Caboclo

The term, also pronounced "caboco", is from Brazilian Portuguese, and perhaps ultimately from the Tupi kaa'boc, meaning "the one who comes from the forest".

[3][4] The term caboclo (which in the Amazon Basin and in Candomblé is usually pronounced without the l, as caboco) is said to come from the Tupi word kari'boka,[citation needed] meaning "deriving from the white".

The men were never granted permission to leave, and married local native women, fathering more generations of mestiços.

The caboclo populations in the Amazon region of Brazil are noted as voracious eaters of the açaí palm fruit, which is basic to the traditional diet of the natives.

In one study, açaí palm was described as the most important plant species because the fruit makes up such a major component of diet (up to 42% of the total food intake by weight) and is economically valuable in the region (Murrieta et al., 1999).