CAVIANA ISLAND: ON ITS LANDSCAPES, TIME, AND TRANSFORMATIONS

Abstract

Caviana Island is located at the Amazon river delta, between Marajó Island and the southern coast of the Amapá state. It is inhabited by “ribeirinhos”,a riverine-dweller people, and farmers. Most studies related to ribeirinho peoples in the Amazon emphasize their close relation to the surrounding environment. Although dealing with the same theme, in this article I emphasize, however, two aspects of this relation between ribeirinhos and the landscape: its historical character and the meanings present peoples assigned to it. The scholarly production about Amazonian populations has recently refrained to explore the historical continuity among indigenous groups and ribeirinho communities, searching to understand having as a background the colonial period and their relation to the national market. In this study, I propose to look at the environmental management practiced by the the ribeirinhos, aiming to understand history as a process intertwined to the present, that is lived and constantly reconstructed by people in their everyday lives.Keywords: Landscape, Caviana Island, riverine-dwellers, Amazonia.