The North Rupununi District in located in south-west
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 ...
consisting of a mixture of
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
,
savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
and
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
ecosystems and is considered one of the most diverse areas in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Located on the eastern margin of the larger savannah system which extends into
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and is separated by the
Ireng and
Takutu rivers that come together to form the
Rio Branco. The Guyana Rupununi system is divided into the North and South Rupununi by the
Kanuku Mountains
The Kanuku Mountains are a group of mountains in Guyana, located in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region. The name means 'forest' in the Wapishana language, a reference to the rich diversity of wildlife found there. The Eastern Kanuku Mountain ...
.
Geology
The North Rupununi is situated on the
Guiana Shield
The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...
,
precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
rock with a complex geology that includes
plutonic
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March ...
,
volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
,
metamorphic
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...
and
sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...
rocks and various rifting, uplifting, sedimentation and
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
events. The geology of the North Rupununi is critical because it fundamentally defines the
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
, soils,
hydrology
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
and ultimately the economy of the area.
The North Rupununi is part of a
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
, the Takutu Basin. The basin is 280 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide, is over 7 kilometers deep, and covers more than 11,200 square kilometers in Guyana and Brazil.
The people
The 2001 population data indicates that approximately 9000 people live within the 8000km2 in the north Rupununi in twenty seven different villages. The North Rupununi Wetland catchment is the traditional home of the Makushi people. Although the Makushi are still the primary
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
in the area, many communities contain a mixture of other indigenous groups and immigrants from the more populated coast. That said, North Rupununi is inhabited mostly by Amerindian peoples, 81% Makushi and 12.6% Wapishana in 2007. Hunting, fishing, and farming livelihoods are being increasingly threatened by mining and road development.
Wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...
represents a major local food source in the North Rupununi. Mammals and fish in particular provides the majority of the
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
intake for villagers (Watkins et al., 1999). According to a study by the Makushi Research Unit (Forte, 1996) over 100 species of fish are eaten by Makushi. As such,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
is an extremely important
subsistence
A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
activity.
Indigenous peoples in Guyana
Officially, Guyana is home to 9
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 Am ...
tribes, although some tribal designations refer to the descendants of several, formerly linguistically distinct, groups–notably the
Wai-wai and
Wapishana
The Wapishana or Wapichan (or Wapisiana, Wapitxana, Vapidiana, Wapixana) are an indigenous group found in the Roraima area of northern Brazil and southern Guyana.
Location
Currently the Wapishana are located in the State of Roraima, Brazil, nort ...
.
[Farabee 1918: 4] The majority are of the
Carib linguistic branch - true
Caribs
“Carib” may refer to:
People and languages
*Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America
**Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs
*Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...
,
Akawaio,
Patamona
The Patamona are an Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil.[Patamon ...]
,
Arecuna, Makushi and Wai-wai - coastal
Arawak
The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...
(more accurately termed
Lokono
The Lokono or Arawak are an Arawak people native to northern coastal areas of South America. Today, approximately 10,000 Lokono live primarily along the coasts and rivers of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Barbados and French Guiana. They speak the ...
) and Wapishana speak
Arawakan languages
Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branc ...
, and the
Warrau
The Warao are an indigenous Amerindian people inhabiting northeastern Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Alternate common spellings of Warao are Waroa, Guarauno, Guarao, and Warrau. The term ''Warao'' translates as "the boat ...
are Guyana's sole representatives of the Warrau branch. The most recent census showed Amerindian people to number around 47,000 in Guyana, around 8% of the country's total population
orte 1990a However, the concentration of the majority of the non-indigenous population on the coast means that Amerindians form a demographic majority in many parts of the interior. Despite this,
industrial development
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
in the interior has tended to by-pass Amerindian populations, and rarely been designed to cater for their needs
a Rose 1994 Though this situation is being remedied with a greater focus on consultation with Amerindians in current development programmes
.g. Bishop 1996 the problem of ensuring their full participation in and benefit from the changes that are taking place in Guyana remains. The need for this is compelling - though no comprehensive economic surveys have been performed, conventional
economic indicator
An economic indicator is a statistic about an economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles. Economic i ...
s suggest that Amerindian
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
is a continuing phenomenon
orte 1993: 6-8
Economics and livelihood
The
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
and balata
latex
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well.
In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
industries were the economic mainstay of the area from the 1900s to the 1980s. Since then,
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
has grown slowly as has the interest in conserving this global treasure through the work of
Conservation International
Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.
CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The organ ...
, the
Iwokrama Centre,
WWF and other community based
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
and
governmental organization
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...
s. Recently, the Government has entertained the idea of large scale agricultural initiatives and small scale industrial development in
Lethem. The establishment and strengthening of the
Georgetown-Lethem road is designed to support increased access to the area.
Aside from subsistence and
economic value
In economics, economic value is a measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent. It is generally measured through units of currency, and the interpretation is therefore "what is the maximum amount of money a specif ...
, the North Rupununi also feature prominently
indigenous culture
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 ...
and
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
, and have significant
aesthetic value
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
, serving as a primary place of
recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
for local residents. Although these communities have
legal title
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
to some of their traditional lands, all of the communities currently practice customary user rights to their surrounding land and resources.
The North Rupununi may have a historical comparative advantage in
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
and tourism development. The main competitor for an area like this is the
Pantanal
The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and p ...
in Brazil which has a longer
product development
In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is product design, along wi ...
and
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
history than the North Rupununi. Although the impacts of the communities on
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
have been relatively low, there are several growing threats to biodiversity and to the integrity of the area. Notably the construction of the cross border
Takutu River Bridge
The Takutu River Bridge ( pt, Ponte do Rio Tacutu) is a bridge across the Takutu River, linking Lethem, Guyana, Lethem in Guyana to Bonfim, Roraima, Bonfim in Brazil. It was completed in 2009 and opened on 31 July 2009. Its official inauguration ...
to Brazil, improvement of the Lethem-Georgetown Road which runs near the Kanuku Mountains and through the Rupununi savannahs, allowing increased access to natural resources, increased
population growth
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
in Lethem, the nearest town to the Kanukus, fire, over-harvesting of wildlife for sale to Brazil, and illegal wildlife trade.
References
External links
Website celebrating the extraordinary North RupununiReport on the Atrocities Committed in the Rupununi Region og Guyana in January 1969.*http://rupununilearners.org Website of Rupununi Learners Foundation (US) and Rupununi Learners Incorporated (Guyana)
*http://www.parowe.com/rupununi Photographs of the Rupununi region by Mark Holford.
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Rupununi
Geography of Guyana