The Ye'kuana, also called Ye'kwana, Ye'Kuana, Yekuana, Yequana, Yecuana, Dekuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, So'to or Maiongong, are a

Cariban 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 ...

-speaking tropical rain-forest tribe who live in the Caura River and

Orinoco River 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 ...

regions 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 ...

in Bolivar State and Amazonas State. In

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 inhabit the northeast of

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

State. In Venezuela, the Ye'kuana live alongside their former enemies, the

Sanumá The Sanumá, also referred to as ''Sanema, Sanima Tsanuma, Guaika, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari'' and ''Chirichano'' in the literature, are an indigenous people of Brazil and Venezuela. They are related to the Yanomami. They number about 1500 and ...

(

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Etymology The ethnonym ''Yanomami' ...

subgroup). When the Ye'kuana wish to refer to themselves, they use the word So'to, which can be translated as "people", "person". ''Ye’kuana'', in turn, can be translated as "canoe people", "people of the canoes" or even "people of the branch in the river". They live in communal houses called ''Atta'' or ''ëttë''. The circular structure has a cone-shaped roof made of palm leaves. Building the atta is considered a spiritual activity in which the group reproduces the great cosmic home of the Creator. The first reference to the Ye'kuana was in 1744 by a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest called Manuel Román in his travels to investigate the existence of the

Casiquiare canal The Casiquiare river () is a distributary of the upper Orinoco flowing southward into the Rio Negro, in Venezuela, South America. As such, it forms a unique natural canal between the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. It is the world's largest ...

.Guss, David. M. (1990) ''To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rainforest'', page 5 He recruited the services of the Ye'kuana to help him on his way. The

Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve The Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO biosphere reserve in the Venezuelan Amazon biome. Location The Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve was designated in 1993. It is located between 00°30' to 04°40'N and 62°45' to 6 ...

was established by the Venezuelan government in 1993 with the objective of preserving the traditional territory and lifestyle of the

and Ye'kuana peoples. There are some 6,250 Ye'kuana in Venezuela, according to the 2001 census, with some 430 in Brazil. Jean Liedloff came into contact with the Ye'kuana in the 1950s, while working as a photographer for Italian diamond-hunters, and in subsequent personal visits. She based her book ''

The Continuum Concept The continuum concept is an idea, coined by Jean Liedloff in her 1975 book ''The Continuum Concept'', that human beings have an innate set of expectations (which Liedloff calls the continuum) that our evolution as a species has designed us to meet i ...

: In Search of Happiness Lost'' on their way of life, particularly the upbringing of their children. Liedloff noted the stark contrast between the treatment of Western and Ye'kuana infants, who are normally held "in-arms" 24 hours a day by their mothers and by other familiar adults and children who take care of them.

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Further reading