The Parintintin are an indigenous people that live in 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...

 in the Madeira River

Madeira River

The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3,250 km miles long The Madeira is the biggest tributary of the Amazon...

 basin. They refer to themselves as Kagwahiva’nga or Kagwahiva, which means "our people."

Following contact with Brazilians in 1946, a population of 4,000 at the time was eventually reduced to 120 after Brazil's second rubber boom

Rubber boom

The rubber boom was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related with the extraction and commercialization of rubber...

 and the construction of the Trans-Amazon highway in 1970. Further colonization of the Amazon basin led to the spread of diseases that the Parintintin were not prepared for. The Parintintin currently face possible downstream impacts from the Madeira Hydroelectric Complex.

As of 2007, the Parintintin have a population of around 400 and live in three villages on two indigenous territories (TIs):

• TI Ipixuna
  Ipixuna
  Ipixuna is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population was 17,258 and its area is 13,566 km²....
  
   215362 ha (2,154 km²; 832 sq mi), and
• TI Nove de Janeiro 228777 ha (2,288 km²; 883 sq mi).

External links

• Instituto Socioambiental (Portuguese)
• Parintintin (Portuguese)
• Flickr set of TI Nove de Janeiro
• International Rivers