Iriri River Iriri River The Iriri River () is a large tributary of the Xingu River in Brazil, in the state of Pará. It is long making it the 116th longest river in the world (with Krishna River, India) and the 15th longest in the Amazon basin. The headwaters are the traditional home of the Panará people. The river rises in the Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit established in 2005 in the Serra do Cachimbo. It is one of the headwaters of the Xingu River. It flows for before joining the Xingu, running through the
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