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Isolated indians | Interrelations
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Isolated Indians
Introduction
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In recent years there have been at least 42 evidences
of the existence in Brazil of 'isolated Indians'. That is
the denomination given to those Indians which the organ
of the Federal Government in charge of Indian affairs, the
Fundação Nacional do Índio - National Foundation for the
Indian - Funai has not established contact. No one knows
for sure who they are, where they are, how many they are
and what languages they speak.
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The little that is known about them is that 25 of those evidences
have occurred within Indigenous Lands that have already been demarcated
or have some degree of recognition by Federal organs. Of the 42
evidences, Funai has already confirmed 12.
The few reports written about these peoples show sometimes pictures
of objects found in the area where they were sighted. Oral reports
generally are made by other Indians or ‘whites’ from
the region, who recount fortuitous encounters or simply reproduce
information given by others about the existence of such groups.
It was through oral reports, for instance, that most of the information
known about the Hi-Merimã, who live the region of the mid-Piranha
River, between the Juruá and the Purus rivers, in the State
of Amazonas, was obtained. In 1943, this Indian group, which became
known for their conflicts with neighboring populations, was estimated
as having more than 1,000 individuals. No one knows how many they
are today: the Hi-Merimã rejected any contact with the
encroaching society, and even with other Indians, with whom they
maintain, even today, hostile relations.
The idea that there are Indians who were capable of keeping themselves
in isolation since the arrival of the Portuguese, and thus that
there are societies that were unaffected by all the changes that
took place in Brazil since then, is misleading. Even the groups
that are considered ‘isolated’ have often had longtime
relationships with segments of national society, as the case of
the Hi-Merimã, who have had some kind of contact with non-Indians
for at least sixty years, illustrates.
Isolation represents, in many cases, an option made by the group.
It may be based upon its relationship with other groups, on the
history of the attraction fronts in the region where they live
and also on the existence of geographic conditions that make isolation
possible. The big news for the ‘isolated’ Indians, therefore,
refers to regular contact with others, especially with Funai.
Since 1987 Funai has a unit for the location and protection of
those Indians – the Departamento de Índios Isolados
(Department of Isolated Indians), coordinated by the sertanista
(Indian expert) Sidnei Possuelo. Today there are six such work
forces, called ‘fronts of ethno-environmental protection’:
Avá Canoeiro (State of Goiás), Envira River (State
of Acre), Guaporé (State of Rondônia), Madeirinha
River (States of Rondônia and Mato Grosso), Purus River
(State of Acre) and Javari River Valley (State of Amazonas).
Currently, four groups that have already been contacted are still
considered ‘isolated’ by Funai, which gives them special
assistance. They are the Kanoê and the Akuntsu, of the State
of Rondônia, first contacted five years ago; the Zo'é,
of the State of Pará, contacted eighteen years ago; and
a small group of Korubo, contacted four years ago for the first
time.
The case of the Zo'é
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It was in 1989 that Funai first made contact with the Zo'é,
a Tupi-Guarani group that lives on the Cuminapanema River
basin, in the State of Pará. Those Indians, however,
had had relations with Protestant missionaries since 1982;
in addition, there were indications of contacts for more
than 80 years with non-Indians.
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Today the Zo'é continue to be considered ‘isolated’
by Funai. Yet they have become a kind of showcase of what is left
of the cultural exoticism of the Brazilian Amazon Region, and
are frequently visited by foreign photographers and filmmakers.
At the same time, they are going through a learning process of
categories alien to their cultural universe, especially in consequence
of the experience of delimitation of their lands, which was carried
out between 1996 and 1998. Since then, the exchanges with segments
of Brazilian society such as doctors, anthropologists, Indian
experts, environmentalists etc. has become unavoidable.
Another recent experience of contact involved the Korubo, who
live in the Javari River Valley, in the State of Amazonas. This
Indian group became famous in the media in 1996, when the first
contact of part of its population by a Funai expedition, led by
a sertanista and followed by National Geographic reporters, was
transmitted live and online to the whole world.
Known as ‘hitting Indians’ because they do not use
bows, the Korubo have been fighting, for over thirty years, a
limited war against the population of the region, in spite of
mutual efforts for approximation. The group with which contact
was made, of 17 individuals, has separated from the original group,
who continue to hide.
