The Banawá (also Banawa, Banavá, Jafí, Kitiya, Banauá) are an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

group living along the Banawá River in the

Amazonas State, Brazil Amazonas () is a state of Brazil, located in the North Region in the northwestern corner of the country. It is the largest Brazilian state by area and the 9th largest country subdivision in the world, and the largest in South America, being g ...

. 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 and ...

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 boom ( pt, Ciclo da borracha, ; es, Fiebre del caucho, , 1879 to 1912) was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related to the extraction and comm ...

. 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