The Araweté (also Arawate, Araueté or Bïde) are an

indigenous people of Brazil Indigenous peoples in Brazil ( pt, povos indígenas no Brasil) or Indigenous Brazilians ( pt, indígenas brasileiros, links=no) once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European con ...

. They are swidden horticulturalists native to the state of

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...

Territory

The Araweté live on the Igarapé Ipixuna, a tributary of the

Xingu River The Xingu River ( ; pt, Rio Xingu, ; Mẽbêngôkre: ''Byti'', ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water. ...

, near

Altamira Altamira may refer to: People *Altamira (surname) Places * Cave of Altamira, a cave in Cantabria, Spain famous for its paintings and carving *Altamira, Pará, a city in the Brazilian state of Pará * Altamira, Huila, a town and municipality in ...

. They have one large village, surrounded by liana forests. They live on the Araweté/Igarapé Ipixuna Indigenous Land.

History

The tribe could be the remnant of the Pacajá people, who fled into the rainforests to avoid missionaries. In 1950, the Araweté lived at the headwaters of the

Bacajá River The Bacajá River is a river of Pará state in north-central Brazil. It is a tributary of the Xingu River. The Bacajá River is a blackwater river. Its basin is in the Xingu–Tocantins–Araguaia moist forests ecoregion. See also *List of rivers ...

, but were pushed out by newly arrived Kayapó-Xikrin. They moved to the Xingu River and displaced the Asurini."Araweté."
''Countries and Their Cultures.'' (retrieved 5 Dec 2011) The Arawaté first encountered Westerners during the 1960s, when their area was penetrated by fur traders pursuing big cats. These white traders were not viewed as a threat by the Araweté, but rather as a source from which to procure iron tools. Accordingly, there are no written references to them produced prior to the 1970s. In 1976 and again in 1983 they were attacked by the Parakanã. Pressure from the Parakanã forced the Araweté to find more a secluded homeland. The

Trans-Amazonian Highway The Trans-Amazonian Highway (official designation BR-230, official name Rodovia Transamazônica), was introduced on September 27, 1972. It is 4,000 km long, making it the third longest highway in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon forest and ...

cut through the Xingu region in the early 1970s.

Fundação Nacional do Índio Fundação Nacional do Índio (, ''National Indian Foundation'') or FUNAI is a Brazilian governmental protection agency for Amerindian interests and their culture. Original founding as Indian Protection Service In 1910, the Indian Protectio ...

(

FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as S ...

) found the Araweté in 1976, suffering from introduced diseases and clashes with the Parakanã. The government agency relocated the tribe in a march through the thick jungle, resulting in 30 deaths. In 1978 they settled on their current homeland, where they cope with incursions by gold miners and timber companies. During the 1980s, the Arawaté lived in a single village located next to Ipixuna Indian Attraction Post on the middle

Ipixuna Ipixuna is a municipality located in the Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and self-collection) and ...

, an eastern tributary of the

in the state of

. In February 1983 their population numbered 136, while this had grown to 168 by February 1988.

Culture

Unlike their Eastern Amazonian neighbors, the Araweté's primary crop is not manioc but a rapidly maturing

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

. Ancestors are very important in their religion.

Language

Araweté people speak the

Araweté language Araweté is a Tupi–Guaraní language of the state of Amazonas, in the Amazon region of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Lati ...

, a Tupi-Guaraní language. It is similar to the Asuriní do Tocantins, Parakanã, and Tapirapé languages.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arawete People Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Hunter-gatherers of South America