Xingu peoples

As Xingu living in the upper reaches of the River Xingu in Brazil's Mato Grosso Indians are referred to. Xingu is a generic term for several groups who speak four different languages.

In the centuries since the invasion of the Europeans they had fled from different parts of the country on the run from settlers in the region at the headwaters of the Rio Xingu. End of the 19th century there were about 3,000 Aboriginal Alto Xingu on whose rapids protected them from European invaders. Until the mid-20th century the number had been decimated by various entrained epidemics such as influenza, measles, and malaria to less than 1,000.

Two Brazilians, Orlando Villas Boas and his brother, operated here from 1946 to 1973 an administrative and commercial expenses and contributed largely to that was established in 1961 at the Alto Xingu of the Parque Indígena do Xingu to the remaining ethnic minorities a shelter to offer. This has helped that the number of living here in 32 settlements Xingu rose to today again about 3,000 inhabitants, half of them younger than 15 years.

The people living in this region Xingu have very similar customs and social systems, despite different languages. It consists in particular of the following indigenous groups: the Awetí, Kalapalo, Kamayurá, Kuikuro, Matipu, Mehinako, Nahukuá, Trumai, Waurá and Yawalapiti.