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The Awá or Guajá live in the eastern Amazon rainforest, a 450 sqm reserve in north-eastern Maranhao state. There are only about 350 members left, although this is just an estimate. Some 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are called the world's most endangered tribe, primarily because of encroagments by logging interests into their territory. They speak Guajá, a Tupi–Guaraní language. They once klived in settlements, but adopted a nomadic lifestyle to survive incursions by Europeans, especially slave raiding. They also face settlers seaking to clear the forrest and ser up farms.
Some Awá began moving moved to government-established settlements (mid-1980s). Most of the tribe continued to maintain their traditional way of life. The Awá live entirely off the forests, but not by cutting down the trees. They have formed nomadic groups of a few dozen people which avoid contact with modern Brazilians. The Brazilian government received a loan of US$900 million from the World Bank and the European Union to protect the Awá and other indigenous peoples (1982). A major condition of the loan was that the lands of the tribe would be clearly demarcated and protected. That was crucial Awá because they were such a small tribe and their forests were increasingly being invaded by outsiders. There were report tribal people being murdered and forests being destroyed by logging and land cleared by settlers. Without continue government protection the Awá can not survive.
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