The Nambikwara is an indigenous people of the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

an Amazon

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...

. Currently ca. 1,200 Nambikwara live in federal reservations in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...

 along the Guaporé

Guaporé River

Rio Guaporé is the name of a river in western Brazil along the Bolivian border. Its Bolivian name is Río Iténez.The river has its source in the Brazilian Mato Grosso circa 150 km northeast of Pontes e Lacerda. From this town on it flows in a westerly direction for about 120 km, where at...

 and Juruena

Juruena River

The Juruena River is a 1240 km long river in west-central Brazil, in the state of Mato Grosso. For the last 190 km of its lower part the river becomes the border between the states Mato Grosso and Amazonas...

 rivers. Their villages are accessible from the Pan-American highway.

The Nambikwara were first contacted in 1770 but did not experience prolonged contact with Europeans until the early 20th century, when Brazilian army official Marechal Cândido Rondon

Cândido Rondon

Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, or Marechal Rondon was a Brazilian military officer who is most famous for his exploration of Mato Grosso and the Western Amazon Basin, and his lifelong support of Brazilian indigenous populations...

 passed through Nambikwara territory to extend the telegraph lines. He estimated that there were around 10,000 Nambikwara. Shortly after contact with European Brazilians epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

s of measles

Measles

Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

 and smallpox decimated the population to only 500 around 1930.

The culture of the Nambikwara was the subject of studies by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....

, which were later analyzed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...

 in his work Of Grammatology.

Bands and subgroups

The Nambikuara Nation is composed of many smaller bands which each have their own name.

• Nambikwara do Sarare
  • Kabixí do Mato Grosso
• Nambikwara do Campo of Mato Grosso — Rondônia
  • Halotesu
  • Hithaulu
  • Sawentesu
  • Wakalitesu
• Nambikwara do Norte of Rondônia — Mato Grosso
  • Lakondê
  • Latundê, A.I. Tubarão-Latunde.
  • Mamaindê, A.I. Pirineus de Souza, and A.I. Vale do Guaporé
  • Nambikwara
  • Manduka, A.I. Pirineus de Souza
  • Negarotê, A.I. Vale do Guaporé
  • Tagnaní
  • Tamaindé
  • Tawandê
  • Tawitê or Tauite.
• Nambikwara do Sul of Mato Grosso
  • Alaketesu
  • Alantesu
  • Galera
  • Hahaintesu, A.I. Vale do Guaporé
  • Kabixí
  • Munduka
  • Waikisu, A.I. Vale do Guaporé
  • Wasusu, A.I. Vale do Guaporé

• Sabanê
  • Sabanê, A.I. Pirineus de Souza