Mura

The Mura are a riverine people of the central Amazon, moving among the islands, channels and lakes between the Madeira and Purus rivers. They were expert canoeists and fishers who lived in small, dispersed family groups, and called themselves Buhuraen. Their Bohurá language belongs to the Mura family.

They first appear in records in 1714. After Portuguese slavers raided them, they fought the missions and colonial advance for most of the century, switching from open battle to river ambushes. By 1774 their raids menaced the whole colony of Amazonas, and peace came in 1786, as epidemics and war with the Munduruku wore them down.