Kasuela (also Cashew Island, Kasjoe Eiland and Casuela) is an indigenous village of the

Tiriyó people The Tiriyó (also known as Trio) are an Amerindian ethnic group native to parts of northern Brazil, Suriname, and Guyana. In 2014, there were approximately 3,640 Tiriyó in the three countries. They live in several major villages and a number of ...

in the

East Berbice-Corentyne East Berbice-Corentyne (Region 6) is one of ten regions in Guyana covering the whole of the east of the country. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Nickerie District and Sipaliwini District of Suriname to the east, Brazil to the so ...

region of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. The village has a population of about 80 people. The inhabitants are of the subgroup or the Frog people. The village is located inside the disputed

Tigri Area The Tigri Area ( nl, Tigri-gebied) is a wooded area that has been disputed by Guyana and Suriname since around 1840. It involves the area between the Upper Corentyne River (also called the New River), the Coeroeni River, and the Kutari River ...

History

Kasuela is the oldest village of Western Trio Group and is located on an island in the middle of the New River.

Camp Jaguar Camp Tigri or Camp Jaguar is a military camp and airstrip located in the Tigri Area. The area is disputed between Suriname and Guyana. Camp Tigri was constructed in 1968 by the Surinamese Defence Police. On 19 August 1969 there was a skirmish bet ...

known in Suriname as Camp Tigri is located about four kilometres (2½ miles) north of the village. The first settlers were Tiriyó from

Kwamalasamutu Kwamalasamutu, also Kwamalasamoetoe, is a Tiriyó Amerindian village in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname, and home to the granman (paramount chief) of the northern Trios. Kwamalasamutu is the biggest village of the Tiriyó tribe. History The ...

in Suriname. In 1997, a Wai-wai family from Akotopono joined the village.

Overview

In 2011, a school was opened in the village. In 2020, the village received access to health care. As of 2018, Kasuela was not connected to the telephone network or internet. The inhabitants are allowed to vote in both the Surinamese elections, as well as the Guyanese elections, however the village did not participate in the 2018 village council elections, because they preferred to choose their leaders in the traditional way. Kasuela can be accessed via the river or by the airstrip located at Camp Jaguar.

Language

The Mawayana subgroup originally spoke the

Mawayana language Mawayana (Mahuayana), also known as Mapidian (Maopidyán), is a moribund Arawakan language of northern South America. It used to be spoken by people living in ethnic Wai-wai and Tiriyó villages in Brazil, Guyana and Suriname. As of 2015, the ...

which has already been replaced by the

Tiriyó language Tiriyó is the Cariban language used in everyday life by the Tiriyó people, the majority of whom are monolingual. Although Tiriyó is the preferred spelling, the Tiriyó refer to themselves as ''tarëno''; other variations, including ''tarano'' ...

. The last two speakers are in

as of 2015. The transition to Tiriyó was voluntary and a result of banding together in larger villages. The school has already stated that it will teach the children in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

Notes

References

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External links

The Last of the Mawayana
by ''Unravel magazine'' {{Authority control Populated places in East Berbice-Corentyne Populated places in Sipaliwini District Indigenous villages in Guyana Indigenous villages in Suriname Islands of Suriname River islands of Guyana Tigri Area