Xingu peoples Xingu peoples Xingu peoples are indigenous peoples of Brazil living near the Xingu River. They have many cultural similarities despite their different ethnologies. Xingu people represent fifteen tribes and all four of Brazil's indigenous language groups, but they share similar belief systems, rituals and ceremonies. The Upper Xingu region was heavily populated prior to European and African contact. Densely populated settlements developed from 1200 to 1600 CE. Ancient roads and bridges linked communities that were often surrounded by ditches or moats. The villages were pre-planned and featured circular plazas. Archaeologists have unearthed 19 villages so far. Kuikuro oral history says
Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests World Wildlife Fund classes the ecoregion "Vulnerable". The Tapajós-Xingu, Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia and Tocantins/Pindare moist forests ecoregions on the eastern edge of the Amazon basin have all been badly affected by human settlement and deforestation. The Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia region is the most deforested and degraded part of the Amazon region after the adjoining Tocantins/Pindare moist forests to the east. It is crossed by the Trans-Amazonian Highway (BR-230) from east to west, and by the BR-422 highway along the Tocantins. Most of the land along these roads has been deforested and replaced by pasture or farm fields. The remaining forest has been stripped of