Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil.

[8] Use of "Kalina" and related variants has become common practice only recently in publications; many sources continue to use "Caribs" or associated names.

[7] Lacking a written form of language before the arrival of Europeans, Kali'na history was passed down orally from one generation to the next through tales of myth and legend.

For a long time, the few Europeans studying the history of the Amerindian people of this area did not distinguish between the various Caribbean tribes.

Once the period of exploration was over, interest in the study of these people diminished greatly and did not re-emerge until the end of the 20th century, when a few French expatriates, notably Gérard Collomb, became interested in the Kali'na, and the Kali'na themselves began to relate their history, in particular Félix Tiouka, president of the Association of Amerindians of French Guiana (AAGF), and his son Alexis.

Making up for lack of written records, archaeologists have to date uncovered 273 Amerindian archeological sites on only 310 km² of the land recovered from the Sinnamary River by the Petit-Saut Dam.

[13] They often went to the area surrounding the Essequibo river (now in Guyana) to collect pebbles of red porphyry (takuwa), which Kali'na women prized for polishing their pottery.

[18]The second half of the nineteenth century saw the heyday of World's Fairs, in which European countries were displaying their wealth with colonial "villages" representing the colonized cultures.

Although the World's Fairs of Paris did not have "Amerindian villages", public curiosity was such that Kali'na were sent to the capital twice - once in 1882 and again in 1892 - to be exhibited as oddities at the Jardin d'Acclimatation.

[19],[20] Fifteen Kali’na, all members of one family living in Sinnamary and Iracoubo, were sent to Pau:wa ("The Land of the Whites") in July 1882.

[26] A Kali'na member of the National Assembly, Sylvia Kajoeramari,[27] successfully led efforts to recognize the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples as a public holiday in Suriname.

[30] Malaria has had a detrimental impact on the population of Kalina in Guyana, and is exacerbated by hinterland mining that creates still-water pools that serve as vectors for the disease.

[32] For Kalina of the Guianas, the death of family members initiates a period of mourning that can last for a year or more, and is concluded with a celebration known as Epekotono.

Epekotono is a public event that draws attendance from neighboring villages, including body-painting, music, dancing, and symbolic burning of the deceased's belongings to mark their spirit leaving.

Their sanpula (or sambula) is a large drum with two skins stretched over either end of the shell by hoops pulled together with cord and is played with a mallet.