A case of option for isolation exists in the Tanaru region,
in the Southern part of the State of Rondônia. This time it is
not a group, but a single man. It seems that his people has died
out, victim of the violence and greed of the cattle raisers that
came to settle the region in recent decades. Funai has been trying
to offer him assistance since 1996, but every time his camp was
identified he abandoned it. He has completely rejected contact,
even though he did accept some of the presents left by the sertanistas,
such as pots and machetes.
See below that there are 'isolated Indians' within Indigenous
Lands (TIs) that were recognized for them, as well as in other
TIs and also in lands still not identified.
Isolated in his own lands
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Land (TI)
|
State |
Situation |
| TI Alto Tarauacá |
Acre |
Identified and approved by Funai |
| TI Hi Merimã |
Amazonas |
Declared of Indian possession |
| TI Massaco |
Rondônia |
Homologued and registered |
| TI Igarapé Omerê |
Rondônia |
With restricted use |
| TI Rio Muqui |
Rondônia |
With restricted use |
| TI Rio Pardo |
Amazonas e Mato Grosso |
With restricted use |
| TI Xinane isolados |
Acre |
Interdited, to be identified |
Isolated in lands already recognized
| Lands (TIs) |
State |
Situation |
| TI Awá (Guajá contacted e isolated) |
Maranhão |
Declared sub-judice |
| TI Avá Canoeiro (Avá Canoeiro Guajá contacted e
isolated) |
Goiás |
Homologued |
| TI Arara do Rio Branco |
Mato Grosso |
Homologued e Registered |
| Indigenous Park Aripuanã (Cinta Larga indians and isolated) |
Rondônia |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Caru (uajarara e Guajá isolated) |
Maranhão |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Kampa e Isolated of rio Envira |
Acre |
Homologued |
| TI Kaxinawa do Rio Humaitá |
Acre |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Koatinemo (of Asurini indians) |
Pará |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Menkragnoti (of Menkragnoti indians and isolated Mengra
Mrari) |
Pará |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Mamoadate (of Machineri e Jaminawa indians) |
Acre |
Homologued e Registered |
| Ti Rio Tea (of Maku Nadeb indians e isolated Maku) |
Amazonas |
Homologued |
| Indigenous Park Tumucumaque (Akurio isolated) |
Pará e Amapá |
Homologued |
| TI Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau (two groups of isolated) |
Rondônia |
Homologued e Registered |
| Vale do Javari (many isolated groups: of Jandiatuba, of
Alto Jutaí, of São José, of Quixitos,
of Itaquaí e Mayá) |
Amazonas |
Homologued |
| Ti Waimiri Atroari (isolated Piriutiti outside and inside
of TI) |
Amazônia e Roraima |
Homologued e Registered |
| TI Xikrin do Cateté |
Pará |
Homologued e Registered |
Isolated Indians in Indigenous Lands still not recognized
| People |
Place |
| Arama/Inauini |
The Jamamadi of the Purus River and a Katukina family that
lives on the igarapé (small Amazon waterway) Kanamari reported
the presence of an isolated group in this region of the Inauini
River. In October, 1985, some of these Indians would have
been seen on the opposite margin of the igarapé, across from
the katukina family's house. Municipality of Pauini/State
of Amazonas. |
| Tapirapé River isolated Indians |
These Indians live on the headwaters of the Tapirapé River,
a tributary of the Itacaunas River, in the municipality of
Senador José Porfírio, in the State of Pará. |
| Liberdade River isolated Indians |
For several years the Metuktire have been saying that there
are 'wild' Kaiapó in the Liberdade River area, where they
have found evidences of their presence. It seems to be the
same group the Metuktire saw in the Von Martius Falls, a few
hours from the Liberdade River. Three Indians with long hair,
who aimed at the Metuktire with arrows similar to the Kaiapó's,
were seen on October 25, 1990. In the municipalities of Luciara
and Vila Rica and maybe in São Felix do Xingu, in the State
of Mato Grosso. |
| Guajá isolated Indians in the Gurupi Biological Reserve
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There are indications of the existence of an isolated group
of Guajá living inside the Gurupi Biological Reserve. |
| Jacareúba/Katawixi isolated Indians |
Located on the Jacareúba River, a tributary of the Purus,
municipality of Canutama, State of Amazonas. The Katawixi,
which once were a large group, were dispersed along the Purus
River and its tributaries; only a small village on the Mucuim
River, also a Purus tributary, in Lábrea, State of Amazonas,
is left. |
| Igarapés Muriru and Pacutinga isolated |
Indians Located between the Juruena and Aripuanã Rivers,
in the municipality of Aripuanã, State of Mato Grosso. The
Rikbaktsa Indians say that they have already had contact with
this group, which they call Yakara Waktá (forest inhabitants).
