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The Araweté live in the Southern region
of the state of Pará, in a single village, on the
banks of Igarapé Ipixuna, a right bank tributary
to the middle Xingu river. The Ipixuna is a black water,
rapid-packed river flowing over a rock bed bound Southeast
/ Northwest. The prevailing vegetation in the Ipixuna
basin is the open forest with palms, where trees rarely
exceed 75 feet. Around the village there are extensive
areas of "liana forests", where lianas and thorny
plants make progress difficult. The ground is rife with
granitic outcroppings covered by cacti, bromeliads and
century plants.
The Araweté claim to
live "on the edge of the earth:" their tradition
tells of successive movements from some Eastern spot
(the center of the earth), always fleeing from more
powerful enemies.
All that could be ascertained is that they have
lived for many years, perhaps centuries, in the forest
region between the mid Xingu and Tocantins rivers.
The Araweté live in the Araweté/Igarapé
Ipixuna Indigenous Land, in the state of Pará.
Population. The Araweté were 278 individuals
in 2000, more than twice as many as surveyed by The
Brazilian Federal Agency for Indian Affairs (FUNAI)'s
first census (120 individuals) made in March 1977, when
36% of the population contacted a year earlier died
of attacks from the Parakanã and, mainly, of
diseases caught during contact with whites.
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