Yanomami: The Amazon's Largest Isolated Indigenous People
The Yanomami — the world's largest isolated indigenous people, living in the Amazon-Guiana highlands between Brazil and Venezuela — suffered devastating gold rush invasions; their territory is now legally protected but contested
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Yanomami Territory
The Yanomami indigenous territory – 96,000 km², larger than Portugal – protects 270 communities in the Roraima and Amazonas highlands; its legal protection was a landmark in the Brazilian history of indigenous rights
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1987-1993 Gold Rush Genocide
The invasion of Yanomami territory by 40,000 Garimpeiros in the late 1980s caused the deaths of up to 20% of the population due to disease, violence and mercury poisoning; The 1993 Haximu massacre was declared a genocide
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Davi Kopenawa: Yanomami Voice
Yanomami shaman and activist Davi Kopenawa - author of 'The Falling Sky' - is one of the world's most important indigenous voices; his cosmology and political activism have brought the Yanomami to global attention
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Yanomami Cosmology
The Yanomami understanding of the forest as a living entity sustained by the xapiri forest spirits – and the role of shamans in communicating with them – is a complete cosmological system documented at an unprecedented depth
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2023 Health Emergency
The Bolsonaro-era return of illegal mining to Yanomami territory created a health emergency in 2023 – malaria, malnutrition and violence that required federal military intervention to displace garimpeiros and provide medical care
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Boa Vista as Roraima Gateway
Boa Vista is the service town for the Yanomami territory - flights, medical evacuations and supply logistics for the vast indigenous territory operate from the Roraima capital