The Cavineño people (also ''Cavina, Cavineña, Cavinenyo, Cavinya,'' ''Kaviña'') are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. They mainly live along the Beni and Madidi rivers. There were 3,884 of them in 2012, of whom 1,173 speak the Cavineña language natively. Almost all of them speak

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

as well. According to Alfred Métraux, the Cavineño and the Araona people are so intermixed with other Takanan-speaking peoples that it can be difficult to treat them separately.

History

They were moved by the end of the 18th century from the

Madre de Dios River The Madre de Dios River () is a river shared by Bolivia and Peru which is homonymous to the Peruvian region it runs through. On Bolivian territory, it receives the Beni River, close to the town of Riberalta, which later joins with the Mamore Riv ...

to the Madidi River. During the rubber fever, from the end of the 19th century, they were, just like many other indigenous peoples in the area, subjected to conditions of semi-slavery. They were later settled at a missionary station at the Beni River. In 1832 there were about 1,000 Cavineño, but only 153 in 1886. Erland Nordenskiöld describes 218 Cavineño in 1913 at the Jesus de Cavina mission. They were said to speak a Takanan dialect.

Current status

Today the Cavineños are grouped into six small communities located in the municipalities of Riberalta and Reyes in Beni and also in Pando. Its largest community is called Puerto Cavinas. They own territories in collective properties that they share with the Tacanas in Beni and with the Ese Ejja and Tacanas in Pando.

References

{{Authority control Ethnic groups in Bolivia