Ava-Canoeiro

The Avá-Canoeiro are an indigenous group of people who live in the Brazilian states of Goias, Minas Gerais, and Tocantins. Their native language belongs to the Tupi-Guarani linguistic family. According to Funasa, there were 16 people in the group in 2006.

Overview

After the 1970s part of the Avá-Canoeiro began to have contact with the surrounding society. Some groups are still isolated. The situation of this group of 16 people is critical because of the small number of individuals, and because of the harsh living conditions they are subjected to. Their ability to adapt has been their main strategy for survival, because since the beginning of the 19th Century, their lands have been overrrun by farmers and 'garimpeiros' (gold prospectors).

Name, language and location

These people are also called Cara-Preta (Black Face). From the 18th Century until 1960 they were called Canoeiro (Canoeman). In the 19th Century they were also referred to as Carijó. The current name Avá-Canoeiro appeared in the beginning of the 1970s, during contacts with the group that lives near the Araguaia river. The Avá-Canoeiro speak a language of the Tupi branch. The groups living near the Araguaia river speak different dialects from those who live near the Tocantins river. There are two groups of Avá-Canoeiro who live in permanent contact with the national society. In the state of Goiás they are located in the Avá-Canoeiro Indigenous Land, near the municipalities of Minaçu and Colinas do Sul. In the state of Tocantins they live in the Inãwebohona Indigenous Land. In addition to those groups of the Tocantins and Araguaia rivers, there are two other groups that remain uncontacted so far. One of them moves about the hilly region of the Upper Tocantins River, in Goiás, and the other probably lives in the Northern part of Bananal Island, inside the Araguaia Park Indigenous Land, in Tocantins.

Population

The group living near the Araguaia has 9 contacted members, while the group living near the Tocantins has 12 contacted members. The Funai estimates that the Upper Tocantins group has ten people and the Araguaia fifteen. In general, the Avá-Canoeiro population has probably never exceeded 300 people, and was mostly reduced between 1960 and 1970, when many white brazilians started occupying the inner lands of Goiás and Tocantins. Historically, the Avá-Canoeiro bands have managed to survive in isolation even with smaller population contingents. But the younger members generally resent the isolation of the region where they live now.

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