Trois Sauts (English: three waterfalls) or Ɨtu wasu is a cluster of four

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 ...

Wayampi The Wayampi or Wayãpi are an indigenous people located in the south-eastern border area of French Guiana at the confluence of the rivers Camopi and Oyapock, and the basins of the Amapari and Carapanatuba Rivers in the central part of the state ...

and Teko villages on the

Oyapock The Oyapock or Oiapoque (; ; ) is a long river in South America that forms most of the border between the French overseas department of French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amapá. Course The Oyapock runs through the Guianan moist fores ...

River in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

near the border with

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 ...

. Trois Sauts contains the villages of ''Roger'', ''Zidock'' (also ''Zidok''), ''Yawapa'', and ''Pina''.

History

Trois Sauts has been established in the 1950s, and named after a waterfall near the source of river. The name was a mistranslation, because the waterfall has four levels making it impossible to pass by boat, and thus isolating the upstream area in Brazil from the downstream in French Guiana. The people living in Trois Sauts came from the upstream areas. It was not until 1969, that the villages of Roger and Zidock were established. As of 2012, the villages are in a sustainable local development area of the

Guiana Amazonian Park Guiana Amazonian Park (french: Parc amazonien de Guyane) is the largest national park of France, aiming at protecting part of the Amazonian forest located in French Guiana which covers 41% of the region. It is the largest park in France as wel ...

and has a park office. Even though Trois Sault is an isolated community and far from the gold fields of

Camopi Camopi is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Camopi is mainly inhabited by Amerindians of the Wayampi and Teko tribes. History In 1738, a Jesuit mission opened on the river ...

, the population of the villages had the highest contamination with mercury, because they live on cassave, hunting and fishing without access to supermarkets.

Overview

Trois Sauts has a school, a clinic, and since 2013, an annex of the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

. In 2020, a

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

in the

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

was completed in order to provide electricity for the villages.

Transport

The villages can only be reached via the river. It is located two days by boat from Saint-Georges or one day from

. The villages may only be accessed with a special permit from the Prefecture.

References

Bibliography

* {{authority control Camopi Indigenous villages in French Guiana Villages in French Guiana