Variant spellings include Ricbacta, Erikbaktsa, Erigpaktsa, Erigpagtsá, Erigpactsa, Erikbaktsá, Arikpaktsá, and Aripaktsá.

However, oral histories, geographic references in their myths, and their detailed knowledge of nearby flora and fauna suggest that they have lived on the land for some time.

The Rikbaktsa, who were known for their hostile relations with nearly every neighboring indigenous group, initially resisted the presence of rubber gatherers.

[3] During the pacification process and the subsequent years, epidemics of influenza, chickenpox, and smallpox reduced the Rikbaktsa population by three quarters.

After the 1968 demarcation of the Erikbaktsa Indigenous Land on one tenth of the tribe's original territory, children began to return to their home villages.

[3] During this time, population growth stalled somewhat, which may be partially attributed to the struggle for Japuíra, during which food production and health services lagged.

[1] After 1987, increased access to resources and health services assistance from the Anchieta Mission and the Fundação Nacional do Índio, population recovery continued at a rapid pace.

While there were serious pre-contact rivalries between Rikbaktsa of various rivers, their present-day struggle for survival has encouraged group cohesion as well as, on occasion, alliances with other indigenous societies.

[8] For the Rikbaktsa, music, rituals, and traditional dress have served as a unifying element in the face of contact with the outside world.

Ceremonies often involve body paint, feather ornaments, flute-playing of traditional songs, and the performance of mythical stories and recent fights.

Once a boy has mastered the bow and arrow, at age eleven or twelve, his nose is pierced during the ceremony of the maize and he receives his second name.

At this point, the boy may spend time in the men's house, where he learns about ceremonies, myths, traditional medicine, and flute-playing, and assumes more household and village responsibilities.

However, this tradition has also been abandoned; today, young men instead actively participate in the tribe's recovery and maintenance of their territory.

Traditionally, fathers decided when their daughters would have their faces tattooed in a ceremony, after which they are considered women and eligible for marriage, though, this ritual of passage is no longer practiced.

Cooperation among a larger group occurs only during agricultural rituals and a few other occasions, but is complemented by a system of reciprocal kinship relationships.

The Rikbaktsa regularly plant rice, cassava, maize, yams, beans, cotton, urucu, bananas, peanuts, sugarcane, and pumpkin.