A demarcated indigenous territory where rice farmers resisted expulsion for years. The Supreme Court ruling in 2009 set precedent for indigenous land rights. The boundary exists because people fought for it.
Roosevelt Pinheiro, CC BY 3.0 br, via Wikimedia Commons
A Contested Territory
The Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory covers 1.7 million hectares in Brazil's northernmost state of Roraima, an area of mountains and savannah bordering Venezuela and Guyana. It is the ancestral land of approximately 20,000 indigenous people, including the Macuxi, Wapixana, Ingarikó, Taurepang, and Patamona peoples. The formal process to legally recognize this territory began in the 1970s, but it was not until 1998 that the Ministry of Justice declared the land for permanent indigenous possession.
This process was intensely opposed by non-indigenous settlers, particularly rice farmers and cattle ranchers who had established operations within the territory's boundaries. These farmers, supported by local politicians, argued that a continuous indigenous territory threatened state economic development and national sovereignty. The conflict often turned violent; over three decades of struggle, more than twenty indigenous people were killed. The dispute escalated after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva formally ratified, or homologated, the territory's continuous demarcation in April 2005, triggering a legal challenge that ascended to Brazil's highest court.
The 2009 Supreme Court Ruling
On March 19, 2009, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) delivered a landmark decision. By a vote of 10 to 1, the court upheld the continuous demarcation of Raposa Serra do Sol and ordered the removal of the remaining non-indigenous rice farmers and other occupants. The ruling affirmed that the demarcation process was constitutional and that maintaining the territory as a single, contiguous area was essential for the physical and cultural reproduction of the indigenous communities.
The central legal question was whether the indigenous groups had a right to the entire area as a cohesive whole, or if the territory should be fragmented into "islands" around non-indigenous farms and towns. The court's decision in favor of a continuous boundary set a powerful example for indigenous land rights cases across Brazil. However, the judgment also came with 19 binding conditions. These conditions clarified the federal government's authority within indigenous lands, permitting the installation of military bases, the construction of infrastructure like roads and hydroelectric dams, and the action of Federal Police without consulting the indigenous communities or their representative body, FUNAI.
💡Fun Facts
The name Raposa Serra do Sol translates to "Fox Mountain of the Sun."
The territory includes Mount Roraima, a high, flat-topped mountain, or tepui, that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel "The Lost World."
An important legal argument against the demarcation was the "marco temporal" (time-frame) thesis, which posits that indigenous peoples only have rights to lands they physically occupied on October 5, 1988—the date of Brazil's current constitution. The Raposa Serra do Sol case tested this concept.
Before their removal, rice farmers within the territory were major contributors to Roraima's agricultural output. Their expulsion was seen by some local politicians as a significant blow to the state's GDP.
Access to indigenous territories in Brazil is restricted and not open for general tourism. It requires specific authorization from FUNAI (Fundação Nacional do Índio) and the relevant indigenous communities.
Admission
Not applicable. Authorization is granted for specific purposes like research or official visits, not tourism.
Accessibility
The region is remote and consists of savannahs, mountains, and forests with limited road infrastructure.
