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A´uwe (Xavánte/Shavante)

Today there are some 13,000 A´uwe (exonym: Xavánte) living in the nine Indigenous areas which are part of the territory they traditionally occupied for at least 180 years, in the region which comprises The Roncador mountain range and the valleys of the das Mortes, Kuluene, Couto de Magalhães, Batovi and Garças rivers, in the eastern Mato Grosso. A’Uwe means “the people”. However, they were called a variation on the name Xavante by colonial settlers beginning with the colonial period to differentiate them from other nearby groups and the name still persists today.

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Anunsu (Nambikuára)

The Anunsu (exonym: Nambikuára) is an Indigenous people of Brazil, living in the Amazon. Currently about 1,200 live in Indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso along the Guaporé and Juruena rivers. The Anunsu language family can be divided into three major groups: Sabanê, Northern Nambikwara (Mamaindê), and Southern Nambikwara (or just Nambikwara). Sabanê is spoken by the Nambikwara inhabiting the northern part of their demarcated territory, north of the Iquê river.

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Aónikenk (Tehuelche)

The Aónikenk people are an Indigenous people from Patagonia in South America, with existing members of the group currently residing in the southern Argentina-Chile borders. Tehuelche was the name given by the Mapuche to the people inhabiting the Pampa on the northern coast of the Strait of Magellan. European sailors called them “Patagones” (“bigfoot”), giving the territory its name and endowing the land with the aura of a mythical land inhabited by giants.

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Arahuaco (Ica/Ika)

The Arahuaco (Ika) are an Indigenous people of Colombia. They are Chibchan-speaking people and descendants of the Tairona culture. The Arahuacos live in the upper valleys of the Piedras River, San Sebastian River, Chichicua River, Ariguani River, and Guatapuri River, in an Indigenous territory in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains.

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Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha)

The Asháninka are Indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre, Brazil. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and part of Ucayali in Peru. By outside groups, they are known as Campa. However, that term is considered derogatory. The Maipurean language family they speak includes what have been called Asháninka, Ashéninka, Axaninca, Machiguenga, and Nomatsiguenga.

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Awaeté (Parakanã)

The Awaeté (Parakanã) are traditional inhabitants of the interfluvial region of the Pacajá-Tocantins. They speak a Tupi-Guarani language from the same subset as Tapirapé, Avá (Canoeiro), Asurini and Tocantins-Surui, Guajajara and Tembé. Lacking canoes and being excellent hunters of large mammals, they are typical of Indigenous peoples of South America who live in the terra firme. ‘Parakanã’ is not an auto-denomination. The Parakanã call themselves Awaeté, ‘true people (humans)’, in opposition to akwawa, a generic category for foreigners.

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Aymara

The Aymara people are an Indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2.3 million live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The Aymara language (along with Quechua) are now official languages in Bolivia and there has been a rise of programs to assist the Aymara and their native lands.

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Ayoreo

The Ayoreo are an Indigenous people of the Gran Chaco. They live in an area surrounded by the Paraguay, Pilcomayo, Parapetí, and Grande Rivers, spanning both Bolivia and Paraguay. There are approximately 5,600 Ayoreo people in total. Traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers, the majority of the population was sedentarized by missionaries in the twentieth century. The few remaining uncontacted Ayoreo are threatened by deforestation and loss of territory. The name Morotoco was applied to them by rival culture groups and are thus considered offensive and racist. Ayoreo speak a Zamucoan language.

 

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Enawenê-nawê

The Enawenê-nawê are an Indigenous people of Brazil in the Mato Grosso state. Enawene Nawe (Enawené-Nawé, Enawenê-Nawê, Eneuene-Mare), also known as Salumã, is an Arawakan language of Brazil spoken by about 570 people living in the Juruena River basin area, and more specifically along the Iquê river in the state of Mato Grosso.The Enawene Nawe are a relatively isolated people who were first contacted in 1974 by Vicente Cañas.

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Guarani Kaiowá

The Guarani-Kaiowá are an Indigenous people, who live in the Mato Grosso do Sul region of Brazil, where have long fought for their rights to territory. The Guarani-Kaiowá are also known as the Kaiwá, Caingua, Caiua, Caiwa, Cayua, Kaiova, and Kayova. In their own language this means “the people.” They speak the Kaiwá language which is a subgroup of Tupi-Guarani.

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Huni Kuin (Kaxinawa)

The Huni Kuin (Kaxinawa) are an Indigenous people of Brazil and Peru. Their villages are located along the Purus and Curanja Rivers in Peru and the Tarauacá, Jordão, Breu, Muru, Envira, Humaitã, and Purus Rivers in Brazil. In the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, some Huni Kuin live on the Alto Purús Indigenous Territory with the Kulina people. The name Huni Kuin means “true people” or “people with traditions”. The alternative name Kaxinawa means “cannibals”, “bat people” and “people who walk about at night”. It is still widespread in literature, yet the Huni Kuin reject the name as an insult. The Huni Kuin speak a Panoan language.

