The Kanoê (also known as Canoe and Kapixana) are an indigenous tribe of people who live in Brazil, state of Rondônia, near the border with Bolivia. There were 95 members in the group in 2002.
The majority of them live near the banks of the Guaporé River and have had extensive contacts with the whites; a single family of three people live near the Omerê River, a tributary of the Corumbiara. They were first contacted by the FUNAI in 1995. At the time they were five and lived in relative isolation.
The Kanoê are struggling to retain their cultural traditions in a region which is being gradually occupied by lumbermen and landjumpers.
Language
The Kanoê language is used by seven people only. Of these, three elderly people live near the banks of the Guaporé River with the rest of their people, who only speak portuguese. The four members of the family who lives near the Omerê river only speak their native language.
Isolated family
A family of four people lives isolated from the rest of the group.
They have had contacts with whites only since 1995, when some FUNAI members approached them for the first time.
The family comprised the mother, Tutuá, who was about 50 years old; a daughter, Txinamanty; a son, Purá; and two grandsons. During the first month of 2003 Tutuá and one of the grandsons contracted malaria and died.
All the family speaks Kanoê only.
External links
*Kanoe at socioambiental.org