This research investigates Apinajé history, considering it from a long-term perspective. It is
inserted in the field of study of Indigenous History and in the methodological foundations of
ethnohistory. The research considers the intrinsic relationship between history and territory for
the indigenous people and proposes to observe the formation, the struggle for consolidation and
maintenance of their territory. It analyzes the origin stories based on the meanings given to the
territory, perceiving them as a form of history writing. The elements of the landscape –
petroglyphs, caves, mountains, and rivers – are imbued with historical meaning. The research
shows that the Apinajé language has a common origin with the Mẽbêngôkre languages, and that
these would be an older split from the Timbira languages. Based on archaeological
investigations along the Tocantins River basin, it indicates the presence of a Tupiguarani
archaeological tradition in the confluence region of the Araguaia and Tocantins Rivers and
analyzes the archaeological evidence linked to the Aratu pottery tradition, identified with the
Jê-speaking people. It highlights the need for a diachronic look at the material culture of the Jê
people as a way of thinking about long-term indigenous history. Based on an analysis of the
written documentation produced by chroniclers between the 17th and 19th centuries, the
research seeks to understand the dynamics of the occupation process of the northern Jê in the
interfluve and the distinction between the Apinajé language speakers, highlighting their
mobility along the Tocantins River basin. In addition to the written sources, the cartographic
references highlight different ethnonyms to refer to the Apinajé people. This distinction is
probably related to the understanding of the distinctiveness of the Apinajé subgroups:
Rôrcôjoire, Côcôjóire, and Krinjobrêire. From the investigation of the reports of the province
presidents and the Ministry of Agriculture, it investigates the establishment of an imperial
indigenist policy and the insertion of the Apinajé in the sphere of capitalist relations. The
Apinajé maintained a certain degree of autonomy and pacified their relationship with the non-
indigenous world. As the colonizing fronts and epidemics advanced, the Apinajé abandoned
the banks of the Araguaia and concentrated their population in the territories closest to the
Tocantins River. At the beginning of the 20th century, their reduced population faced pressure
from squatters on their land. From the analysis of the documentation of the Indian Protection
Service (SPI), installed in Apinajé territory in the 1940s, it appears that the actions of the
indigenist policy focused on health care for the Apinajé, the establishment of productive
activities profitable to the indigenous income and the control of Apinajé territoriality. From the
second half of the 20th century, with the establishment of developmental policies, there was an
impact on their territoriality with the construction of the Transamazon highway and the Grande
Carajás Program. This led to an increase in the land conflict in the Bico do Papagaio region and
the final confrontation for the demarcation of the Indigenous Land in 1985. Documentation
from the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) shows that political influences interfered with
the demarcated area, excluding parts of the ancestral territory. In the 21st century, the Apinajé
faced a new wave of development that led them to reorganize their fighting strategies through
Pempxà, an association of the Union of Villages. Finally, the research finds that the panorama
of long-term history enables a dynamic look at the territory, pointing out the connections
between the time of the ancients and the time of the present.
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