Kali\' Na

The Kali' nas (in the past Galibis or Karib ) are an ethnos group Amerindian which one does not find in several countries of the Caribbean coast of South America. They are of language and Caribbean culture.

The origin of the name that Europeans gave them, Galibi , is unknown, but themselves prefer to be called Kali' Na tilewuyu , i.e. " truths Kali' na" , partly to be different from the Maroon mongrel - Kali' Na living the Suriname. Use of " Kali' na" in the publications only récemment.
became usual

History

Introduction

Kali' Na not knowing the writing before the arrival of Europeans, their history was thus transmitted orally from generation to generation in the form of legendary accounts. (See the section " Culture " in connection with the legend of their creation.)

For a long time rare Européens who is leaning on the history of the Amerindians of this area did not make distinction between the various Caribbean tribes. The period of exploration passed, the interest for the study of these people decreased much and re-appeared only at the end of the 20th century when some metropolitan, Gerard Collomb in particular, were interested in Kali' Na and that themselves started to report their history, in particular Felix Tiouka, president of the Association of the Amerindians of French Guiana (AAGF), and his/her Alexis son. (See the bibliography.)

All these data explain why the historical sources concerning this population are rare and incomplete.

The Era précolombienne

Mitigating the absence of written sources, the Archéologie made it possible to update 273 Amerindian archeological sites on only 310 km ² of the zone covered by the Barrage with Petit-Saut on the Sinnamary. Some go back to two thousand years, thus establishing the seniority of the Amerindian establishment in this région^,.

The weak historical indices available show that before 1492, Kali' Na lived the coast (mouth of the the Amazon until that of the Orénoque), dividing their territory with the Arawak, against which they fought during their expansion towards the east and the the Amazon.

They were large travellers without to be Nomade S; they often went on terrestrial and maritime journeys to banks of Orénoque to return visit to their family, to make exchanges or to marry. They were often going to banks of the Essequibo (today with the Guyana) to take there Galet S of porphyry red ( takuwa ), very snuffed Kali' Na because the women use them to gloss the Poterie S. the word takuwa indicated also the Jade, whose trade was very active in Americas in general.

There exists a site called “the Rocks engraved” on the Carapa mount behind Kourou where one can see several examples of Art rupestral which probably were produced by Kali' Na, majority in the area.

Colonization

The Palanakiłi arrive

Of the first contact with Europeans, Kali' Na thought of dealing with spirits of the sea, Palanakiłi , name which they continue to use to name the White aujourd'hui^,.

One of the very first consequences of the arrival of the Palanakiłi was, as for much of other Amerindian people, a reduction in the population due to the diseases imported by Europeans. Their Immune system not being adapted to the viruses and bacteria coming from the Old world, Kali' Na succumbed quickly in great number.

At that time, Kali' Na knew only the stone axes, and the machetes out of hard wooden. These men brought with them axes and machetes out of iron, they showed that those crossed well better… This time, Palanakiłi had brought good choses.

The first White met were Spanish tradesmen; they had many goods which they gave to Kali' Na and the other tribes throughout their voyages. They was generally objects of shoddy goods: mirror, glass shots, etc, but sometimes also of the knives and other tools. The language kali' Na borrows of Spanish of the words indicating the aforementioned objects.

Of Palanakiłi to Pailanti' Po

Realizing that Europeans destroyed their culture and their territory, Kali' Na renamed them Pailanti' Po , or “destructors of Kali' Na”; resistance started, but was quickly destroyed because of superiority of the weapons of the newcomers.

After several attempts in second half of the 17th century, unfruitful following the conflicts with the Amerindians in general, the French founded the town of Cayenne in 1664; the English and the Dutchmen, them, were installed on the Suriname river. As for the territory Kali' Na, it extended from the island from Cayenne until Orénoque:

It is in this Isle which the Nation of Galibis begins, which estend to the large river of Orénocque, having there only one nation between them which is called of Arrouagues, extremely populated and extremely courageous, as also Galibis which is their neighbors, with which they are continuously in war. Since the river of Corou jusques to those of Coonama, there is no dwelling of Savages, but since the aforementioned river and that of Amana jusques with Suriname, this feed is populated Nation of Galibis. All these nations have almost the same language, except some words. Galibis of at Suriname are friendly ours. They give them help in their guerre.

