Maruranau ( Wapishana: Marora Naawa; also: ''Maruranawa'') is an indigenous village of Wapishana Amerindians in the

Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Upper Takutu-Upper Esequibo (Region 9) is a Regions of Guyana, region of Guyana. It borders the region of Potaro-Siparuni to the north, the region of East Berbice-Corentyne to the east and Brazil to the south and west. It contains the town of Let ...

Region of Guyana. It is located in the Rupununi savannah near the Kwitaro River on the edge of the Kanuku Mountains. A minority of Taruma also inhabit the village.

History

The Wapishana used to live in small settlements. They were concentrated in larger settlements by the Catholic missionaries. In 1919, it was decided by the village leadership and the priest to relocate north to the present location of Maruranau due to frequent flooding. The name of the village means "Giant Armadillo Hill".

Overview

In October 1947 the first primary school was established in Maruranau. The village has a health centre and shops. There is no electricity, internet or mobile phone. In 2018, water wells were drilled as part of a joint exercise of the

Guyana Defence Force The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is the military of Guyana, established in 1965. It has military bases across the nation. The Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force is always the incumbent President of Guyana. The branches include the Army, Air F ...

and the

Brazilian Army The Brazilian Army (; EB) is the branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible, externally, for defending the country in eminently terrestrial operations and, internally, for guaranteeing law, order and the constitutional branches, subordina ...

. The economy is mainly based on

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

, ranching, hunting and fishing. Balata bleeding, a natural latex, used to be part of the economy. The main religions are the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the

Open Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They origi ...

Languages

Wapishana is the primary language in Maruranau, and English the secondary language. It is one of the few villages which has kept their language alive. Maruranau is also home to three speakers of the

Taruma language Taruma (''Taruamá'') is a nearly extinct, divergent language of northeastern South America. It has been reported to be extinct several times since as far back as 1770, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last three speakers living in Maruranau am ...

. They were formerly regarded as its only speakers, but another family has since been discovered in Lethem.

Transport

Maruranau can be reached by road from Lethem which takes about 4 hours by bus. The village can be accessed by air via the Maruranawa Airport.

References

{{Settlements in Guyana Indigenous villages in Guyana Populated places in Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo