Tapajó people explained

The Tapajós, also called the Santarém culture, were Indigenous Brazilian people, now extinct, who in the 17th century lived in the area around where the Tapajós flowed into the Amazon River, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.[1]

Tapajó
Also Known As:Tapajocos
Region:Tapajós and Amazon Rivers
Era:attested 17th century
Familycolor:American
Family:unclassified
Iso3:none
Glotto:tapa1261
Glottorefname:Tapajó

In the 1660s, the Tapajó language, along with the language of the neighboring Urucucú, was used for catechism, as the people did not speak Tupinamba (Lingua geral). Records of the language have been lost. All that remain are three names: Tapajó as the name of the tribe, the name of their chief, Orucurá, and Aura, which was identified with the Christian devil. These names cannot be explained as Tupi [2] and nothing appears to have been preserved of the neighboring Urucucú language.[3]

The Tapajós river is named after the Tapajó people.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jackson. Joe. The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire. 28 February 2008. Penguin. 978-1101202692. 432. 1 February 2015.
  2. Curt Nimuendajú. 1952. The Tapajó. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 6. 1–25.
  3. Web site: Glottolog 4.4 - Urucucús.
  4. Web site: Os principais povos indígenas da bacia Amazônica [The most important indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin]]. Belezas da Amazônia. 1 February 2015. Portuguese.