The Lefebvre governor of the Bar, which settled in Cayenne the year of its foundation with 1200 colonists, then wrote Kali' Na:

Galibis éstoient formerly if puissans, that they printed terror and fear in the hearts of François which are estoient established in Cayenne; so that several of these former Inhabitants who are withdraw with the Martinique have sorrow us to believe when we say to them that they are not of any consideration. They are now so strong decrease, that all those which live since Approuague until Marony cannot put twenty Pirangues of war together arm each of twenty-five Men. What arrived so much by diseases which have them attack than by various meetings of war where they esté beaten by Palicours.

The arrival of Europeans changed the old trade-circuits radically; the Amerindians in general quickly became slaves of the alcohol, which was hitherto completely unknown for them. They did not skirt any more the coast to go in Orénoque, but went directly in the small ports on the coast, where they exchanged invaluable stones, “exotic” gold and other goods more (animal, plants) against bottles of Rhum or tools in Acier.

Kali' Na often fought against Europeans (English, French, Spanish) the first years after the arrival of those. There were several engagements for the control of Yalimapo, a strategic site, halfway between the rivers Mana and Maroni. It exists an archeological site called there Ineku-tupo (“where the liana ineku pushes”), where one can find ceramics former several centuries on arrival of Europeans.

Decimated by the diseases and badgered by avid Europeans with gold and the richnesses with the Eldorado, they fled inside the grounds, in the almost insuperable Tropical forest for Europeans. Only of small groups settled with Cayenne and in other coastal towns. Kali' Na were particularly numerous on the rivers Approuague, Amana, Suriname and Saramacca. Kali' Na on the coast were gradually pushed back towards the west, yielding their territory to the plantations.

The arrival of Europeans upset traditional Amerindian alliances; kali' Na were combined to the French and the Dutch and their allies helped them to push back the Arouagues in the west of the Maroni river. They became active in the draft of Amerindian slaves, going until establishing permanent stations in bottom Itany and bottom Marwini to be used as a basis for their raids on the populations of Trio, Wayana and Emerillons, them then selling to the Dutchmen, English or French. They did not make in the same way with the Lokono and the Palikur S, the relations with those being exclusively warlike. They had even a word for the tribes at which it was possible to assemble slave forwardings: itoto .

The Fiedmont governor wrote in 1767:

It returned to us that the nation of the Swivels, which breathe only the peace and only wish to avoid the unjust war to which the Indians of the Dutchmen force and of which all our other nations will feel soon the cruel effects, cannot give up its establishments to preserve some without exposing itself on another side to the food shortage until it provided by new plantations for its subsistence; that the attackers are excited by Nègre S Mulâtre S and other subjects of Surinam which may find it beneficial to perpetuate it and which can carry it in the center of our province, that they propose to still come there to make races in force and with weapons, to fall on the Swivels, to destroy them or make slaves to sell them; that several were killed or sold in Surinam a few months ago by those of Marony which still make new preparations against the Indians who are on our territoire.

The excursions against the itoto ended at the 17th century when the access to high Maroni fell under control from the Chestnuts Ndjuka and Aluku.

The Missions Jesuits

The Fathers Jesuits founded their first mission in Ikaroua (on the Karouabo split) in 1709, but moved it with a site on the river Kourou in 1713^,.

The principal goal of the missions was, like elsewhere in South America, to spread the catholic faith among the Amerindians seen like “savages” needing to be “saved”.

… since nearly twenty years this mission is entirely with the load of the Jesuits who there spent considerably, especially to reconcile by their liberalities the spirit of the Indians, who are importunate applicants… Kourou is now as a small borough where the Indians gathered in good number are maintained in the religion with a zeal very édifiant.

Between Maroni and Mana

Following the abandonment of the mission by the Jesuits and with disastrous the forwarding of Kourou, it did not remain in 1787 qu' about fifty Amerindians:

… unfortunate remainders of a very great number which existed in this part before the disaster of the establishment which was tried there in 1763, and which involved the loss of a number of these natives, at the same time as the majority of the colonists that one had transplantés. there

Having been maltreated and having been exploited by the colonists of forwarding, they fled in the west to join Surinam or the area between Mana and Maroni. They very often moved between Surinam and Guyana to benefit from the risks of the economies of the two colonies.

… these people often change residence, & does not appear an extremely stable spirit on this subject; I am unaware of however if it is by inconstancy or precaution; but hardly they formed their borough or village in a place, that one often sees them leaving to go to settle ailleurs.

