Alalapadu
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Alalapadu | |
|---|---|
  Alalapadu Location in Suriname | |
| 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 by 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 favor 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]