Tarairiu

The Tarairiu were a nation of the Brazilian northeast, called Tapuya by the coastal peoples. Their language survives only in a few word lists and is unclassified. They lived in the dry backlands between the Assu and Apodi rivers, in about two dozen groups, among them the Jandui and the Caninde.

They moved with the seasons of the rivers, came down to the coast for the cashew harvest, and hunted with spear-throwers and clubs while also growing maize and manioc. Albert Eckhout painted a Tarairiu warrior for the Dutch. In the seventeenth century they fought beside the Dutch against the Portuguese, who campaigned against them between about 1630 and 1730.