 It was primarily spoken in the Amazonas region of Venezuela and along the Colombian border, and had dialects called Quirruba and Baniva-Avani.The language likely began deteriorating with the arrival of the Jesuits in the late 18th century.The Avane language included a colloquial name to refer to the neighboring indigenous Maipure people, "Metimetichini", which may be humorously alluding to the polysyllabic nature of many Maipure words and contains two sounds not usually found in Avane.