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NOVEMBER 6, 2000

After nearly dying out due to Western contact, the tiny Panara Tribe in Brazil is finally reviving itself.

The tribe was first contacted in 1973 and numbered over 300. Tuberculosis and other diseases caused the deaths of many but their problems didn't end there because the Brazilian government forcibly moved them out of their traditional home.

The tribe finally won the right to return to their homeland in 1994. The government officially declared their land aboriginal territory in 1996.

The tribe then won a landmark, but small by American standards, judgment of $550,000 against the government for neglect. The tribe's population is a little over 200 now.

Get the Story:
Struggling for Justice, a Tribe Is Revived (The Washington Post 11/6)