Mythologies of the Goitacá Tribe

December 07, 2023

The Goitacá (or Goytacazes, among other variant spellings "Waytaquazes" "Ouetacá", "Waitaká") were an indigenous people of Brazil. They are now extinct. The Goitacá were a "Tapuia" (i.e. non-Tupi) people, one of the few that still remained on the Tupi-dominated coast. They were said to be taller and lighter-skinned than the Tupi. Their name may stem from guatá, the Tupi word for "wayfarer" or "runner". In the 16th century, the Goitacá inhabited a large stretch of the eastern Brazilian coast, from the São Mateus River to the Paraíba do Sul River, encompassing what is now the state of Espírito Santo and part of Rio de Janeiro state. They are estimated to have numbered 12,000. Unlike their Tupi neighbors, the Goitacá were hunter-gatherer people. Their diet consisted primarily of fruits, roots, honey and engaged in a substantial amount of hunting (they were said to be masters of the bow and arrow). They were also one of the few coastal indigenous populations to also engage in fishing as a major activity, and were renowned for their skill in capturing sharks in shallows. While colonizers wrongly presumed the Goitacá were "superstitious" about water sources, their practice of drinking water only from freshly-dug wells, and never from streams or rivers, was based on their knowledge of how to avoid water-borne illness.

The Goitacá had a fearsome reputation as fierce and cruel warriors, characterized by English adventurer Anthony Knivet (c. 1597) as "the most odious people of the Universe". They also engaged in cannibalism. But contemporary commentators claimed that while the Tupi ate purely out of ritual, the Goitacá ate for pleasure, having acquired a taste for human flesh. There is little or no information about the elusive Goitacá beyond these early accounts and allegations, mostly derived by hearsay from their neighbors or fearful colonists, rather than direct familiarity. As Fr. Vicente do Salvador wrote in his 1627 account, "These and other incredible things that are told about these people, believe as you will, because no man who was once in their power, has yet returned with his life to tell about it." The negative descriptions of the Goitacá, as found in the early writings, are maybe quite unjust. A shy people, the Goitacá avoided all interaction or contact with European colonists. They did, however, engage in barter trade with them, principally by leaving their trade goods in a clearing, and then falling back and watching from a distance as the colonists picked up the goods and dropped off theirs. Their principal trade items were honey, wax, fish, game and fruits, which they bartered for iron goods like sickles, brandy and beads.

By their belligerence, the Goitacá managed to keep their lands free of European colonies for some time, and it is said their dominions were sanctuaries for European criminals and fugitives, who knew the colonial authorities would not chase after them there. But colonial pressure would not stay its hand for long - particularly as the Goitacá dominions blocked the path between the growing southern colonies like Rio de Janeiro and eastern colonies like Salvador da Bahia. Seeing no way to encroach on their land peacefully, a campaign of extermination against the Goitacá was launched. Initially these were manhunts by the Portuguese colonists (one of which Knivet participated and described), but soon became more systematic, e.g. by leaving poisoned brandy and smallpox-diseased blankets to be picked up by the Goitacá. As the campaigns advanced, the Goicatá retreated away from the coast and deeper into the interior. By the late 18th century, the bulk were practically exterminated, and remaining survivors gradually merged into other tribes.