Kuruni (also: Curuni and Coeroeni) is a village in the Coeroeni resort in the

Sipaliwini District Sipaliwini is the largest Districts of Suriname, district of Suriname, located in the south. Sipaliwini is the only district that does not have a regional capital, as it is directly administered by the national government in Paramaribo. Sipaliwini ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. The village is inhabited by

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the Tiriyó tribe. The inhabitants are of the subgroup Aramayana or the Bee people.

Overview

The population as of 2022 is 88 people. There is no school in the village. In 2007, a medical clinic was opened in Kuruni, and is being managed by rotating nurses from Kwamalasamutu. As of November 2019, the villages has 24 hours of electricity using

solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

History

In 1959, the

Coeroenie Airstrip Coeroeni Airstrip is an airstrip located near Kuruni (variant spellings: ''Coeroeni'', ''Coeroenie'', or ''Curuni'') in Suriname. It was constructed as part of Operation Grasshopper. The Airstrip is in the vicinity of the disputed border area ...

was constructed to access the interior, and to map mineral resources. In 1965, a camp was constructed near the airstrip to house workers for a planned

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

. The village was not intended for permanent habitation. On 12 December 1967, four armed men of the

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

police force landed and told the workers to leave Camp Oronoque which marked the beginning of the Tigri conflict. Kuruni became a military outpost of the

Surinamese army The Surinamese Land Forces () is the land component of the Suriname National Army (SNA). It is the largest service branch of the Suriname National Army. Organization The army consists of some 1,000 personnel and has 4 Division (military), div ...

near the border, but was disbanded again in 1968. In 1995, a small group of people from Kwamalasamutu moved into the prefab houses which had been left behind. In 2001 or 2002,

granman Granman (Ndyuka language: ''gaanman'') is the title of the paramount chief of a Maroon (people), Maroon nation in Suriname and French Guiana. The Ndyuka people, Ndyuka, Saramaka, Matawai people, Matawai, Aluku, Paramaccan people, Paramaka and Kwin ...

(paramount chief) Asongo Alalaparu sent a Captain with his extended family to the village.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control Indigenous villages in Suriname Populated places in Sipaliwini District Squatting in Suriname 1965 establishments in Suriname Populated places established in 1965