The Kaingang are an ethnic group of indigenous people who live in Brazil, states of
Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo. There were more than
33,000 individuals in the group as of 2009.
The first contacts with the whites happened during the 18th century. Today these
natives live scattered on 30 indigenous reservations, which cover a small part of their
original territories. The reservations are contained within 4 different states.
The name Kaingang was introduced at the end of the 19th century by Telêmaco Borba.
These indigenous people were once considered as a single group together with the
Xokleng. Today they're considered separate ethnic groups who once formed a group with a
single identity.
Their language belongs to the Jê family. Ursula Wiesemann, a linguist and missionary
from the Summer Institute of Linguistics, has classified their language, dividing it in
five dialects, each of them being spoken in a different state.
*Kaingang on socioambiental.org