Tapirapé
A Tapirape girl having her body painted | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 655 (2010) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Brazil (Mato Grosso, Tocantins) | |
| Languages | |
| Tapirapé language | |
| Religion | |
| Animism, Shamanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Tupi-Guaraní peoples |
Tapirapé are an indigenous people of Brazil who survived the European conquest and subsequent colonization, sustaining the majority of their culture and customs. Residing deep in the Amazon rainforest, they had little direct contact with Europeans until around 1910, and that contact was sporadic until the 1950s.
The main reports about the Tapirapé were written by anthropologists Herbert Baldus (1899–1970) and Charles Wagley (1913–1991) and by a group called Little Sisters of Jesus, nuns who have been involved with the Tapirapé since 1953.