Wayãpi - Orientation

Identification. The Wayãpi are an Indian group located in French Guiana and Brazil (Federal Territory of Amapá). In the literature the name Oyampi" is defined as "man eaters," disregarding any etymology. According to the Wayãpi themselves, corroborated by scientific etymology, their name is derived from the Wayãpi words waya (warrior) and yapi (to shoot an arrow), meaning "warriors who hit the mark."

Location. The Wayãpi occupy the same territory today as they did during the nineteenth century, but now there are uninhabited areas between subgroups. Their present locations are at the confluence of the Camopi and Oyapock rivers, at the headwaters of the Oyapock in French Guiana, and along the northwestern tributaries of the Amapari and Carapanatuba rivers (the latter a tributary of the Rio Jari) in Brazil.

Demography. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, population reports indicated there were 6,000 Wayãpi; by the beginning of the twentieth century, there had been a drastic reduction to 450. Contemporary censuses cite 310 Wayãpi in Brazil (1988) and 525 in French Guiana (1990).

linguistic Affiliation. The Wayãpi language belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní Family, within the Tupí Macrofamily. There are dialectal differences between the northern and southern groups, but this does not impede mutual understanding.