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Ikpeng (Xicao)

The Ikpeng Indigenous community that now lives in the Xingu Indigenous Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil were known to inhabit the same land as the Txipaya peoples, near the Iriri River, and they had a strong alliance with that group in times of war. They had a population of 459 in 2010, up from a low of 50 in 1969. The name of their language is also Ikpeng. Ikpeng is the self-denomination of the group, but they became known through the name given to them by a hostile group with whom they came in contact: Xicao (or variations of).

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Kaingáng (Caingang)

The Kaingáng people are an Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and the southeastern state of São Paulo. They are also called Caingang. The Kaingáng language is classified as a member of the Jê family, the largest language family in the Macro-Jê stock.

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Kawésqar (Alacaluf)

The Kawésqars are an Indigenous people who live in Chilean Patagonia, specifically in the Brunswick Peninsula, and Wellington, Santa Inés, and Desolación islands northwest of the Strait of Magellan and south of the Gulf of Penas. Their traditional language is known as Kawésqar; it is endangered as few native speakers survive. The name Kawésqar means ‘men of skin and bone’, and is the name used to refer to a subgroup of the Alacalufe people.

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Kinja (Waimiri-Atroari)

The Waimiri-Atroari or Uaimiris-Atroari are an Indigenous group inhabiting the southeastern part of the Brazilian state of Roraima and northeastern Amazonas, specifically the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Territory. They call themselves Kinja people. They speak the language kinja iara, “people’s language.”

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Krenak (Aimoré/Borum)

The Krenak language, or Botocudo, is the sole surviving language of a small family believed to be part of the Macro-Gê languages. It was once spoken by the Botocudo people in Minas Gerais, but is known primarily by older women today. The Krenak or Borun are the last of the Botocudo do Leste (Eastern Botocudo), name given by the Portuguese in the end of the 18th Century to the groups that wore plugs in the ears and lips. They are also known as Aimoré, the name given to them by the Tupi, and as Grén or Krén, their self-denomination.

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Kuikúro (Lahatuá ótomo)

The Kuikúro are an Indigenous people from the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. Their language, Kuikuro, is a part of the Cariban language family. The Kuikuro have many similarities with other Xingu tribes. They have a population of 592 in 2010, up from 450 in 2002. The Kuikúro are likely the descendants of the people who built the settlements known to archaeologists as Kuhikugu, located at the headwaters of the Xingu River.

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Macuxi (Pemon)

The Macuxi (Pemon or Pemón) are Indigenous people living in areas of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. They are also known as Arecuna, Aricuna Jaricuna, Kamarakoto, and Taurepang. Macuxi people speak the Macuxi language, a Macushi-Kapon language, which is part of the Carib language family. Macushi were hesitant to teach their language to outsiders, thus the language was threatened in the 1950s, as it was considered “slang” compared to the official Portuguese.

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Maguta (Ticuna/Tucuna)

The Maguta (Ticuna or Tucuna) are an Indigenous people of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. They are the most numerous tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. They speak the Ticuna language, which is usually identified as a language isolate, although it might possibly be related to the extinct Yuri language thus forming the hypothetical Ticuna–Yuri grouping.

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Matetamãe (Cinta Larga)

Referring to themselves as the Matetamãe, they are known to outsiders by the name Cinta Larga which means “Broad Belt” in Spanish. The name Cinta Larga has been used to refer to several groups who inhabit the region near the border between Rondônia and Mato Grosso, since all of these groups used some kind of belt and built large and long houses. The main activity of this Tupi group is hunting, and festivals, when the game is consumed after a complex ritual, which symbolically equates hunting and warfare, thus revealing significant aspects of Cinta Larga society and guaranteeing the equilibrium of the group.

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Mbya-Guarani

The Mbyá, also called Mbyá Guaraní (in Mbyá: mby’as), are a branch of the Guaraní people who live in South America, across a wide territory that ranges through Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Most are trilingual (Guaraní, Myba and Spanish). Although they are now known by the name “Mbyá,” they refer to themselves as the “Nhandeva,” a word that means “us” or “our people,” which is also the name used internally by various other Guaraní peoples

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Mebêngôkre (Kayapó/Cayapo)

The Mebêngôkre (Kayapó/Cayapo) 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. The term Kayapó (sometimes written ‘Kaiapó’ or ‘Caiapó’) was first used at the start of the 19th century. The people do not call themselves by this term, a name coined by neighbouring groups and meaning “those who look like monkeys”, which probably derives from a ritual lasting many weeks during which Kayapó men, adorned with monkey masks, execute short dances.

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Panará

The Panará are an Indigenous people of Mato Grosso in the Brazilian Amazon. They were formerly called the Kreen-Akrore. Other names for the Panará include Kreen Akarore, Kren Akarore, Krenhakarore, Krenhakore, Krenakore, Krenakarore or Krenacarore, and “Índios Gigantes” (“Giant Indians”) – all variants of the Mẽbêngôkre name Krã jàkàràre, meaning “roundlike cuthead”, a reference to their traditional hair style which identifies them. The Panará speak the Panará language, which is classified as a Goyaz Jê language, belonging to the Jê language family (Macro-Jê).

