Os Tarairiús: os esquecidos do Nordeste.

Abstract

This work is dedicated to reconstructing the history of the Tarairiú Indians, who were forgotten for so long by the historiography of Paraíba. The historiography of Paraíba, through Irineu Joffily, was largely responsible for the erasure of the Tarairiú from the History of the Northeast. But even after a few decades of proving by some authors that the Tarairiú were a distinct people from the Cariris, many current authors still make the mistake of stating that the state of Paraíba was inhabited in the interior only by the Cariris. In this work, I demonstrate through a cultural comparison obtained through the analysis of several writers from the colonial era that the Cariris and Tarairiús were very distinct peoples in relation to their cultures. The Tarairiús had a rudimentary culture, while the Cariris, who came from the Amazon, had a culture similar to the Indians of this region. They had advanced agriculture, ceramics and weaving that distinguished them from the other tribes around them. This work demonstrates that not only did the Tarairiús constitute a separate tribe, but that they were the oldest inhabitants of the interior of Paraíba, with the Cariris coming later. This work, therefore, seeks to reconstruct the history of the oldest indigenous tribe in the state and which occupied most of its territory, but which today is the least remembered, being practically unknown to the majority of the population.