Xerente

The Xerente, who call themselves Akwẽ, are a Jê-speaking people of the Tocantins valley. Their villages lie in the cerrado east of the river, amid grassland, woodland and streams. They are related in language and culture to the Xavante and Xakriabá. Colonial expansion and the effort to secure navigation on the rivers brought military posts and increasing pressure on the Indigenous communities of the region.