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Parakatêjê (Gaioes/Gavião)

The Parakatêjê (Gaioes/Gavião) are an Indigenous people of Brazil, part of the Jê peoples. They are divided into two groups: the Parkatêjê living on the Tocantins River in the state of Pará, and the Pykobjê people of the state of Maranhão. They traditionally spoke dialects of the Timbira language.

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Quechua

The Quechua are an Indigenous people whose name refers to the language they speak— Quechua. The first Quechua communities to emerge were located in what is now Antofagasta Region in Northern Chile, specifically in Ollagüe and along the San Pedro River (a tributary of the Upper Loa River).  Quechua speakers call themselves Runa — simply translated, ‘the people.’

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Runa (Otavaleño/Otavalo)

The Runa (Otavaleño/Otavalo) are an Indigenous people native to the Andean mountains of Imbabura Province in northern Ecuador. Their language is Quechua. The name Runa means “the people.”

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Selk'nam (Ona)

The Selk’nam inhabited the Isla Grande (large island) of Tierra del Fuego, which was divided into the Párik, the windy plains region north of the Rio Grande, and Hérsk, the mountainous region of forests and lakes south of the river. Chile’s Selk’nam people were also known as the Ona, a Yamana word meaning “northward” or “northern.” The Selk’nam spoke a Chon language. The last native speaker died in 1974 and today they are completely extinct.

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Tariana

The Tariana are an Indigenous people of the Vaupés or Uaupés River in the Amazon region of Brazil and Colombia. The Tariana language belongs to the Arawakan linguistic family.

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Tikmu´un (Maxakali)

Tikmu´un (Maxakali) are an Indigenous people speaking the languages of the Maxakali branch of the Macro-Ge language family. The tribes—Maxakali, Macuní, Kumanaxo, Kapoxo, Pañame, and Monoxo—live in the mountains near the border between the Brazilian estados (“states”) of Minas Gerais and Bahia, near the headwaters of the Itanhém River.

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Wajãpi (Wayampi)

The Wajãpi (Wayampi) are an Indigenous people located in the south-eastern border area of French Guiana at the confluence of Camopi and Oyapock rivers, and the basins of the Amapari and Carapanatuba Rivers in the central part of the states of Amapá and Pará in Brazil. The Wayampi people speak the Wayampi language and has three dialects: Amapari Wayampi, Jari, and Oiyapoque Wayampi.

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Walimanai (Baniwa)

The Walimanai (Baniwa) live on the borders of Brazil with Colombia and Venezuela, in villages located on the banks of the Içana River and its tributaries the Cuiari, Aiari and Cubate, as well as in communities on the Upper Rio Negro/Guainía and in the urban centers of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Isabel and Barcelos (AM). Karu, one of several languages called Baniwa (Baniva), or in older sources Itayaine (Iyaine), is an Arawakan language spoken in Colombia, Venezuela, and Amazonas, Brazil. It forms a subgroup with the Tariana, Piapoco, Resígaro and Guarequena languages.

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Wayúu (Guajira/Goajiro)

The Wayúu are a traditional, historical, Indigenous community who are known as the people of the sun, sand and wind. They live in the La Guajira peninsula, a desert area in the northeast of Colombia. The Wayuu language, called wayuunaiki, is part of the Arawak language family predominant in different parts of the Caribbean. There are small differences in dialect within the region of La Guajira: the northern, central or southern zones.

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Yaghan (Yámana)

The Yaghan inhabited the archipelagos at the southern tip of South America, from the Brecknock Peninsula to Cape Horn. They were found on the southern coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, as well as on the shores of the Beagle Channel and the islands of Hoste, Navarino, Picton and Wollaston.The names ‘Yaghan’ and ‘Yámana’ are based on words from the tribe’s language: yámana means ‘man’ (as opposed to kipa, meaning woman), and yagán or yaghan means ´us´. By 1973 the Yaghan language was the only significant indigenous trait still surviving, and it was dwindling towards extinction

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Yanomami (Yanomamö)

The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 Indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil.The ethnonym Yanomami was produced by anthropologists on the basis of the word yanõmami, which, in the expression yanõmami thëpë, signifies “human beings.” This expression is opposed to the categories yaro (game animals) and yai (invisible or nameless beings), but also napë (enemy, stranger, non-Indigenous). Yanomaman languages comprise four main varieties: Ninam, Sanumá, Waiká, and Yanomamö. Many local variations and dialects also exist, such that people from different villages cannot always understand each other. Many linguists consider the Yanomaman family to be a language isolate, unrelated to other South American indigenous languages.

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Ye'kuana (Makiritare/Mayagone)

The Ye’kuana (also commonly referred to as Makiritare or Mayagone) are a Cariban-speaking population who inhabit part of the tropical forest zone of southern Venezuela and a small section of northern Brazil. When the Ye’kuana wish to refer to themselves, they use the word So’to, which can be translated as “people”, “person”. Ye’kuana, in turn, can be translated as “canoe people”, “people of the canoes” or even “people of the branch in the river”.

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