Kawaíb

Kawaíb, also spelled Cawahíb, South American Indian peoples of the Brazilian Mato Grosso. In the 18th and early 19th centuries they were driven out of their original home along the upper Tapajós River by the warlike Mundurukú and split into six isolated groups between the Teles Pires and the Madeira rivers. The Parintintin of the Madeira River and the Tupí-Kawaíb of the upper Jiparaná River are the best-known remnant populations of the Kawaíb. All groups speak Tupian languages.

The Parintintin economy was typical of the tropical forest, combining agriculture with hunting, gathering, and especially fishing. The Parintintin were, however, continually at war with all outsiders; they were cannibals as well as headhunters. They fought with the Mundurukú, Brazilian colonists, and the Pirahá until they made peace in 1922, when their numbers were estimated at 250. Many subsequently died of diseases introduced from Europe. The few remaining Parintintin live on the Igarapé Ipixuna, a tributary of Lake Uruapiára, or have become rubber workers on the Madeira River.

The Tupí-Kawaíb economy and culture were similar to those of the Parintintin. The Tupí-Kawaíb had a complex social organization with more than 20 clans. They were first encountered in 1913–14 by the Brazilian military. The effect of European diseases on native populations is tragically demonstrated by statistics of the Tupí-Kawaíb’s Takwatip clan. From a population of 300 individuals in 1915, only 59 persons were alive in 1928, and by 1938 there were only 7 survivors.