Karajá people

Karajá

Karajá feather headdress from Mato Grosso, Muséum d'Histoire naturelle de La Rochelle
Total population
2,500-3,000
Regions with significant populations
Brazil
Languages
Karajá language
Religion
traditional tribal religion

The Karajá, also known as Iny, are a tribe indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon.

Karajá people live in a 180-mile-long area in central Brazil, in the Goiás, Mato Grosso, Pará, and provinces. They currently reside in 29 villages in the Araguaia River valley, near lakes and tributaries to the Araguaia and Javaés Rivers, and the Ilha do Bananal.

Earlier in the 20th century, there were 45,000 Karajá. In 1999, there were 2500–3000 Karajá. Today, they number around 3200-3700 people, all living in 20 different villages (Instituto Socioambiental, 2016; Museu do Índio 2016).

In 1673 the tribe first encountered European explorers. The Karajá first encountered the Europeans through two interactions, one with Jesuit missionaries as early as 1658 (Ribeiro, 2012; Museu do Índio, 2016) and the second with groups of bandeirantes throughout the 1600s (Ribeiro 2012). These bandeirantes were explorers, mainly from São Paulo, who went in search for gold and slaves. In their exploration of the interior of Brazil they came across the Karajá and used violence in order to confront and control them (Ribeiro, 2012; Museu do Índio, 2016). In 1811, the Empire of Brazil, based in Rio de Janeiro, waged war against the Karajá and neighboring tribes. The Karajá and Xavante retaliated by destroying the presidio of Santa Maria do Araguia in 1812. More recently, the Karajá have been subject to renewed interest in areas west of the Araguaia River (Ribeiro, 2012), known as the ‘March to the West’. During this period, the area attracted the likes of anthropologists, governors, and presidents of the republic (Ribeiro 2012; Instituto Socioambiental, 2016). During the mid-20th century, the tribe was overseen by Brazil's federal Indian bureau, the Serviço de Proteção aos Índios or SPI.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Karajá community leader, Idjarruri Karaja, campaigned for better education, land rights, and employment opportunities for the tribe. Karaja also brought electricity and telecommunications to the tribe in 1997.

These contacts with outsiders has resulted in cultural exchange to the extent that many Iny have now integrated themselves into Brazilian society, dominating the Portuguese language and working in official government roles (Museu do Índio, 2016). The Karajá language is one aspect of Iny culture where this exchange is visible. The Iny to this day have loan words that are taken from Língua Geral (Ribeiro, 2012). This was a hybrid language between European Portuguese and native languages that facilitated communication between these two groups. In addition, the Iny have a set of loan words from other indigenous communities due to repeated contact with groups such as the Tapirapé and the Kaiapó (Ribeiro, 2012).