Pegas

The Pegas were a Cariri-family people of the Paraíba backlands, holding the Piranhas and Piancó river valleys, and were numbered among the tribes of the Tarairiú nation. The meaning of their name is uncertain, since the word pega is neither Cariri nor Tupi and may be Portuguese.

Around 1696 the pioneer Teodósio Canate fought through native resistance and founded the settlement of Festival of Piranhas on Pegas land. Their Jesuit mission village was renamed Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso in 1719, and in 1738 the tribe obtained a formal land grant from the crown in the Sertão das Piranhas.

By royal charter of 1766 the settlement was raised to a town and named Pombal in honour of the Marquis of Pombal. Forced removals under colonial administration and absorption into settler society eventually ended the Pegas as a separate people.