It was thus very difficult to count the exact number of Amerindians in the colony.

Later, about the years 1780, the Maroon Blacks Aluku (Profit) and Ndjuka, fleeing the conflict with the Dutchmen, moved on banks of Maroni and its affluents, entering the territory of Kali' Na. A certain number of interbreedings between Kali' Na and the Blacks occurred in spite of the fact that the Amerindians generally avoided the contact with the latter. These mongrels are considered Kali' Na and are accepted like belonging to the community, but is not considered Kali' Na tilewuyu - " truths Kali' na."

The population Kali' Na knew its apogee in first half of the 19th century. It is about this time also that Anne-Marie Javouhey installed her mission for slaves released with Mana on territory kali' Na, decreasing their insulation of the remainder of the colony. There were attempts at colonization of the area (in News-Angouleme in particular), but all were failures. The Amerindians having fled in Surinam, it remained only of scattered villages kali' Na on Sinnamary, Counamama (approximately 50 kali' Na) and Mana.

The bagne

The establishment of the Bagne S on banks of Maroni, particularly with the St. Lawrence, forced Kali' Na and other Amerindians to again move Dutch side of the river.

We came to wet close to the penitentiary from the St. Lawrence, close to Right Bank. It is on other bank, low and wooded like all the Guianese littoral, which are dispersed, with the center even forest, the carbets (huts) of Galibis.

It is in the St. Lawrence, pole commercial (just as Albina, opposite) that Kali' Na rencontrènt a new kind of White, the convict. They were called Sipołinpo , or " Blanc" old man;. They in general did not help the Sipołinpo in escape.

Amerindians in Paris

Second half of the 19th century saw the golden age of the World Fairs, in which the European countries made display of their colonial richnesses with “villages” representing the colonized cultures. Though the World Fairs of Paris did not have “Amerindian villages”, the curiosity of the public was such as Kali' Na were sent to the capital twice - one in 1882 and the other in 1892 - to be exhibés with the Zoological gardens ^,.

1882

Fifteen Kali' Na, all members of the same family living Sinnamary and Iracoubo, were sent to Pau: wa (“country of the White”) in July 1882 and the fact that they were placed in Carbet S on the lawn of the Zoological gardens. The voyage lasted four months, including three in Paris and a month of way in boat (outward journey and return). They were accompanied by a Creole who was used as intermediary and, one supposes it, of interpreter. There exist several portraits of them, taken by the photographer Pierre Petit.

1892

This time, they are thirty-two Kali' Na and some Arawaks, all of Iracoubo, Sinnamary and the bottom Maroni, which were sent to Paris in full winter. Though they came from the same area, they were not parents of the Kali' Na sent in France in 1882.

They were taken along there by a certain F. Laveau, an explorer who was in Guyana expressly for “… to recruit Indians Redskins the Caribbean” .

Kali' cold Na not being accustomed, the dances stopped when they fell sick. At least two Kali' Na died in Paris and were buried there. The ceremony of Epekotono , celebrating the end of mourning two to three years after the death of late, could not be done until 1996.

Kali' Na today

Geographical distribution

The part of South America where live Kali' Na is very slightly populated, however this ethnos group is itself extremely minority in all the countries where it is established well that locally it is majority in certain very moved back zones. Their current distribution constitutes only one remainder of their zone of expansion at the time précolombienne.

With the Brazil, they are especially localized in São Jose back Galibi, village based in 1950 on Right Bank of the Oyapock opposite Saint-Georges in Guyana by several families come from the area from Mana. There is also in the capital of the Amapá, Macapá, and in the Pará, with Belem.

In Guyana, they are still very present on their ground of origin, the area between the Maroni and the Mana (in particular the communes of Awala-Yalimapo the only one where they are majority, Saint-Laurent-of-Maroni the, Mana and Iracoubo), and at the Amerindian Village of Kourou like, in less number, on the island of Cayenne.

With the Surinam, they have a strong presence on left bank of Maroni and banks of the river Coppename.

In Guyana, they are located along the river Cuyuni, frontier of Venezuela.

With the Venezuela, the country where they are most numerous, one finds them in two distinct zones: in the Llanos of the valley of the Orénoque, area in which they went formerly to marry and make trade, and along the Cuyuni river what corresponds to the states of the Sucre, of Bolívar, Monagas and especially with that of the Anzoátegui, where they are concentrated in Mesa de Guanipa.

