Iny

The Iny, known in Portuguese as the Karajá, are a Macro-Jê river people of the middle Araguaia, whose villages line the river and its Javaés branch around Bananal Island. They call themselves Iny and speak the Karajá language, with Northern and Southern Karajá, Javaé and Xambioá dialects and men's and women's speech.

Their life follows the rhythm of the river: slash-and-burn fields of manioc, maize and bananas, seasonal fishing camps, hunting, and women's ceramics and body painting.

Jesuits first reached them in 1658 and explorers in 1673, but the lasting newcomers were São Paulo bandeirantes, who raided the Araguaia for gold and captives in the later seventeenth century. Conflict sharpened under the Portuguese crown, whose war against the river tribes in 1811 drew a reply: in 1812 the Karajá and their Xavante allies destroyed the presidio of Santa Maria do Araguaia.