The Banawá (also Banawa, Banavá, Jafí, Kitiya, Banauá) are an indigenous group living along the Banawá River in the

Amazonas State, Brazil Amazonas () is a state of Brazil, located in the North Region in the north-western corner of the country. It is the largest Brazilian state by area and the ninth-largest country subdivision in the world with an area of 1,570,745.7 square kilo ...

. Their territory is between the Juruá and

Purus River The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean annual discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto Purús National Park a ...

s. Approximately 158 Banawá people live in one major village and two smaller settlements containing a single extended family each. The Banawá, who call themselves Kitiya, speak Banawá, a dialect of the Madi language.

History

Their territory was invaded at the end of the 19th century, during the

rubber boom The Amazon rubber cycle or boom (, ; , ) was an important part of the socioeconomic history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related to the commercialization of rubber and the genocide of indigenous peoples. Cente ...

. In the 1990s, Brazil formally recognized their land rights.

Notes

Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Brazil Ethnic groups in Brazil {{Brazil-ethno-group-stub