The Great Savannah is inhabited by indigenous Pemón people
For more than three centuries the territory that is today Canaima Naitonal Park has been inhabited by the Pemón indigenous people, a Caribbean community that also extends into other nearby areas in Brazil and Guiana. Pemón, their self-determined name, translates to mean "people." There are three sub-groups within their culture--the Kamaracoto, Taurepán and Arekuna. The Arekuna inhabit the Great Savannah (Huber and Febres 2000).
During the Colonial Period, the entire Guiana Region was well known because people were there in search of the mystic city of "El Dorado." Several explorers and adventures made trips into the region. Despite these excursions, the higher lands, including the Great Savannah, were partially isolated because of their geography and were sheltered from outside influences, except for the Capuchin missionaries from Orinoco who settled there at the end of the 18th century and left at the beginning of the 19th. Since then, modern explorers have made more extensive trips into the zone, such as Robert Schomburgk, who explored the zone extensively between 1833 and 1844, thereby marking the beginning of scientific research in the Great Savannah. In the following years, many explorers and foreign naturalists have journeyed in the zone. Their journeys inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his novel "The Lost World" (Huber and Febres 2000, Michelangeli undated).
During the 1910s, illegal immigrants and Adventist missionaries from British Guiana began arriving to the Great Savannah. They were later expelled by the Venezuelan Government in an act of leadership by Count Antonio Gastón Cattaneo Quirin, an Italian-born Venezuelan who was the Inspector General in Bolívar State as well as co-founder of the town of Santa Elena de Uairén with Lucas Fernández. In 1922, the Venezuelan government decided to sign an agreement with the Capuchin Order to evangelize Bolívar State's southern territories, and later, they decided together to establish missionary centers within the Great Savannah. In 1931, the first mission was built in Akurimá (Santa Elena de Uairén), and in 1933, the second was established in Luepa, which was moved to Kavanayén in 1943-the year that the process to concentrate the indigenous population in the valley began (Huber and Febres 2000).
Many of the actual indigenous communities were established or founded during the 20th century. In the case of Paraitepui, the first inhabitants arrived around 1930 and the first constructions in Kumarakapai, an Pemón Adventist settlement, began in the 1950s, close to where the Yuruani River barge would pass. This community has grown consistently over the last years because of increased tourism. San Ignacio de Yuruaní has a distinct origin. It was established in 1970 in order to relocate a group of indigenous refugees from Guiana. Today, their activities are mostly related to the CVG-Edelca operations center, the installations of an electrical microcenter and a firefighting brigade. Other important communities are Iboribó (Liwo-riwó), San Rafael de Kamoirán and Uroy-Uaray (Huber and Febres 2000).
According to the 1992 indigenous census (OCEI 1994), there were 8,094 Pemóns inhabiting Canaima National Park (both sectors). Although there is no official data available from the 2002 census, it is estimated that the current population is 11,836 inhabitants and that these people are distributed in a settlement pattern where no more than 300 people live in the same community (Medina 2004).
Originally, the Pemón had a very different settlement pattern. Typically, they used to settle in small communities of approximately seven homes, mostly in the savannahs, close to the forest's edge and small watercourses. Their settlement pattern changed in the 20th century due to changes in their social dynamics and missionary influences. They then became concentrated in certain zones like the Kavanayén Valley, where the actual population is greater than 300 inhabitants (Huber and Febres 2000, CVG-Edelca 2004a).
The highway Tumeremo - El Dorado - Santa Elena de Uairén, also known as Troncal 10, crosses the Great Savannah from north to south and it is the principal access route. The Military Engineering Service within the Armed Forces built it between 1965 and 1972; originally it was a dirt road. Between 1985 and 1989 it was paved in an attempt to improve transit in the entire southeastern portion of Bolívar State and to increase tourism. The closest airport is outside of the park in Santa Elena de Uairén, and within the Eastern Sector, there are landing strips in Luepa, Kavanayén, Wonkén and Kumarakapai. Mostly the Corporación Venezolana de Guiana (CVG) staff and other private airplane companies who provide transportation for tourists use these landing strips. North of the protected area, economic activities are related to forestry and mining in the Imataca Forestry Reserve and adjacent zones. In the south, minging is the primary industry (Huber and Febres 2000, CVG-Edelca 2004a).
CVG-Edelca built four hydroelectric microcenters that utilize hydropower from small waterfalls to generate electricity, which is provided to isolated indigenous communities in the Caroní River Basin (CVG-Edelca 2004a).
Between 1997 and 2000, a 200 KW electrical line was built to provide power to Brazil. This caused controversy and many Pemón indigenous communities and environmental groups opposed it, forming a coalition against the electrical lines. Despite the strong criticism and demonstrations against the project, the lines were built and damaged the Great Savannah's spectacular landscape and vistas.
