Altamira, Pará

Altamira Municipality encompasses the Altamira city and district, the seat of local government, whose majority population lives in urban area, and nine other mostly rural districts (most of those covered by the Amazon rainforest), whose urban populations are minorities, and live in inhabited areas spaced by tens or hundreds of kilometers. According to the 2010 Brazilian National Census the municipality had 99,075 inhabitants which grew to 115,969 at the 2020 Census, making a density of only 0.73 inhabitants per square kilometer at the same year. It is home to hundreds of indigenous communities and environmental protection areas. The Belo Monte Dam, the world's fourth largest hydroelectric dam is also located in the municipality.

History

The history of Altamira traditionally includes the period from the installation of the Jesuit mission of the city to the present day. However, the municipal territory has been inhabited since time immemorial by nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous peoples.

Kuben-Kran-Keñ, an extinct Jê language belonging to the Kayapó group, was once spoken in the municipality.

Mission Tavaquara

Although it is well known that even before the eighteenth century former Jesuit Missions already inhabited the Xingu region, it was not until the 1750s that Father Roque Hunderfund entered the Xingu River until the Tucuruí Igarapé, later called Vitória. There, he made contacts with indigenous Xipaia and Kuruaya, who guided him towards Volta Grande do Xingu. There, near the mouth of the Panelas stream, they chose the foundation of the Tavaquara Mission, whose settlement formed the city of Altamira.

The policies of the Portuguese Prime Minister Marquês de Pombal, still in the eighteenth century, shut down all Jesuit missions in the colonies, causing the Tavaquara Mission to close its activities. The parish of Souzel continued to assist the village, but only in 1841 did Fr. Antonio Torquato de Souza reopen the sting that linked the Victoria stream on the lower Xingu ground to the Tavaquara Mission, higher up. crossing the waterfalls, making the work in Tavaquara more accessible.

Administrative recognition

The first administrative elevation took place on April 14, 1874, when the municipality of Souzel (now Senator José Porfírio ) was created, where the Tavaquara Mission (Altamira) was elevated to the status of village. During this period the village survived from the extraction and commercialization of rubber and other drugs from the backlands, as well as communicating with Souzel and Moz Port by steam navigation.

On April 2, 1883, under the influence of Colonel Francisco Gayoso, the town of Tavaquara was elevated to the town of Souzel, receiving the name of Altamira. Also under the influence of Colonel Gayoso, a bite was opened, linking the bass to the middle Xingu, with the objective of turning it into a road, employing African slave labor.

In 1880, Agrarian Cavalgante resumed the works of Col. Gayoso, rectifying the layout of the road, starting from where today is the headquarters of the municipality of Vitória do Xingu and arriving at the mouth of the Ambé stream, there building Fort Ambé, which no longer exists.