Vale do Javari (English language: Javari Valley) is one of the largest reservations for indigenous peoples in Brazil. It lies at the western end of Amazonas state, next to the border with Loreto Region, Peru, and derives its name from Javari River, which is the most important of the region (thus the name "Javari Valley"). Also, the River Javari has served as the border between Brazil and Peru since 1851.
Other important rivers are Quixito River, Itaquai River and Ituí River.
The total indigenous areas of Vale do Javari make up 85,444.82 sq.km altogether (an area larger than Austria).
It is home to 3,000 Indians of different ethnicities with varying sorts of contact, including the Matis, the Matses, the Kulina, the Mayoruna and others. The uncontacted Indians are estimated to be more than 2,000 individuals belonging to at least 14 tribes[1] like Isolados do Rio Quixito, Isolados do Itaquai (Korubo), Isolados do Jandiatuba, Isolados do Alto Jutai, Isolados do Sao Jose, Isolados do Rio Branco, Isolados do Medio Javari and Isolados do Jaquirana-Amburus. These are believed to be living deep inside the reservation areas. The uncontacted tribes live in some 19 known villages identified by air. According to Fabricio Amorim from Fundação Nacional do Índio, the region contains "the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the Amazon and the world".[1]
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In October 2009, a plane emergency-landed in the middle of the reservation.[2] People from the Matis tribe found 9 of the 11 survivors[2] who were flown out of the reservation by helicopter.
Vale do Javari is the setting of The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes (2011) by National Geographic writer Scott Wallace. It details a 76-day expedition in 2002 led by Sydney Possuelo to find the status of the "Arrow People", an uncontacted tribe.