The
Indigenous peoples in Brazil () comprise a large number of distinct
ethnic groups, who have inhabited the country prior to the
European. The word
índios ("Indians"), was by then established to designate the people of the Americas and is still used today in the
Portuguese language to designate these peoples, while the people of Asiatic India are called
indianos. At the time of first European contact, some of the
Indigenous peoples were traditionally semi-
nomadic tribes who subsisted on
hunting,
fishing,
gathering,
agriculture, and
arboriculture. Many of the estimated 2,000 nations and tribes which existed in the 16th century died out as a consequence of the European settlement. Most of the Indigenous population died due to European diseases and warfare, declining from an estimated pre-Columbian high of millions to some 300,000 in 1997, grouped into some 200 tribes. A few tribes were assimilated into the Brazilian population. In 2007,
FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in
Brazil, an increase from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now surpassed
New Guinea as the country having the largest number of
uncontacted peoples. Seven
Terras Indígenas (TI) (Reservations) are exclusively reserved for isolated people: • TI Alto Tarauacá in
Acre – Various tribes. (Isolados do Alto Tarauacá) • TI
Hi-Merimã in
Amazonas – Himerimã. (Isolados do médio Purus) • TI Massaco in
Rondônia – Sirionó (Isolados do rio São Simão) • TI
Igarapé Omerê in Rondônia –
Kanoe do Omerê &
Akuntsu • TI Rio Muqui in
Rondônia – Isolados das cabeceiras do rio Muqui (Given as Miqueleno-Kujubim in the table). • TI Rio Pardo in Mato Grosso and Amazonas –
Isolados do Rio Pardo (Tupi–Guarani–Kawahibi). •
TI Xinane isolados in Acre – Unidentified. ==Table of Indigenous peoples of Brazil==