Vale do Javari (English language: Javari Valley) is one of the largest indigenous territories in Brazil, encompassing 85,444.82 km 2 (32,990 mi 2) – an area larger than Austria. It is named after the Javari River, the most important river of the region, which since 1851 forms the border with Peru. It includes much of the Atalaia do Norte municipality as well as adjacent territories in the western section of Amazonas state. Besides the Javari it is transected by the Pardo, Quixito, Itaquai and Ituí rivers.
Terra Indígena do Vale do Javari | |
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Indigenous Territory | |
Nickname: Vale do Javari | |
![]() ![]() Terra Indígena do Vale do Javari Location in Brazil
= Vale do Javari | |
Coordinates: 5°21′32″S 70°59′10″W | |
Country | Brazil |
State | ![]() |
Area | |
• Total | 32,990.43 sq mi (85,444.82 km2) |
Vale do Javari is home to 3,000 indigenous peoples of Brazil with varying degrees of contact, including the Matis, the Matses, the Kulina, and others.[citation needed] The uncontacted indigenous peoples are estimated to be more than 2,000 individuals belonging to at least 14 tribes including the Isolados do Rio Quixito, Isolados do Itaquai (Korubo), Isolados do Jandiatuba, Isolados do Alto Jutai, Isolados do Sao Jose, Isolados do Rio Branco, Isolados do Medio Javari and Isolados do Jaquirana-Amburus.[1] These are believed to be living deep inside its reservation areas. The uncontacted tribes live in some 19 known villages identified by air. According to Fabricio Amorim from Fundação Nacional do Índio, the region contains "the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the Amazon and the world".[1]
The Brazilian government has made it illegal[when?] for non-indigenous people to enter the territory; the area (along with its inhabitants) is observed by the government from the air.[citation needed]
The region is known for being a trafficking route for cocaine.[2] Illegal activities, like fishing (mostly to export pirarucu and piracatinga),[3] logging and mining, help criminal groups linked to drug trafficking to launder money and import more drugs to Brazil.[4][5][6]
In October 2009, a plane with eleven people aboard emergency-landed in the middle of the reservation. People from the Matis tribe found the wreckage and alerted local authorities, who dispatched a rescue mission that flew nine survivors out of the reservation.[7]
Vale do Javari is the setting of the 2011 report The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes by National Geographic writer Scott Wallace. It details a 76-day expedition in 2002 led by Sydney Possuelo to find the status of the "Arrow People", an uncontacted tribe.
In June 2022, British freelance journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on indigenous peoples of Amazonas, were murdered for helping to protect indigenous people from illegal drug traffickers, miners, loggers, and hunters.[8]
The work of the vigilance team quickly drew attention from local fishermen who sell tons of threatened river fish across the nearby border with Peru. Illegal fishing, mining and poaching in the area is often financed by criminal groups laundering money from a growing cross-border drug trade, according to state and federal police.
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