The Akurio are an indigenous people living in Suriname. They are hunter-gatherers, who were first contacted in 1938 when chanced upon by a survey party led by Willem Ahlbrinck. Ahlbrinck was on a mission to find the Ojarikoelé tribe, also known as Wajarikoele, but could not find them.[2] A little over thirty years later in 1969, they were rediscovered by Ivan Schoen, a Protestant missionary. The people were nomadic and had a predilection for honey-gathering and the stone tools they had were typically employed for this endeavor.[1][3] In 1975 American missionaries persuaded the tribe to live in Pelelu Tepu.[4]
Name
The Akurio are also called Akoerio, Akuliyo, Akuri, Akurijo, Akuriyo, Oyaricoulet, Triometesem, Triometesen, Wama, or Wayaricuri people.[1]
Population
40% to 50% of the Akurio died within two years after contact in 1969.[5]
The population was estimated to be 50 in 2000. It fell to 40 by 2012.[1]
Language
The group used the Akurio language, also known as Akuriyó, until the late 20th century, when they began using the Trio language. Schoen had left a number of Trio Indian guides with the Akurio after their first meeting.[3] The last native speaker is believed to have died in the first decade of the 2000s, at which time only 10 people were estimated to have Akuriyó as a second language. By 2012, only two semi-speakers remained.[1] In December 2018, Sepi Akuriyó, one of the last surviving speakers of Akuriyó, went missing when a small plane carrying eight people disappeared during a flight over the Amazon rainforest. A search and rescue operation was called off after two weeks.[6]
Suriname