The Gavião, also known as the Ikoro or Digút, are an

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

native to

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Their population was around 220 in the 1990s. Their language, Gavião of Jiparaná, is a

Tupian language The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani. Homeland and ''urheimat'' Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian urheimat to be somewhere between ...

in the Monde branch. Like the closely related Arara and Zoró, the Gavião traditionally lived on agriculture and hunting, but their traditional lifestyle was disrupted by rubber booms in Rondônia during the 20th century. They declined dramatically through epidemics and violence in the 1940s, and their population dropped below 100 people. In the 1966, the

New Tribes Mission Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission (NTM), is an international, theologically evangelical Christian mission organization based in Sanford, Florida, United States. Ethnos360 sends missionaries from local churches around the world ...

introduced medical care, and the population increased to over 200 in the 1980s. The Brazilian government established boundaries around their traditional land in 1977, although growth and development in Rondônia continues to threaten them.

References

{{authority control Ethnic groups in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Brazil Rondônia