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The current Pirahã population is approximately
360 people. During both the 1920s and the 1970s, the
estimated number was 90. In 1985, the date of the first
census, FUNAI ("Fundação Nacional
do Índio - National Indian Foundation, governmental
agency) counted 141 people,
registering an equal distribution between the sexes
(cf. Levinho, 1986). In the dry season, this population
is spread out in small groups along the Maici and a
long stretch of the Marmelos river, concentrating their
activities on the harvesting of Brazil-nuts in the locations
where the product is exploitable.
Two large Pirahã populational groups
divide the territory. A group of approximately 120 individuals
inhabits the region formed by the Marmelos and the shores
of the Maici, as far as a place named Cuatá.
Another grouping, composed of 100 people, lives about
two days boat journey away from this place (Cuatá),
occupying at least four sites as far as the Transamazonian.
According to the Pirahã, until the 1960s,
these groups lived together at sites close to the Maicis
mouth. The alleged motives behind the separation of
the groups and the movement inland of a large number
of people to the region of the upper Maici, were conflicts
provoked by the theft of women, leading
to two murders. As a result, the crisis defined a new
configuration in the territorys occupation. |