Jê or Gê are the people who spoke

Jê languages The Jê languages (also spelled Gê, Jean, Ye, Gean), or Jê–Kaingang languages, are spoken by the Jê, a group of indigenous peoples in Brazil. Genetic relations The Jê family forms the core of the Macro-Jê family. Kaufman (1990) finds t ...

of the northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

n Caribbean coast and

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 ...

. In Brazil, the Jê were found in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

, Piaui,

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. Neighborin ...

, Goias,

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2 ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

, and as far south as

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. They include the Timbira, the

Kayapó The Kayapo (Portuguese: Caiapó ) people are the indigenous people in Brazil who inhabit a vast area spreading across the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, south of the Amazon River and along Xingu River and its tributaries. This pattern has given ...

, and the

Suyá The Suyá, self-denomination Kisêdjê, are indigenous people in Brazil, at the headwaters of the Xingu River. Historically, they were known for their lip plates, an unusual form of body modification which they practiced. After marriage, Suyá m ...

of the northwestern Jê; the

Xavante The Xavante (also Shavante, Chavante, Akuen, A'uwe, Akwe, Awen, or Akwen) are an indigenous people, comprising 15,315 individuals within the territory of eastern Mato Grosso state in Brazil. They speak the Xavante language, part of the Jê lan ...

, the

Xerente Xerente (alternate Sherenté, Xerentes, and Xerénte) are an indigenous people of Brazil living in Tocantins. The Xerente are a Central Jê people related to the Xavante. They maintained generally "peaceful" relations with outsiders from the nin ...

, and the Akroá of the central Jê; the Karajá; the Jeikó; the Kamakán; Maxakalí; the Guayaná; the Purí (Coroado); the Bororo (Boe); the Gavião, and others. The southern Jê include the

Kaingang The Kaingang (also spelled ''caingangue'' in Portuguese or ''kanhgág'' in the Kaingang language) people are an Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande ...

and the

Xokleng The Xokleng or Aweikoma (sometimes called '' botocudos'') are a Native American tribe of Brazil; their territory is located mainly in the state of Santa Catarina. They were one of the original inhabitants of Misiones Province in Argentina. Th ...

References

:''This article is based in part on material from the

Croatian Wikipedia The Croatian Wikipedia ( hr, Wikipedija na hrvatskome jeziku) is the Croatian version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, started on February 16, 2003. This version has articles and a total of edits have been made (live count). It has regis ...

''. Indigenous peoples of South America Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples of the Guianas {{Brazil-ethno-group-stub