Barasana

Barasana (alternate names Barazana, Panenua, Pareroa, or Taiwano is an exonym applied to an Amazonian people, considered distinct from the Taiwano, though the dialect of the latter is almost identical to that of the Barasana, and outside observers can detect only minute differences between the two languages. They are a Tucanoan group located in the eastern part of the Amazon Basin in Vaupés Department in Colombia and Amazonas State in Brazil. As of 2000 there were at least 500 Barasanas in Colombia, though some recent estimates place the figure as high as 1950. A further 40 live on the Brazilian side, in the municipalities of Japurá and São Gabriel da Cachoeira.