Present-day country
Brazil
26 nations list Brazil among their present-day countries.
Present-day countries are listed by ISO 3166 names. Many nations live across more than one.
26 nations
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Ashaninka
Also known as Ashenĩka
Lands Upper Juruá region of Acre, Brazil, including the Amônia, Breu and Envira rivers, near the Peruvian border
Ashaninka of the Amônia river created their own association, Apiwtxa, in 1991; it was officially registered in 1993.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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A'uwe
Also known as Xavante
Lands Eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil, in Indigenous lands such as Pimentel Barbosa, Marãiwatsédé, São Marcos and Sangradouro
The Xavante numbered about 22,256 people in 2020.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Avá Guarani
Also known as Ñandeva
Lands Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná in Brazil, and eastern Paraguay
Guarani peoples, the Avá Guarani among them, live across a territory that spans regions of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Baniwa
Also known as Walimanai
Lands Içana river and the Upper Rio Negro in Amazonas, Brazil, and neighboring Colombia and Venezuela
The Baniwa speak languages of the Arawak family along the Içana river.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Guarani Kaiowá
Also known as Kaiowá
Lands Southern Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and neighboring eastern Paraguay, where the people are known as Paĩ Tavyterã
Guarani communities today call the places they live tekoha, a word that joins land, forest, fields, water, animals, plants and medicines.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Guarani Mbya
Also known as Mbyá
Lands Villages across southern and southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, Misiones province in Argentina, and near Montevideo in Uruguay
The Comissão Guarani Yvyrupa, founded in 2006, brings together Guarani collectives in six states of southern and southeastern Brazil.
Source: Comissão Guarani Yvyrupa (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Huni Kuin
Lands Rivers of Acre state in western Brazil, such as the Tarauacá, Jordão and Purus, and the Purus and Curanja rivers in Peru
MAHKU, the Huni Kuin Artists Movement founded in Acre in 2013, painted a large mural across the facade of the Central Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
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Ka'apor
Lands Northern Maranhão, Brazil, in the Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land
Ka'apor communities have had a shared, standard sign language for communicating with deaf members of the community.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Kaliña
Also known as Kari'na
Lands Coastal Suriname and French Guiana, with related communities in Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil
In Suriname the Kari'na (Kaliña) live in many villages with their own village heads, including Christiaankondre and Langamankondre at Galibi in Marowijne district.
Source: Vereniging van Inheemse Dorpshoofden in Suriname (VIDS) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Kuikuro
Lands Upper Xingu, in the Xingu Indigenous Territory, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Kuikuro is a southern Carib language.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Macuxi
Also known as Makuxi
Lands Fields and mountains of northern Roraima, Brazil, between the headwaters of the Branco and Rupununi rivers, extending into Guyana and Venezuela
The Conselho Indígena de Roraima, founded in 1990, unites ten peoples including the Macuxi and Wapichana, with 270 of the state's 465 communities as members.
Source: Conselho Indígena de Roraima (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Mẽbêngôkre
Also known as Kayapó
Lands Forests and savannas of southern Pará and northern Mato Grosso, Brazil, along rivers of the Xingu basin such as the Iriri, Bacajá and Fresco
The Associação Floresta Protegida, created in 1998 by Mẽbêngôkre leaders, represents about 3,000 people in 31 villages across three Indigenous lands.
Source: Associação Floresta Protegida (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Munduruku
Also known as Wuy jugu
Lands Tapajós river basin in Pará, with communities in Amazonas and Mato Grosso, Brazil
In September 2024 Brazil's Justice Minister signed the declaration of the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land, 178,173 hectares along the Tapajós river in Pará.
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Parikwene
Also known as Palikur
Lands The Urukauá River in the Uaçá basin of Amapá, Brazil, and Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock, Cayenne and the lower Oyapock in French Guiana
Parikwene families have villages in both Brazil and French Guiana and travel across the border often to visit kin and to trade.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Pataxó
Lands Villages in the far south of Bahia and the north of Minas Gerais, Brazil
A group of Pataxó researchers has been studying their language since 1998.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Pemón
Also known as Arekuna
Lands Savannas of southeastern Venezuela, the Kamarang River area of Guyana, and Roraima state in Brazil
In Venezuela's 2011 census, where people self-identified, the Pemón made up about 4.2 percent of the country's Indigenous population.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Venezuela (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Tarëno
Also known as Trio
Lands Southern Suriname along the Sipaliwini, Tapanahony and Paloemeu rivers, and the Tumucumaque Indigenous Park in Pará, Brazil
Suriname's association of Indigenous village leaders counts the Trio among the country's four large Indigenous peoples, living mainly in the south.
Source: Vereniging van Inheemse Dorpshoofden in Suriname (VIDS) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Terena
Lands Mato Grosso do Sul, with communities in Mato Grosso and São Paulo, Brazil
Farming remains the main productive activity in Terena reserves.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Tikuna
Also known as Magüta
Lands Along the upper Solimões (Amazon) river in Amazonas, Brazil, and in neighboring Peru and Colombia
The General Organization of Bilingual Tikuna Teachers (OGPTB), created in December 1986, develops bilingual Tikuna and Portuguese education and teacher training.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Tupinambá
Also known as Tupinambá de Olivença
Lands Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia around Olivença, in Ilhéus, Buerarema and Una, with Tupinambá communities also in Pará, Brazil
The Tupinambá of Olivença live in the Atlantic Forest region of southern Bahia.
Source: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Wai Wai
Also known as Waiwai
Lands Kanashen in the far south of Guyana, and Indigenous lands in Pará, Amazonas and Roraima states, Brazil
In 2007 the Wai Wai of Kanashen in southern Guyana made their titled forest a Community Owned Conservation Area; in 2017 it became a national protected area.
Source: Protected Areas Commission, Guyana (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Wajãpi
Also known as Wayãpi
Lands Wajãpi Indigenous Land in Amapá, Brazil, and the middle and upper Oyapock River in French Guiana
UNESCO lists the oral and graphic expressions of the Wajãpi, including the kusiwa graphic art, on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Source: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Wapichana
Also known as Wapichan
Lands Northeastern Roraima, Brazil, and the South Rupununi in southwestern Guyana
In 2012 Wapichan leaders in Guyana presented a community map and land plan titled Thinking Together for those Coming Behind Us.
Source: Forest Peoples Programme (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Wayana
Lands Upper Maroni River and its tributaries in French Guiana, the Tapanahony and Paloemeu rivers in Suriname, and the East Paru River in Pará, Brazil
France recognizes Wayana as one of six Amerindian languages of French Guiana with the status of a language of France.
Source: Ministère de la Culture, Direction des affaires culturelles de Guyane (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Yanomami
Also known as Ianomâmi
Lands Forests of Amazonas and Roraima states in northern Brazil, continuing across the border into southern Venezuela
About 31,000 people live in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil, in roughly 384 villages of the Yanomami and Ye'kwana peoples.
Source: Casa Civil da Presidência da República, Governo do Brasil (opens in a new tab) Checked
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Ye'kwana
Also known as Ye'kuana
Lands Amazonas and Bolívar states in southern Venezuela, and the Auaris and Uraricoera rivers of Roraima, Brazil
The name Ye'kwana, which the people use for themselves, entered Venezuela's census in 1982 and has almost fully replaced the outside name Makiritare.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Venezuela (opens in a new tab) Checked