Satere Mawe

The Sateré-Mawé inhabit the forested river country between the Madeira and Tapajós. Their traditional lands include the headwaters of the Maués-Açu, where they cultivated guaraná, transforming a wild vine into a useful plant. Its seeds were prepared for a drink with an important place in work, ceremony and stories of origins. The plant became an enduring part of the relationship between the people and their cultivated forest gardens.

As Portuguese colonisation advanced, Sateré-Mawé communities moved towards the headwaters of rivers including the Andirá and Abacaxis. Jesuits established the Tupinambarana mission on the edge of their territory in 1669. Colonial records also describe the people trading guaraná with the Portuguese by the early eighteenth century, while continuing to cultivate fertile dark soils in their own forest country.