The Terena people are a

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 ...

ian

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

that originally inhabited the northeastern region of the Paraguayan Chaco west of the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...

in the mid-19th century. However, they presently reside mainly in the municipalities of Aquidauana and Miranda within the Brazilian state

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...

, as well as

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 ...

and

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. This region is generally referred to as the Aquidauana-Miranda region, and geographically lies between 20° and 22° S and 54° and 58° W. The Terena people span numerous indigenous areas including approximately 29 villages. As a result of conflict with colonial powers, the Terena people gradually migrated to their Brazilian territory where they remain today. The Terena are one of four Guaná subgroups that relocated, alongside the Exoaladi, Layana, and the Kinkinau.

History

Paraguayan War

In 1864 the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

started, pitting

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

against the Triple Alliance, composed of the

Brazilian Empire The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a representative parliamentary constitutional ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. This conflict had substantial impacts on indigenous peoples in nowadays

. The Terena people are noted to have fought jointly with Brazilian military forces during the late 1860s, and sustained substantial losses and attacks on their territories from adversarial troops. The war caused significant land disruption in the region of the Miranda and Aquidauana rivers, causing indigenous populations there, including the Terena, to disperse. As inhabitants of that region, the Terena fled into near, densely forested regions until the official establishment of their land borders in the early 20th century.

Aftermath of the war: ''"Time of Servitude"''

At the end of the war in 1870, previous Terena land holdings and village territories were quickly taken into ownership by previous members of the Brazilian military and other influential government figures who held political sway after the war. As a result, conflict arose between the Terena, other Guaná subgroups, and the new inhabitants of their lands. These indigenous peoples were venturing back to their previous territories, but were faced with new inhabitants who demanded indigenous labor in return for allowing them to live there. This is referred to the Terena as the "time of servitude".

Land establishment

Under the establishment of the Serviço de Proteção aos Índios (SPI) in 1910, the state of Mato Grosso requested official Terena Indigenous reserves. Two of these, deemed Cachoeirinha and Taunay, were granted by the state government. Under this agreement, the Terena people were placed under a reservation-like system. In this system, the Terena were designated about 2,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s, a decrease from their original 17,000 hectares of land in the region. In 1988, an amendment was made to the

Constitution of Brazil The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil () is the Constitution, supreme law of Brazil. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of Brazil and the federal government of Brazil. It replaced the ...

, featuring a new declaration that, within five years of the provision's creation, traditional ancestral lands would be returned to groups of Brazilian indigenous populations. However, modern-day tensions have grown as many lands have yet to be returned.

Buriti Farm incident

The Buriti Farm incident has become a representation of growing land rights tensions within the Brazilian Indigenous population, specifically pertaining to the Terena peoples. Though violent land disputes between indigenous individuals and state government forces aren't necessarily uncommon in Brazil, the Terena have proved to be a force to be reckoned with through this incident. On May 15th, 2013, a group of hundreds of Terena peoples moved to re-occupy a parcel of land, now owned by a local politician and rancher, that they believe is part of their indigenous ancestral territory. In 2010, the Terena were told that they would receive 42,000 acres their village could utilize as farm land, however, when the legal process halted they considered the land their ancestral home and reoccupied it. At the end of May, the owner of the farm filed a court order to have the Terena occupants removed forcibly. After two weeks of occupation and the court order, the Terena occupants were forcibly evicted on May 30 by local police as gunfire rang out in the early morning hours. One Terena member, 35-year-old Osiel Gabriel, was killed by gunfire initially under unclear circumstances. The incident drew national attention as he was thought to have been shot by ''pistoleiros,'' who are gunmen or assassins hired discretely by farm owners in attempts to rid the farmland of indigenous peoples. This demonstrates the growing tensions between farmers and indigenous peoples in Brazil, where tribes on indigenous reserves say that farmers continue to not respect legal boundaries established. However, it was found that Gabriel was actually shot and killed by uniformed policemen during the eviction, and three others were also seriously injured.

Demography

Over the course of the past three centuries, the Terena have experienced notable demographic shifts. Among Brazilian indigenous groups, the Terena are one of the few that have actually experienced growth in population numbers. When they migrated into Brazilian territory in the mid 1840s, the Terena population consisted of approximately 3,000 individuals. A century later, in 1950, they numbered 3,800. Data notes that 30 years later in the 1980s, they numbered 12,000. Demographically speaking, a large number of the causes of death prior to the mid-20th century were infectious diseases, namely

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Society and way of life

The Terena are largely an agriculturally focused society, with occupational dominance focusing on

agroforestry Agroforestry (also known as agro-sylviculture or forest farming) is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system c ...

. Hospitality toward one another is a central value integrated into the fabric of the Terena life-system. They refer to those foreign to their society as "''iningone''" or "those who eat from the same dish". This colloquial notion is an example of their welcoming nature and innate kindness toward all as a cultural value and way of life.

Agriculture

In terms of sustenance, the Terena have long been an agriculturally focused society. Principal traditional crops include

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es, and

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

. Both men and women have historically been accepted as food gatherers in society, a tradition that holds true to this day. The food they gather not only serves as sustenance for the Terena themselves, but is also a source of economic profit. The Terena sell the excess crops from harvests in the

center. This is easily accessible nearly daily for the Terena people to travel to by train. Aside from harvesting crops, cattle-raising has also become a prominent feature among Terena farm lands. However, given the land limitations of the reserves, it is noted that cattle-raising has also become a source of internal conflict among the Terena. Other livestock are also present among Terena farms and households, including chickens and pigs.

Crafting

The Terena also have traditional crafting activities, namely

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

and spinning

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

to form items like belts, hammocks, etc. Pottery is still one of the principal crafting practices in the culture today, with many Terena individuals creating pottery for themselves and to sell.

Marriage and relationships

Historically, marriage and romantic relationships between those who are direct blood relatives, or "consanguineal" kin, are not permitted among the Terena. As their culture has been continually influenced by

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and Christian principles,

monogamy Monogamy ( ) is a social relation, relationship of Dyad (sociology), two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate Significant other, partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or #Serial monogamy ...

has become the typical nature of marriage among the Terena. Furthermore, maternal parents, or parents of the bride, control much of the partner or suitor selection process. Also, the Terena society is a patrilocal one. This means that it is a societal standard among the Terena that young married couples go to live in the husband's father's home post-marriage. This usually lasts the first couple years of marriage until the newly married couple births children, after which they will establish a new residence.

Language and dialect

The language of the Terena people belongs to the Arawak family, and is reported to have incorporated elements of the Mbayá-Guaikuru family as well. Linguistic studies focusing on the Bolivia-Parana subsector found the highest degree of linguistic similarity between Terena, Mojeño, and Paunaka languages than others in their subgroup. Scholars describe the Awarakan family as a language "matrix" indigenous to South American regions spanning the Terena territory within Brazil. Etymology is deeply integrated into kinship relationships among the Terena, reflected in familial word structuring and terminology.