Xingu National Park

The Xingu National Park (Parque Nacional Xingu) (pronounced [ʃĩˈɡu]) is a national park created in 1961 in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Its purposes are to protect the environment and the indigenous peoples of the area.

History

It was created on April 14, 1961, after a campaign by the Villas-Bôas brothers for protection of the region. The decree creating the park was signed by President Jânio Quadros.The area of the park is 2,642,003 ha. (26,420 km²), and it is contained in the municipalities of Mato Grosso; Canarana, Paranatinga, São Félix do Araguaia, São José do Xingu, Gaúcha do Norte, Feliz Natal, Querência, União do Sul, Nova Ubiratã and Marcelândia. The story is documented in the film Xingu.

The National Park was created with the twin objectives of protecting the environment and the indigenous populations of the area. The tribes in the park are the Kamayurá (355), Kaiabi (745), Yudjá (248), Aweti (138), Mehinako (199), Wauja (321), Yawalapiti (208), Ikpeng (319), Kalapalo (417), Kuikuro (415), Matipu (119), Nahukwá (105), Suyá (334) and Trumai (120), population figures as of 2002.

Xingu

Xingu may refer to:

Xingu peoples

Xingu peoples are indigenous peoples of Brazil living near the Xingu River. They have many cultural similarities despite their different ethnologies. Xingu people represent fifteen tribes and all four of Brazil's indigenous language groups, but they share similar belief systems, rituals and ceremonies.

Precolumbian history

The Upper Xingu region was heavily populated prior to European and African contact. Densely populated settlements developed from 1200 to 1600 CE. Ancient roads and bridges linked communities were often surrounded by ditches or moats. The villages were pre-planned and featured circular plazas. Archaeologists have unearthed 19 villages so far.

Post-contact history

Kuikuro oral history says European slavers arrived in the Xingu region around 1750. Xinuguano population was estimated in the tens of thousands but was dramatically reduced by diseases and slavery by Europeans. In the centuries since the penetration of the Europeans into South America, the Xingu fled from different regions to escape modernization and cultural assimilation. Nonetheless settlers made it up as far as the upper run of the Rio Xingu. By the end of the 19th century, about 3,000 natives lived at the Alto Xingu, where their current political status has kept them protected against European intruders. By the mid twentieth century this number had been reduced by foreign epidemic diseases such as flu, measles, smallpox and malaria to less than 1,000. Only an estimated 500 Xingu peoples were alive in the 1950s.

Xingu (film)

Xingu is a 2011 Brazilian drama film directed by Cao Hamburger and scripted by him, Elena Soárez and Anna Muylaert. Starring João Miguel, Felipe Camargo and Caio Blat, the film tells the Villas-Bôas brothers trajectory from the moment in which they joined the Roncador-Xingu expedition, part of the Westward March of Getúlio Vargas, in 1943.

It was shot in Tocantins, Xingu National Park, and in the Greater São Paulo. The film was exhibited for the first time in 2011, at the 8th Amazonas Film Festival. The official premiere took place on April 6, 2012. The film was watched by about 370.000 spectators and has raised more than four million reals in box office. A television adaptation in four episodes was aired on Rede Globo between 25 and December 28, 2012.

Plot

The story takes place in the 1940s when the Villas-Bôas brothers—Claudio (João Miguel), Leonardo (Caio Blat) and Orlando (Felipe Camargo)—start an exploratory expedition into the Xingu River. They make contact with the local tribes, learn to live in the rainforest, and persuade a reluctant government to found the Xingu National Park.