Xavante

Xavante belongs to central Brazil's cerrado, where wooded savannas, rivers and seasonal rain provide varied resources. Communities combine cultivation, hunting, gathering and fishing according to place and season. Paths connect resource areas, while knowledge of plants, animals and water supports travel. Social relationships and responsibilities also shape the use of land.

The Xavante are part of the Jê-speaking Indigenous history of Brazil's interior. Their communities maintained institutions of ceremony and exchange before colonial authorities sought more direct control. Eighteenth-century mining expansion increased pressure on inland routes, labour and land. Settlers, missionaries and officials brought demands that could lead to conflict and displacement; Indigenous communities responded through resistance, negotiation and movement.