At the beginning of the century, after the appropriation of the territory contested by Brazil, the Palikur faced abusive treatment at the hands of the Brazilian customs-officers, who reproached them for not speaking Portuguese and accused them of smuggling. This hostility with Brazil, resulting from the commercial relations established for centuries between the Palikur and the French, earned them the name of amis de françois, and functioned as a pole of attraction for part of the indigenous population, which went to settle on the other side of the border. Presently, the Palikur have villages in both Brazil and French Guiana and constantly transit across the border. The network of intra-ethnic relations is maintained by kinship ties, marital alliances and commercial exchange, despite the political, economical, and social differences between the two countries.