The Awá are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon rain forest. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are considered highly endangered because of conflicts with logging interests in their territory.
Indigenous peoples in Brazil or Indigenous Brazilians once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European contact around 1500. Christopher Columbus thought he had reached the East Indies, but Portuguese Vasco da Gama had already reached India via the Indian Ocean route, when Brazil was colonized by Portugal. Nevertheless, the word índios ("Indians") was by then established to designate the people of the New World and continues to be used in the Portuguese language to designate these people, while a person from India is called indiano in order to distinguish the two.
Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples.
The Tupi people were one of the most numerous peoples indigenous to Brazil, before colonisation. Scholars believe that while they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, from about 2,900 years ago the Tupi started to migrate southward and gradually occupied the Atlantic coast of Southeast Brazil.
Uncontacted peoples are communities or groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact to neighbouring communities and the world community, and includes "indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation". Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted tribes challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the non-profit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals. A majority of tribes live in South America, particularly Brazil, where the Brazilian government and National Geographic estimate between 77 and 84 tribes reside.
Kanoê or Kapishana is a nearly extinct language isolate of Rondônia, Brazil. The Kapishana people now speak Portuguese or other indigenous languages from intermarriage.
The Akuntsu are an indigenous people of Rondônia, Brazil. Their land is part of the Rio Omerê Indigenous Territory, a small indigenous territory which is also inhabited by a group of Kanoê. The Akuntsu were victims of a massacre perpetrated by Brazilian cattle ranchers in the 1980s and currently number just four individuals. It is unlikely that the Akuntsu language or culture will survive after their deaths, leading several observers to describe them as victims of genocide.
The Rio Omerê Indigenous Territory is an indigenous territory for isolated indigenous peoples in Rondônia, Brazil. The territory consists of 26,000 hectares of forest on the Omerê River and is home to the Kanoê and Akuntsu tribes. Both tribes were the victims of severe massacres by cattle ranchers in the 1970s and 1980s. As of 2011, the Akuntsu number just five individuals and the Rio Omerê Kanoê four. The two tribes are separate peoples speaking mutually unintelligible languages, but are linked by marriage. The reserve is also home to an unknown man who lives alone and is thought to be the last survivor of a different tribe. Several loggers and cattle ranchers also remain in the territory despite attempts to eject them and continue to pose a threat to its indigenous inhabitants.
Apiaká is a recently extinct Tupi language of the Apiacá people of the upper Rio Tapajos area of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It has been supplanted by Portuguese.
The Cinta Larga are a people indigenous to the western Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, numbering around 1,300. Their name means "broad belt" in Portuguese, referring to large bark sashes the tribe once wore. The tribe is famous for shadowing Theodore Roosevelt's Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition, making no contact.
Aikanã is an endangered language isolate spoken by about 200 Aikanã people in Rondônia, Brazil. It is morphologically complex and has SOV word order. Aikanã uses the Latin script. The people live with speakers of Koaia (Kwaza).
Mato Grosso Arára is an extinct unclassified language of Brazil. The ethnic population that spoke the language numbers about 150.
The Awetí language or Aweti language, is one of the Tupian languages of Central Brazil. Spoken by the indigenous people that live along the Upper Xingu River, the language is in danger of becoming extinct with a declining 150 living speakers. The Aweti people live in a multilingual area due to various indigenous people settling there from various regions. In search of refuge many people have relocated to the reserve as a result of European colonialism.
The Mawé language of Brazil, also known as Sateré, is one of the Tupian languages. It is spoken by 7,000 people, many of them monolingual.
Kuruáya is a nearly extinct Tupian language of the state of Pará, in the Amazon region of Brazil.
The genocide of indigenous peoples in Brazil began with the Portuguese colonization of the Americas, when Pedro Álvares Cabral made landfall in what is now the country of Brazil in 1500. This started the process that led to the depopulation of the indigenous peoples in Brazil, because of disease and violent treatment by European settlers, and their gradual replacement with colonists from Europe and Africa. This process has been described as a genocide, and continues into the modern era with the ongoing destruction of indigenous peoples of the Amazonian region.
The Man of the Hole is a man indigenous to Brazil who lives alone in the Amazon rainforest. He is believed to be the last surviving member of his tribe. It is unknown what language he speaks or what his tribe was called. The term "Man of the Hole" is a nickname used by officials and the media; his real name is unknown.
The Massacre at 11th Parallel occurred in 1963, when men hired by a rubber company killed 30 members of the indigenous Amazon group, Cinta Larga and destroyed their village. Only two villagers survived.
