The Apiacá, or Apiaká, are an indigenous people of Brazil, who live in northern Mato Grosso, near the border of Pará.

After coming into contact with the Neo-Brazilians, the Apiaca language changed with combined elements of the Lingua Geral, A Tupi-based trade jargon.

Although the Munduruku and Kaiabi languages and idioms are spoken on a day-to-day basis in the Apiaca villages, they are, however, limited to domestic spaces and informal conversations.

This allows Portuguese to function as an instrument of resistance employed by the Apiaca to prevent their cultural absorption by the Munduruku and Kaiabi tribes.

[5] Despite the linguistic proximity, the Apiaká do not allow Kaiabi to be taught in their villages’ schools: this stems from historically bad relations with this tribe.

Contrary to this origin, "the Apiaká leaders explain that their people's name refers to a wasp that when attacked travels long distances to exact revenge on the aggressor with an extremely painful sting.

[7] They posited a number of possible causes for this supposed extinction: disease epidemics, massacres stemming from resistance to colonization, warfare with neighboring native people, and assimilation into other indigenous groups.

In fact, during this entire time the tribe was still very much alive, living amongst the Kaiabi and Munduruku peoples but preserving many aspects of their own distinct culture.

[1] The earliest records of the Apiaca people suggest that they had large plots of cultivated fields, and grew a great array of crops.

Although early sources do not make mention of any domestic animals, by the mid-19th century the Apiaca came to have pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, and several other birds.

They hunted peccaries, tapirs, and capybaras, and used baskets set at the bottom of weirs across the mouths of streams in order to catch fish.

Baskets, trays, sieves, and supports for various vessels were woven with strips of creeper, and ceramic pots, pans, and dishes were manufactured.

Facial tattoos consisted of marks from each ear to the nose, chin, and mouth, while designs on the body displayed war and hunting accomplishments.

[8] The Apiaca fought and warred regularly with their neighbors, who included the Nambicuara, the Parintintin, the Tapanyuna, and others, for the purpose of avenging former issues.

Several villages might cooperate under the leadership of a chief in times of war, and cannibalism – the eating of prisoners and those killed in battle – was practiced with elaborate ceremonies as late as 1848.

[8] The Apiaca believed in a god who created the sky and earth and who showed his anger and displeasure in the form of thunder and lightning.