[4] The Wayampi are also known as the Wajãpi, Wayapi, Wajapi, Oiampi,[1] Barnaré, Oyampi, Oyampik, Waiapi, Walãpi, Guaiapi, Guayapi, Oiampipucu, Oyampí, Oyampipuku, Oyanpík, Waiampi, Wajapae, Wajapuku, Wayapae, and Wayãpi people.

From 1820, some northern groups began making contact with French officials and Maroons, but most of the Wayampi continued their isolation in the Amazonian forest throughout the 18th and 19th century.

[8] Only in the 1940s were the villages of French Guiana contacted by geographers;[9] the Wayampi were in a bad shape, diseases had ravaged the community, and the population was estimated at 230 people.

[9] In the 1960s attempts were made in French Guiana to group the population into two bigger villages where the Wayampi had to live with the Teko.

Illegal gold miners moved into area, and the villages of Vila Brasil and Ilha Bela were established opposite the town of Camopi where the majority of the French Wayampi were concentrated.

[14] The majority of the Brazilian population lives in the Terra Indígena Waiãpi (Wayampi Indigenous Territory), an autonomous district with restricted access, which had been established in 1996.

[16] The Wayampi practice slash-and-burn agriculture and subsist primarily on cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, and bananas.

With the exception of the Mariry community, which carries out limited exploitation of gold claims, there is little participation in the cash economy.

Today this network has been disrupted by the increased control of national boundaries, though it remains alive between various Wayampi groups.