Matis
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(October 2009) |
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 390 (2010)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Brazil( Amazonas) | |
| Languages | |
| Matis language,[2]Portuguese | |
| Religion | |
| traditional tribal religion |
TheMatis people(also called Matsë in their own native language) are anindigenous people of Brazil.[1]The Matis are commonly named the Jaguar people by tourists and filmmakers, but they do not like the name. They live in three separatecommunitieswith a total population of roughly 340. They live in the far west ofBrazil,in theVale do Javari Indigenous Territory,an area covering 83,000 square kilometres (32,000 sq mi). They practice hunting, fishing, foraging and agriculture. Now, they also receive money from their work as teachers, health assistants, and surveillance of the territory for FUNAI, for example, and the elders receive pensions from the government (registered as retired farmers, as other traditional communities also have the right for in Brazil).
Language[edit]
TheMatis languagebelongs to thePanoan family[2]from the Amazonian area of Brazil.
Recent history[edit]
Before what the government refers to as "contact", the Matis assumed passenger airplanes werexokeke,the spirits of their ancestors. They also assumed bush planes werebinkeke,a kind of strange demon-bird. This tribe saw the two kinds of airplanes as distinct phenomena, since passenger planes would appear to be smaller than the bush planes (which fly closer to the ground).[3]
The Matis people were contacted by the Brazilian agencyFUNAIduring 1976-1978, although it was not until two years later in 1978 that FUNAI employees began visiting the then-five Matis villages, almost 2/3 of their population died from diseases and from lack of care.
The 1980s represented a moment where the Matis faced genocide (ethnical extermination), with the arrival of Westerndiseasekilling roughly a third of their population,devoidof naturalimmunityor any remedies for them. In 1981, over 50 Matis people died of disease, so the survivors moved to theItuí River.By 1983, only 87 Matis people survived.[1]The decade also saw the loss of three of their villages which now, completely abandoned, are occasionally visited by the Matis to harvest fruit trees.
Time has probably given the Matis a better understanding of events surrounding and following their first contact over 30 years ago. Whereas elder Matis traditionalists are keen to retain and in some cases readopt their old way of life, the younger Matis have been influenced by the modern outside world and want closer ties with modern Brazil, particularly for education.[4]
On October 31, 2009, members of the Matis tribe located nine survivors of a plane crash near theItuí Riverthen contacted the Brazilian Air Force.[5]
References[edit]
- ^abc"Matis: Introduction."Povos Indígenas no Brasil.Retrieved 6 Feb 2012.
- ^ab"Matís."Ethnologue. Retrieved 6 Feb 2012.
- ^The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes,First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011, p. 229
- ^"Matis Tribe".www.bbc.co.uk.Retrieved3 March2020.
- ^"Brazilian Indians find plane survivors - CNN.com".www.cnn.com.Retrieved22 December2018.
External links[edit]
- Matis,BBC
- Matís quiver for blowgun darts,National Museum of the American Indian
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