The Zuruahã (also Suruahá, Indios do Coxodoá, and Suruwahá) are an

indigenous people of Brazil Indigenous peoples in Brazil ( pt, povos indígenas no Brasil) or Indigenous Brazilians ( pt, indígenas brasileiros, links=no) once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European con ...

, living along the

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 (hydrology), discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto P ...

in the state of

Amazonas Amazonas may refer to: Places * Amazon River, known as ''Amazonas'' in Spanish and Portuguese *Amazonas (Brazilian state), Brazil * Amazonas Department, Colombia * Department of Amazonas, Peru * Amazonas (Venezuelan state), Venezuela Other uses * ...

History

The Zuruahã are an amalgamation of other tribes fleeing disease and violence, especially from 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 ...

. Some of the original Zuruahã traded with the rubber tappers but the tribe contracted influenza, resulting in a high death rate, from 1922 to 1924. The survivors withdrew away from non-native settlements. They enjoyed relative isolation from non-natives until the 1970s when missionaries and latex extractors entered their traditional territory.

Daniel Everett Daniel Leonard Everett (born 26 July 1951) is an American linguist and author best known for his study of the Amazon basin's Pirahã people and their language. Everett is currently Trustee Professor of Cognitive Sciences at Bentley University ...

reports that after first contact with the outside world, some Zuruahá, including eight in a day, have begun to commit suicide by drinking

curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and Sout ...

. Pressures on their territories results in increased suicide by the Zuruahã. Sustained contact began in 1980. They are hunter-gatherers. In 1984, the Zuruahã Project was created to mitigate the adverse effects of outside contact on the Zuruahã people. In 2018 they were contacted to receive

dental prostheses A dental prosthesis is an intraoral (inside the mouth) prosthesis used to restore (reconstruct) intraoral defects such as missing teeth, missing parts of teeth, and missing soft or hard structures of the jaw and palate. Prosthodontics is the dental ...

, a key element for their survival.

Language

Zuruahã people speak the Zuruahã language, an

Arawá language Arawá ( Aruá) is an extinct language 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, ...

Notes

External links

"Hakani," information about a popular hoax film about the Zuruahã
Survival International Ethnic groups in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Hunter-gatherers of South America {{Brazil-ethno-group-stub