Official site(in French)
Article about turtle conservation in Plage des Hattes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awalayalimapo
Beaches of French Guiana
Communes of French Guiana
Indigenous villages in French Guiana