Cinta Larga - History and Cultural Relations



Until 1969 the Cinta Larga lived isolated in the forest, engaging in occasional hostilities with prospectors, rubber tappers, and others who invaded their territory. During this time, the Brazilian National Indian Foundation (Fundação Nacional do Índio, FUNAI), a governmental agency responsible for Indian policy, conducted several expeditions to attract the Indians, who, as of 1973, began to have regular contact with government agents and sporadic contact with the local population. Prior to contact with non-Indian elements, the Cinta Larga lived in a state of war with their neighbors to the east, the Rikbaktsa, and to the south, the Nambicuara. Since 1973 Cinta Larga territory has been invaded by prospectors, settlement projects, roads, hydroelectric plants, and lumber mills. Yet in the late 1980s there were still reports of Cinta Larga who lived in isolation.


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