Yukpa people

Yukpa
Woman selling crafts with her daughter in a river near the Sierra de Perija
Regions with significant populations
 Venezuela 10,877
 Colombia 4,761 [1]
Languages
Spanish, Yukpa
The Yukpa territory in the Cesar Department.

Yukpa is an Amerindian ethnic group that inhabits the northeastern part of the Cesar Department in northern Colombia by the Serranía del Perijá bordering Venezuela. Their territory covers the eastern areas of the municipalities of Robles La Paz, Codazzi and Becerril in Resguardos (indian reserve) named Socorpa, Menkue, El Cozo Iroka and some other small areas in Venezuela. According to an Inter Press Service story, the majority of the Yukpa, who number nearly 10,000, live in Venezuela although some communities are still located in the mountains across the border in Colombia.[2] The Yukpa people have been known to consume certain nest-inhabiting wasp species, such as Polistes pacificus, which make paper nests that can be quickly knocked from its hanging place on a tree directly into a fire, where the larvae are then toasted.[3]

  1. ^ "Yukpa del Perijá, cazadores, recolectores, agricultores". Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia, 2010.
  2. ^ Venezuela Government Distributes Land to Yukpa Indians Archived October 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Ruddle, Kenneth (1973). "The Human Use of Insects: Examples from the Yukpa" (PDF). Biotropica Vol. 5 no. 2, pp. 94-101. Retrieved 14 October 2017.[dead link]