Kamaiura

Kamaiurá, or Kamayurá, are an indigenous group of people who live in Brazil, state of Mato Grosso. According to Funasa, there were 492 people in the group as of 2006. They speak a language belonging to the Tupi-Guarani family.

The Kamaiurá live near the Upper Xingu river, a region populated by indigenous people which are culturally distinct from neighboring tribes.

The village of the Kamaiurá is about ten km north of Leonardo Villas-Bôas Post. Their legal territory is the village, some neighboring forest, Lake Ipavu and the streams flowing into into it. In 1887 Von den Stein visited the land of these people and counted 264 members. In 1954 they were reduced to 94 members after an epidemic of measles. During the 1970s there were 131 people in the group.

The village is composed of a group of houses, occupied by a domestic group. The leader of the domestic group is the "owner of the house" (called "morerekwat") who coordinates activities and daily tasks, carried out through participation of all the nuclear families.

External links

• Kamaiura on socioambiental.org