In spite of their geographical dispersion Kali' Na maintain contacts between them, thus in 2006 took place a cultural meeting between Kali' Na of Venezuela and French Guiana separated by a distance of more than one thousand of kilometers.

Lifestyle

Certains Kali' Na continues to live their traditional activities within the framework of a saving in subsistence. Thus, they practice the Chasse, the fishing, the gathering and a food Agriculture on Brûlis as their ancestors did it. Nevertheless, a part of them is integrated in the primary sectors and secondary of the economies of their respective countries, generally occupying of not qualified employment. Kali' Na of alive Venezuela in the Llanos of the Orénoque often work in the oil sector , principal employer of the area, while those of Guyana carry out tasks of Bûcheron stroke and are sometimes gold washers.

In French Guiana, they took part in the construction of the Guianese Space center near Kourou. Broadly this ethnos group thus lives in margin of the modern world, however signs of change are by observable places. Thus, the group of Kali' French Na whose certain members could reach the Secondary education as of years 1960 constitute the spearhead of the federation of the Amerindian organizations of Guyana which fights for the recognition of the rights of the Guianese Amerindians.

Culture

Kali' Na have a social structure of type patriarchal. The household heads are called yopoto and they carry sometimes caps of feathers ( umali ) to be different from the other family members.

They testify enormously to respect for their " old, " the oldest members of the community, who are called uwapotosan . When a uwapotosan speaks, the others listen. Their culture and history being oral, the old ones are their alive memory.

They change still today frequently places of residence, partly to avoid annoying the spirits of deaths buried in their villages as well as the imawale (forest spirits malfaisants) and to benefit from better conditions of hunting or gathering elsewhere.

As much of other Amerindian tribes of North America and the South and the indigenous of Australia, they are strongly under the influence of the alcohol ^,^,, which explains their poverty partly, the men especially spending much of their money for the Rhum. If Kali' Na living the forest can carry out a peaceful far from the commercial establishments, alive life of the Chasse, the fishing and the gathering, it is often not the case for their urban brothers. Alcohol was introduced by the old colonial government, as the correspondence testifies some to the Fiedmont governor in 1767:

What flatters the Indians most particularly is the drink, that one saves too here, which however it would not be badly to accustom them, as at the use of all the things of a great consumption which multiply their needs and in the case of put them to be able to do without nous.

Mythology and ritual

Kali' Na say to go down from the last man surviving on Earth after a flood called umuti' Po and which to protect itself from rising water took refuge in a palm tree kumu with its Chien and a Perroquet. He ate the fruits of the kumu , and, not being able to see the ground since the top of the tree, he threw the cores in water. When he did not intend them any more to fall into the floods, he went down. He went to hunting, killed out of game, brought back it to its hut, and set out again. When it had left, the dog removed its skin and metamorphosed itself as a woman. She prepared the meal then retransforma in dog before the arrival of the man. The next day, the intrigued man hid behind a small bush; he saw the dog removing his skin, seized some and ran to throw it in fire. The woman was then ashamed of her nudity, and the man gave him a kuyu to hide their sex.

But before the umuti' Po , it one period ago when the men and the animals could speak each other, Isenulupiłi , by the way of which there exist several legends. Kali' Na keep a deep respect for the animals, since a long time ago, they were their brothers.

Although as a majority baptized, they continue to practice many ritual animists in Syncrétisme with the Christianisme, lifting of mourning. The first is carried out seven days after the death. A ceremony takes place the night in the house touched by misfortune, those which take mourning are immersed in a ritual bath to purify their spirit and to have the force to face this period. During this rite, a funeral praise of the missing is carried out and the participants play and sing a pond special pond called Sheññorijsha .

The lifting of mourning is carried out, it, one year after the death. The community meets again around the family. During this ceremony, the people present drink to celebrate the end of mourning and in the neighborhoods of midnight, the hair of old endeuillés is cut.

Music

They use especially percussion instruments, whose sanpula (or sambula ), large a drum with two membranes provided with a cord of stamp, and that one plays with small a Mailloche. They have also two kinds of Maracas of dance called kalawasi (or kalawashi ) and malaka .

Their cross horn, the kuwama , is done still but is more and more often replaced by the Flute European. There exists also a horn out of terra cotta called kuti .