The Ye'kuana , also called Ye'kwana, Ye'Kuana, Yekuana, Yequana, Yecuana, Dekuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, So'to or Maiongong , are a Cariban -speaking tropical rain-forest tribe who live in the Caura River and Orinoco River regions of Venezuela in Bolivar State and Amazonas State . In Brazil , they inhabit the northeast of Roraima State. In Venezuela, the Ye'kuana live alongside their former enemies, the Sanumá ( Yanomami subgroup).
7-556: Cerro Duida , known as Yennamadi by the Ye'kuana , is a very large tepui in Amazonas state, Venezuela . It has an uneven and heavily inclined plateau, rising from highs of around 1,300–1,400 metres (4,300–4,600 ft) in the north and east to a maximum of 2,358 metres (7,736 ft) on its southwestern rim. It has a summit area of 1,089 km (420 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 715 km (276 sq mi). At its foot lies
14-630: A separate base, lies to the northwest of this complex. George Henry Hamilton Tate led a major expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to Cerro Duida in 1928–1929. Named the Tyler-Duida Expedition , it was the first to reach the mountain's summit plateau and the first to climb a tepui of the Venezuelan Amazon . Mount Duida frog was first collected during the expedition and is still not known from anywhere else, although it
21-626: A spiritual activity in which the group reproduces the great cosmic home of the Creator. The first reference to the Ye'kuana was in 1744 by a Jesuit priest called Manuel Román in his travels to investigate the existence of the Casiquiare canal . He recruited the services of the Ye'kuana to help him on his way. The Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve was established by the Venezuelan government in 1993 with
28-399: The Ye'kuana wish to refer to themselves, they use the word So'to , which can be translated as "people", "person". Ye’kuana , in turn, can be translated as "canoe people", "people of the canoes" or even "people of the branch in the river". They live in communal houses called Atta or ëttë . The circular structure has a cone-shaped roof made of palm leaves. Building the atta is considered
35-633: The objective of preserving the traditional territory and lifestyle of the Yanomami and Ye'kuana peoples. There are some 6,250 Ye'kuana in Venezuela, according to the 2001 census, with some 430 in Brazil. Jean Liedloff came into contact with the Ye'kuana in the 1950s, while working as a photographer for Italian diamond-hunters, and in subsequent personal visits. She based her book The Continuum Concept : In Search of Happiness Lost on their way of life, particularly
42-563: The small settlement of La Esmeralda , from which the mountain can be climbed. Cerro Duida shares a common base with the much smaller (but taller) Cerro Marahuaca , located off its northeastern flank, and together they form the Duida–Marahuaca Massif . Both tepuis are entirely within the bounds of Duida-Marahuaca National Park . Sandwiched between them, a massive ridge known as Cerro Petaca rises to at least 2,700 metres (8,900 ft). The much lower Cerro Huachamacari , derived from
49-501: Was formally described only 40 years later. Although primarily a zoological expedition, much plant material was collected. These herbarium collections were studied extensively by Henry Gleason , who formally described many of the mountain's plant species in a series of papers published in 1931. This was followed by a number of important botanical explorations of Cerro Duida, first by Julian A. Steyermark in 1944 and later by Bassett Maguire in 1949 and 1950. Ye%27kuana When
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