The Yanomami indigenous people live in the Amazon rainforest spanning which two countries?

The Yanomami indigenous people live in the Amazon rainforest spanning Brazil and Venezuela. Their communities and ancestral territories lie on both sides of the international border, particularly in Brazil’s northern states and southern Venezuela.

The Yanomami are not a single village or small settlement but a culturally related Indigenous population living in many communities. They speak several closely related Yanomaman languages, and estimates commonly place the population at roughly 35,000 people, though figures vary by source and date.

In Brazil, much of their recognized territory lies in the states of Amazonas and Roraima. Brazil’s Yanomami Indigenous Territory was officially created in 1992 and is one of the country’s largest Indigenous territories. Across the border, Yanomami communities live in Venezuela’s Amazonas and Bolívar regions.

The region has faced severe outside pressure, especially from illegal gold mining, disease and environmental damage. The Yanomami should not be confused with Indigenous peoples whose principal territories lie in Peru, Colombia, Guyana or Suriname; those countries are home to other Amazonian groups.