The Indigenous peoples in Brazil are the peoples who lived in Brazil before European contact around 1500 and their descendants. Indigenous peoples once comprised an estimated 2,000 district tribes and nations inhabiting what is now Brazil. The 2010 Brazil census recorded 305 ethnic groups of Indigenous people who spoke 274 Indigenous languages; however, almost 77% speak Portuguese.
Historically, many Indigenous peoples of Brazil were semi-nomadic and combined hunting, fishing, and gathering with migratory agriculture. Many tribes faced extinction as a result of European settlement, and many others were assimilated into the general Brazilian population.
The Indigenous population was decimated by European diseases, declining from a pre-Columbian high of 2 million to 3 million to approximately 300,000 by 1997, distributed among 200 tribes. According to the 2022 IBGE census, 1,693,535 Brazilians classified themselves as Indigenous, and the census recorded 274 Indigenous languages spoken by 304 different Indigenous ethnic groups.
On 18 January 2007, Fundação Nacional do Índio reported 67 remaining uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 known in 2005. With this increase, Brazil surpassed New Guinea, becoming the country with the largest number of uncontacted peoples in the world.
Education
Main article: Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous History and Culture Law
The Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous History and Culture Law (Law No. 11.645/2008) mandates the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous History and Culture in Brazil. The law was enacted on 10 March 2008, amending Law No. 9.394 of 20 December 1996, as modified by Law No. 10.639 of 9 January 2003. It requires that the official curriculum of the Brazilian education system include the mandatory theme of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous History and Culture.
Major ethnic groups
For a complete list, see List of Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
Amanayé
Atikum
Awá-Guajá
Baniwa
Botocudo
Bará
Enawene Nawe
Guaraní
Kadiwéu
Kaingang
Kamayurá (Kamaiurá)
Karajá
Kayapo
Kubeo
Kaxinawá
Kokama
Korubo
Kulina Madihá
Mbya
Makuxi
Matsés
Mayoruna
Munduruku
Mura people
Nambikwara
Ofayé
Pai Tavytera
Panará
Pankararu
Pataxó
Pirahã
Paiter
Potiguara
Sateré Mawé
Suruí do Pará
Tapirape
Terena
Ticuna
Tremembé
Tupi
Waorani
Wapixana
Wauja
Witoto
Xakriabá
Xavante
Xokleng
Xukuru
Yanomami
See also
Amazon Watch
Amerindians
Archaeology of the Americas
Agriculture in Brazil
Bandeirantes
Belo Monte Dam
Bering Land Bridge
Camarão indians’ letters
Darcy Ribeiro
Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil
Ecotourism in the Amazon rainforest
Chief Raoni
COIAB
Ceibo Alliance
Brazilians
Fundação Nacional do Índio
Indigenous Peoples Day
Índia pega no laço
Indigenous peoples of South America
Man of the Hole
Museu do Índio
Uncontacted peoples
Percy Fawcett
Sydney Possuelo
Villas Boas brothers
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