Cunani (also Counani) is a district in the Brazilian municipality of Calçoene, in the interior of the state of

Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil. It is in the North Region, Brazil, North Region of Brazil. It is Federative units of Brazil#List, the second-least populous state and the eighteenth-largest state by area ...

. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), its population in 2010 was 940 inhabitants, 516 men and 424 women, with a total of 343 private households. Cunani is a recognised

Quilombo A ''quilombo'' (); from the Kimbundu word , ) is a Brazilian hinterland town, settlement founded by people of Afro-Brazilians, African origin, and others sometimes called Carabali. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were ...

(escaped slaves) settlement. It was also the capital of two unrecognised countries.

History

The dispute between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

about the region between the

Oiapoque Oiapoque () is a municipality in the north of the state of Amapá, Brazil. Its population is 27,906 and its area is . Oiapoque is also a major river in the same state, forming the international border with French Guiana. The Oyapock River Bridge, ...

and the Amazon River in the 19th century attracted escaped Brazilian slaves to the region. The

were joined by French and Brazilian traders and adventurers. Between 1886 and 1891, the town of Cunani was the capital of the unrecognised Republic of Independent Guiana, In 1900, the territory was awarded to Brazil. Not withstanding that fact, Cunani became the capital of the unrecognised Free State of Counani between 1901 and 1904. Rio Cunani 1894

In the 20th century, Brazilian migrants settled in Cunani, and the economy of the village was mainly based on fur trade, fishing and supplying the ''garimpeiro'' (illegal gold prospectors) who were active in the area. The opening of

BR-156 BR-156 is a federal highway of Brazil. The road consists of 552 km between Oiapoque and Macapá, and 271 km between Macapá and Laranjal do Jari (except via Santana city), totalling 823 km of road through forest and savannah. Only the road be ...

in the early 1970s resulted in a migration to Calçoene. The restricting of access to the Cunani River accelerated the decline. Açaí became the main export product for the village. In 2015, Cunani was recognised as a

settlement inhabited by Brazilian Maroons, and has been given its own territory similar to the indigenous territories.

Climate

Cunani has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(Am) with moderate to little rainfall from August to November and heavy to very heavy rainfall in the remaining months.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunani, Calcoene Capitals of former nations Quilombo Populated places in Amapá