Ãwa

The Avá-Canoeiro, who call themselves Ãwa, are a Tupi-speaking Indigenous people of central Brazil. Their lands include the headwaters of the Tocantins and tributaries of the Araguaia. Colonial records describe their resistance to settlers advancing into the upper Tocantins during the eighteenth century. Some communities moved toward the Araguaia basin, while others sought refuge in the rugged country around the Tocantins headwaters.