Xingu Indigenous Park film "Xingu" (2012). The idea of creating a park originated with a round table organized by the vice president of Brazil in 1952, at which a much larger park was proposed. However, the state of Mato Grosso began granting land within the proposed area to colonizing companies, so the park that came into existence by decree 50.455 of 14 April 1961 was only a quarter of the proposed size. Adjustments were made on 31 July 1961, 6 August 1968 and 13 July 1971. The final demarcation of the perimeter was made in 1978. The area was given the designation of
Xingu peoples number had been reduced by foreign epidemic diseases such as flu, measles, smallpox and malaria to less than 1,000. Only an estimated 500 Xingu peoples were alive in the 1950s. The Brazilian Villas-Bôas brothers visited the area beginning in 1946, and pushed for the creation of the Parque Indígena do Xingu, eventually established in 1961. Their story is told in a film, "Xingu". The number of Xingu living there in 32 settlements has risen again to over 3000 inhabitants, half of them younger than 15 years. The Xingu living in this region have similar habits and social systems, despite different