Some 20 to 30 Indians who move to the Aripuanã in the dry
season form the group. Based on the food they left, they could
be an Apiaká subgroup. In 1985, Jesuit Balduino Loebens flew
over their planting fields; the same missionary has reported
that an employee of a company established in the region, Cotriguaçu,
ran into those Indians. According to anthropologist Rinaldo
Arruda, the group has been spotted in the Rikbaktsa's Escondido
Indigenous Land. |
| Kayapó Putuiaro isolated Indians (Merure River) |
This Kaiapó group is named after the old chief who led
them separately when, in 1950, the Kuben Kran Ken were dispersed
by an attack by the Kokraimoro. This group goes about between
the Merure River region and the Kuben Kran Ken, in the municipality
of Altamira, in the State of Pará. In August, 1977, anthropologist
Gustav Verswijver, when flying to Santana do Araguaia, spotted
a Pituiaro village on the Merure River - a circle of 5 or
6 traditional Kaiapó huts built on a hill. |
| Kayapó Pu´ro isolated Indians |
This group was formed in 1940, when 25 Indians left the
Mekragnoti village with chief Tapiete and never came back.
Present-day Megranoti refer to this group as the Pu´ro. It
is said that they live on the Lower Curuá River. |
| Apiaká isolated Indians |
In 1984, anthropologist Eugenio Wenzel, who lived with
the Apiaká Indians for more than 15 years, reported news of
the existence of an Apiaká group which, after having had contact
with the regional society and been massacred during the rubber
boom at the turn of the 20th Century, ran away and remained
removed from the margins of large rivers. They live in the
region of the Ximari and Matrinxã rivers, between the Teles
Pires and the Juruena, in the municipality of Alta Floresta,
in the State of Mato Grosso. |
| Tupi isolated Indians of the Madeirinha River |
Called Piripicura by the Gavião of the Igarapé Lourdes
Indigenous Land, these Indians live in the area between the
Branco and Madeirinha rivers, tributaries of the Roosevelt
River, in the municipality of Aripuanã, in the State of Mato
Grosso. |
| Karipuninha isolated Indians |
Dwellers of the Karipuninha River region are afraid of
going up the river towards its headwaters because of the evidences
of the existence of 'wild' Indians found there. The Karipuninha
is a tributary of the Madeira River, approximately 100 kilometers
upriver from Porto Velho, and its headwaters are close to
the Rondônia and Amazonas state limit. |
| Isolated indians of Candeias River |
Information about the existence of this group led to the
organization of an expedition of a team of the Frente de Contato
Guaporé (Guaporé Contact Front) in mid-1998. The group explored
90 km of the river's right margin with no concrete results.
Although no evidences of Indian occupation were found, there
is still a large area that needs yet to be surveyed. |
| Tanaru isolated Indian |
Only one individual is left. His people has disappeared
as a result of the violent occupation of this part of Southern
Rondônia, in the area called Corumbiara. |
| Ipitinga River Waiãpi Isolated |
Waiãpi group, called "Ianeana" by the Waiãpi of the Amapari
River. Scattered news since 1973, when a Funai team spotted,
by plane, three huts and planting fields on the igarapé (small
Amazon waterway) Água Preta, a tributary of the Upper Ipitinga,
in the municipality of Almeirim, in the State of Pará. The
huts were spotted again in 1975 by the CPRM - Companhia de
Pesquisas de Recursos Minerais (Company of Research of Natural
Resources) - and in 1978 by Funai staff members. The Wayana-Aparai
of the Tumucumaque Park say that it was this group that attacked
the 'garimpo' (gold prospecting area) Pedro Lobo, on the Lower
Paru, in 1982. (Dominique Gallois in 1986) |
| Waiãpi of the Upper Amapari |
Anthropologist Dominique Gallois informed in 1990 that
since 1987 'garimpeiros' (gold prospectors) on the Perimetral
Norte Highway reported spotting in several occasions indications
of the presence of an isolated group in the region of the
rivers that form the Amapari River. According to the Amapari
Waiãpi do Amapari, they are the remnants of the Amapari Wan
group, which separated from the others more than 50 years
ago. Members of this group live in the Mariry and Camopi villages.
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