The Terena people are an
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Their traditional language is
Terena
The Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA, ) was a not-for-profit association of European national research and education networks (NRENs) incorporated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The association was originally f ...
. They live in the states of
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighboring ...
,
Mato Grosso do Sul
Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...
, and
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
.
History and society
With the establishment of the
Serviço de Proteção aos Índios in 1910, the definite allocation of Indian lands shortly afterwards, and the location of a government Indian Post near
Taunay in 1916, the Terena people were placed under a
reservation-like system.
Buriti farm incident
On 15 May 2013, a group of hundreds of Terena re-occupied a parcel of land, now owned by a local politician and rancher, that they believe is part of their Indigenous ancestral territory. The Buriti farm is in the
Sidrolândia municipality. After two weeks of occupation, they were forcibly evicted on 30 May by local police. One of their members, 35-year-old Osiel Gabriel, was shot and killed by police during the eviction, and three others were injured. The Terena managed to regain control of the land on 1 June.
Covid-19 pandemic
In 2020 indigenous peoples of Brazil, among which are the Terena, were severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and by a lack of response by the Brazilian government.
References
Further reading
Terena
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon
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