The Teko (also called Emerillon, Emerilon, Emerion, Mereo, Melejo, Mereyo, Teco)[2] are a Tupi–Guarani-speaking people in French Guiana living on the banks of the Camopi and Tampok rivers.

[3] Their villages, usually located at a distance from the rivers for protection from raids, were moved frequently due to soil exhaustion, warfare, and several customary reasons, like the death of a chief.

[4] By the 19th century internal and intertribal warfare had weakened the Teko to the point of being collective slaves to the Wayampi.

[1] The government installed male captains, based on the Maroon hierarchy, to head the villages,[1] however being a matrilocality, the position was often inherited by the widow.

[9] The Teko practice slash-and-burn agriculture and complement the food supply with hunting, gathering and fishing.