Trumai people

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Trumai
Total population
(97 (2011)[1])
Regions with significant populations
 Brazil ( Mato Grosso)
Languages
Trumai[2]
Religion
traditional tribal religion

The Trumai (or Trumaí; native name: Ho kod ke[3]) are an indigenous people of Brazil. They currently reside within the Xingu National Park, in the state of Mato Grosso. They have a population of 97 in 2011.[1] They were 120 in 2006,[2] up from a low of 26 in 1966.

Background

The Trumai are one of the last groups to have settled on the upper Xingu River, moving there in the 19th century[1] from the region between the Xingu and Araguaia Rivers, as a result of attacks from another people.[4] They currently live in four villages in the National Park, Terra Preta, Boa Esperança, Steinen and Terra Nova, situated halfway from the Leonardo Villas-Bôas Post and the Diauarum Indigenous Post, where some families also live.

The Trumai are one of the ethnicities included in the standard cross-cultural sample.

Subsistence

The Trumai are farmers, growing primarily manioc, peppers, and beans.[2]

Language

The Trumai language is not closely related to other languages, and it is considered a language isolate.[2] It is severely endangered, as children are becoming native speakers of Awetï, Suyá, or Portuguese.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Trumai: Introduction." Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved 24 Feb 2012.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Trumai." Ethnologue. Retrieved 24 Feb 2012.
  3. "Trumai: Name."Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved 24 Feb 2012.
  4. Socioambiental history page

Further reading

  • Robert F. Murphy and Buell Quain. "The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil." American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Aug., 1956), p. 747
  • Anne Sutherland Louis. "Alliance or Descent: The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil." Man, New Series, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar., 1971), pp. 18–29

External links