Venâncio Kamiko, Baniwa prophet

In the late 1850s Venâncio Anizetto Kamiko, a Baniwa shaman of the Içana river on the upper Rio Negro, led a millenarian movement, preaching that the world would end and that his followers would be spared.

1858 CE · 1.00, -68.00 · status: account

The account

Anthropologist Robin Wright has traced a long Baniwa prophetic tradition through Kamiko and later prophets, set against persecution by traders and officials. The position here is approximate, on the Içana.

The sceptical view

Known mainly from colonial reports and later oral history; the movement is best read as a response to violence and labour coercion.

Connections in the atlas

• The Jurupari masks shown at Ipanoré
• Stradelli records the legend of Jurupari

Sources

1. Cultural Survival: Baniwa (Robin Wright)