Alalapadu | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 2°31′14″N 56°19′41″W / 2.52056°N 56.32806°W | |
Country | Suriname |
District | Sipaliwini District |
Resort | Coeroeni |
Settled | 1961 |
Government | |
• Head captain | Sede Itashe [1] |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 75 [1] |
Alalapadu is a Tiriyó village in the Sipaliwini District of Suriname. The village was founded by Baptist [2] missionaries next to the Alalapadu Airstrip in order to concentrate the Tiriyó of the area in one central village. [3]
In 1961 the missionary Claude Leavitt accompanied with a group of Wai-Wai Amerindians convinced the chief of the village Panapipa to settle into a modern village. The entire population moved in to what became known as Alalapadu. [4] Up to the 1970s, it was biggest Tiriyó village in Suriname. [2] Between 1976 and 1977, Alalapadu was mostly abandoned in favour of the new settlement of Kwamalasamutu, as the soils surrounding the village became depleted. [5] Alalapadu was never completely abandoned, however, and in 1999, some Tiriyó again permanently settled in the vicinity of the old village. [6] The new village is sometimes known as Alalapadu II. [7] Granman Ashongo had requested its rebuilding. [2]
There is no electricity. The economy is based small-scale farming. There is no school, and children have to go to boarding school in Kwamalasamutu. There is a Baptist church in the village. In 2017, a Brazil nut oil production facility opened in Alalapadu. [8]