The Demarcation Process

By 1500, when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, the Indigenous population was estimated between 2 and 4 million people, according to ISA (Social and Environmental Institute, a Brazilian NGO). Most of these people were settled along the banks of the Amazon River and its tributaries. Forced to work as slaves, transported from their lands, and killed by introduced diseases brought by the colonizers, they were reduced to some 350,000 by the late 19th century. According to anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro, 55 Indigenous populations vanished in the first half of the 20th century. However, due to protectionist measures, the Indigenous population started rising later in that century.