Wapishana

Currently the Wapishana are located in the State of Roraima, Brazil, northern and eastern Boa Vista, as well as in the southern Rupununi savannas of Guyana. In their villages, one can find ranches, settlements, small towns, and commercial developments of Brazilians. In Guyana, the Wapishana villages are located between the Takutu, Rupununi, and Kwitaro rivers, bordering the Macushi territory in the Kanuku Mountains to the north, and extending as far as the Wai-Wai territory to the south. In Brazilian territory, in the north eastern portion of Roraima, the Wapishana villages are mostly located in the Serra da Lua (Moon Ridge) region between the Branco River and one of its affluent, the Tacutu. On the lower Uraricoera River, another affluent of the Branco, most of the villages contain a mixed population of Wapishana and Macushi.

Wapishana population totals around 9,441 in Brazil (2014 estimate), 6,000 in Guyana (1990 estimate), and 37 in Venezuela (2011 estimate). approximately 5,000 Wapishana in Southern Rupununi, southern area of Guyana bordering Brazil in 1991, and only 2,995 Wapishana in twenty Brazilian villages estimated by the Fundação Nacional do Índio in 1984.

Wapishana is classified as a member of the Arawak language family. Wapishana is the only remaining Arawakan language in the circum-Roraima area. The term Arawak is more generally used to refer to the Arawakan or Lokono languages spoken in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and in some of the Antilles Islands. Most Brazilian Wapishana often speak Portuguese, instead of Wapishana and many Guyanese Wapishana speak English in addition to Wapishana. Portuguese is the dominant language among the Wapishana who live in urban areas that are bilingual in Portuguese and Wapishana, especially among the younger generations. According to Migliazza, more than 80% of Wapishana can speak the national language with which they are in contact, Portuguese in Brazil or English in Guyana. Since someone can cross the border between the two countries so easily, it is common to find people who speak Portuguese and English, as well as the maternal language.

The Wapishana's first indirect contact with Europeans was in 1498, Columbus's third voyage, which reached the coast of South America. Information and objects were quickly exchanged through developed Indigenous networks of trade. The Portuguese initially attacked the Indigenous population, who then occupied the Branco River, in Brazil, on slave-raiding expeditions. Village settlements were later settled there at the end of the century. The Wapishana were brought to work at the Portuguese fort on the Rio Branco by the late 1700s.