Tribes

Tribes and indigenous people of Venezuela & Colombia

The Luxburg Carolath Foundation works closely with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela tribes as well as the tribes from The Republic of Colombia. The foundation’s purpose is mainly to digitally preserve wide access information of their history, traditions and languages.

Venezuela

Indigenous people in Venezuela, Amerindians or Native Venezuelans, form about 2% of the total population of Venezuela, although many Venezuelans share some indigenous ancestry. Indigenous people are concentrated in the Southern Amazon rainforest state of Amazonas, where they make up nearly 50% of the population and in the Andes of the western state of Zulia. The most numerous indigenous people, at about 200,000, is the Venezuelan part of the Wayuu (or Guajiro) people who primarily live in the State of Zulia between Lake Maracaibo and the Colombian border. Another 100,000 or so indigenous people live in the sparsely populated southeastern states of Amazonas, Bolívar and Delta Amacuro. There are at least 26 indigenous groups in Venezuela, including the Ya̧nomamö, Pemon, Warao people, Baniwa people, Kali’na people, Motilone Barí, Ye’kuana and Yaruro.

According to the most popular and accepted version the name of Venezuela:  in 1499, an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda visited the Venezuelan coast. The stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, Italy, so he named the region Veneziola, or “Little Venice”.The Spanish version of Veneziola is Venezuela.

Below are some of the photos of Anu tribe which still exists today in Maracaibo in the region of Santa Rosa de Agua.

Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de Geografía, he states that the crew found indigenous people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name “Venezuela” may have evolved from the native word.

Since 1999 the Venezuelan Constitution and new laws drawn up by President Hugo Chavez’s allow indigenous groups unprecedented rights that they did not have for generations.

Colombia

American Indians, or indigenous peoples of The Republic of Colombia, are the ethnic groups who have been in Colombia prior to the Europeans in the early 16th century. Known as « pueblos indígenas originarios » in Spanish, they comprise 4.4% of the country’s population and belong to 87 different tribes.

The National Administrative Department of Statistics (Colombia) recognizes the existence of 146 indigenous groups with 87 of them officially recognized. In addition to this list, there are people who self-identify as indigenous people considered extinct (Calima, Chitarero, Panche and Tairona), of foreign origin (Otavaleño, Maya and others) or who do not identify with any particular tribe.

Approximately 50% of the indigenous peoples of Colombia live in the La Guajira Colombiana, Cauca, and Nariño Departments. While the Amazonian region of Colombia is sparsely populated, it is home to over 70 different indigenous ethnic groups.

The following is a list of the 87 officially recognized indigenous peoples in the 2005 census,with their respective population according to the 2018 (unrecognized peoples are in italics) : Wayuu, Senù, Nasa,
Pasto, Emberá Chamí , Emberá, Coyaima, Emberá Katío, Awá, Mokaná, Arhuaco, Coconuco, Arzario, Achagua, Amorúa, Andoke, Bara, Barasana, Barí, Betoye, Bora, Chitarero Calima, Cañamomo, Carapana, Chimila, Chiricoa, Cocama, Coreguaje, Desano, Dujo, Eperara, Siadipara, Guambiano, Guanaca, Guane, Guayabero, Hitnü, Inga, Jupda, Kawiyarí, Kãkwã, Kamëntsa, Kankuamo, Karijona, Kichwa, Kofán, Kogui, Kubeo, Kuiba, Kurripako, Letuama, Makaguaje, Makuna, Masiguare, Matapí, Miraña, Maya, Muisca, Nonuya, Nukak, Ocaina, Otavaleño, Panche, Piaroa, Piratapuyo, Pisamira, Puinave, Quimbaya, Sáliba, Sikuani, Siona, Siriano, Tairona, Taiwano, Tanimuka, Tariano, Tatuyo, Tikuna, Totoró, Tsiripu, Tucano, Tule, Tuyuka, Tzase, Uitoto, Umbrá, U’wa, Wanano, Waunan, Yagua, Yanacona, Yaruro, Yauna, Yuko, Yukuna, Yuri & Yurutí.