Parakana

The Parakanã call themselves Awaeté, “true people.” Their forest country lies west of the Tocantins, among the headwaters of its tributaries and the rivers flowing toward the Pará estuary. They speak a Tupi-Guarani language and maintain their own social and ceremonial traditions. Streams and forest paths cross this part of the eastern Amazon, where the Tocantins basin meets the wider lowland forest.