Micobie (also: Maicobi and ''Cassava Hill'') is a village in

Potaro-Siparuni Potaro-Siparuni (Region 8) is a region of Guyana. Venezuela claims the majority of the Region located west of the Essequibo River as part of Guayana Esequiba. It borders the region of Cuyuni-Mazaruni to the north, the regions of Upper Demera ...

, Guyana, on the right bank of the Potaro River near Tumatumari.

History

The village was established in the 19th century. During the construction of the

Denham Suspension Bridge The Denham Suspension Bridge, also known as the Garraway Stream Bridge is a footbridge in Guyana linking Mahdia to Bartica. This suspension bridge was constructed over the Potaro River in an area known as Garraway Stream by a Scottish civil engi ...

, workers of the bridge bought their bread from the village, hence the name Cassava Hill. Most villagers used to live near Tumatumari, however due to the mining operations and the destruction of the beach, the villagers moved uphill in the 1970s. In the

Official Gazette of Guyana ''The Official Gazette of Guyana'' is the government gazette of Guyana. The Gazette is believed to have been introduced to Guyana by Dutch colonists in the seventeenth century and until 2012 had no statutory footing in Guyanese law, despite many ...

the village was misspelt ''Micobie'' which is the current name. The village of

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

is a satellite of Micobie located down the hill.

Demographics

The population of the village is 360 as 2012 including El Paso. The inhabitants are

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 ...

s including members of the

Macushi The Macushi ( pt, Macuxi) are an indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela. Identification The Macushi are also known as the Macusi, Macussi, Ma ...

, Carib and

Patamona The Patamona are an Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil.Patam ...

tribes, who have maintained much of their culture without any racial integration.

Administration

Micobie is managed by a Village Captain, a Vice Captain and six councilors.

Economy

The main economic activities are

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 ...

and the production of

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

s for sale in neighbouring communities.

Facilities

The village has two shops and a primary school.

Transport

Access to the village is via the Potaro River, or via the road from Linden/Mabura and Bartica/Potaro.

References

{{Settlements in Guyana Populated places in Potaro-Siparuni Indigenous villages in Guyana