Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests The Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests (NT0180) is an ecoregion in the eastern Amazon basin. It is part of the Amazon biome. The ecoregion is one of the most severely degraded of the Amazon region, suffering from large-scale deforestation and selective extraction of timber, particularly along the Trans-Amazonian Highway and in the higher and more populated southern portions. The Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests ecoregion has an area of . It lies to the south of the Amazon River in eastern Brazil. The Xingu River defines the western boundary and the Tocantins River defines the eastern boundary. To the south the
Xingu peoples European slavers arrived in the Xingu region around 1750. Xinuguano population was estimated in the tens of thousands but was dramatically reduced by diseases and slavery by Europeans. In the centuries since the penetration of the Europeans into South America, the Xingu fled from different regions to escape modernization and cultural assimilation. Nonetheless settlers made it up as far as the upper run of the Rio Xingu. By the end of the 19th century, about 3,000 natives lived at the Alto Xingu, where their current political status has kept them protected against European intruders. By the mid twentieth century this