Bananal Island (, ) is a large
river island
River Island (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur), Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores ...
formed from the bisection of the
Araguaia River
The Araguaia River ( , Karajá language, Karajá: ♂ ''Berohokỹ'' eɾohoˈkə̃ ♀ ''Bèrakuhukỹ'' ɛɾakuhuˈkə̃ is one of the major rivers of Brazil, and a tributary of the Tocantins River.
Geography
The Araguaia River comes from ...
, in southwestern
Tocantins
Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. The island is formed by a fork in a very flat section of the Araguaia; the western stream of the fork retains the name Araguaia and the eastern one is called the
Javaés River. By reuniting later, both streams form Bananal Island, which is the second largest river island in the world and the largest without an ocean coastline, at long and wide.
Island Superlatives
/ref> Its total area is .
Environmental and cultural protection
Bananal Island is a nature and culture preserve. In accordance with Article 28 of the Statute of Indian Law (Artigo 28 do Estatuto do IndÃo-lei) No. 6001 laid out on 19 December 1973, an area of is preserved as Araguaia National Park and further as cultural preserve for Brazilian Indigenous. The northern third of the island, which is designated as a national park, is a popular destination for ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...
. The southern two-thirds are indigenous territories.
Inhabitants
Although Brazilians of non-native descent lived on the island in the past, today the entire population is indigenous.
At least four tribes live on Bananal Island: the Javaés, Karajá, Ava-Canoeiro, and Tuxá. There are sixteen ''aldeias'' or villages on the island: Barra do Rio, Barreira Branca, Boa Esperança, Boto Velho, Cachoeirinha, Fontoura, JK, Kanoanã, Kaxiwe, Macaúba, Santa Isabel, São João, Txoude, Txuiri, Wari-Wari, Watau.
There are no bridges to the island from the states of Tocantins to the east nor from Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...
to the west. For the greater majority of the year, the only transport to the island is by boat. However, for a few weeks during the dry season (June – August) the river is low enough that it can be forded and the island can be reached by car. The villages have roads wide enough for cars and tractors, but most travellers walk or ride horses or bicycles.
Image gallery
Statuette Karajà MHNT.ETH.2010.24.01.jpg, Ceramic statuette – MHNT
Municipalities
From north to south, the island forms the western portions of the municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
of Pium
Pium is a municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.
The municipality contains the Cantão State Park, created in 1998.
It contains 21.56% of the Ilha do Bananal / Cantão Environmental Protection Area, created ...
, Lagoa da Confusão, and Formoso do Araguaia, in southwestern Tocantins.
References
{{Coord, 11, 20, S, 50, 41, W, scale:2500000, display=title
Ramsar sites in Brazil
Indigenous Territories (Brazil)
Landforms of Tocantins
River islands of Brazil