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

Coeroeni Coeroeni is a resort in Suriname, located in the Sipaliwini District. Its population at the 2012 census was 1,046. The resort is mainly inhabited by indigenous people of the Tiriyó tribe. Kwamalasamutu is the main village of the resort and ho ...

resort in the

Sipaliwini District Sipaliwini is the largest 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. History Sipaliwini was created i ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. The village is inhabited by

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

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 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 ...

. As of November 2019, the villages has 24 hours of electricity using

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

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. Charters and destinations Charter Airlines serving this air ...

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 river 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 ( 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 ...

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

military outpost A military outpost is detachment of troops stationed at a distance from the main force or formation, usually at a station in a remote or sparsely populated location, positioned to stand guard against unauthorized intrusions and surprise attac ...

of the Surinamese army 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 nation in Suriname and French Guiana. The Ndyuka, Saramaka, Matawai, Aluku, Paramaka and Kwinti nations all have a granman. The paramount chiefs of Amerin ...

(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