Since the 1960s there have been many efforts to "civilise" the Waimiri-Atroari to avoid problems with the BR-174 highway, which cuts across the territory, and with tin mines and the huge Balbina Dam.

[1] The first recorded European contact with the Waimiri-Atroari was when the botanist João Barbosa Rodrigues travelled through various villages in the region in 1884.

Gilberto Pinto Figueiredo of Funai began friendly contacts with the indigenous people to prepare them for construction of the BR-174 highway across their land, then was replaced by Italian priest Giovanni Calleri in an effort to speed up the process.

[3] Funai established the Waimiri-Atroari Attraction Front (FAWA) in 1970 with the goal of speeding up integration of the Indians into Brazilian society.

[3] Prospectors of Mineração Taboca, a subsidiary of the Paranapanema heavy civil construction company, found traces of cassiterite in 1979 in tributaries of the Pitinga River.

[7] Paranapanema, assisted by Funai and the National Department of Mineral Production, managed to have the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Reservation downgraded in 1981 to the Temporary Restricted Area for the Attraction and Pacification of the Waimiri Atroari Indians, with a reduced area that excluded the cassiterite deposits.

The property was later acquired by the Peruvian company Minsur, which in 2014 had plans to develop the lower deposits, thought to be the largest undeveloped tin mine in the world.

Presidential decree 85.898 of 13 April 1981 declared about 10,344.90 square kilometres (3,994.19 sq mi) to be land of public utility, including part of the Indian Reserve.

[9] The route chosen in 2014 for the Tucuruí transmission line, bringing electrical power from Manaus to Boa Vista, follows the BR-174 federal highway.

[12] In February 2016 a federal judge issued an injunction that prohibited work on the line until the Waimiri-Atroari indigenous people had been consulted.

[14] The Waimiri-Atroari attacked the Indian Posts in 1973–74 in an attempt to drive out the intruders, who had brought sickness that killed many of the people.

[15] In 1978–82 the inhabitants were moved into three large settlements near to Indian Posts by Funai workers and young "captains" of the Waimiri-Atroari.

[2] The Northern Corridor Project (Projeto Calha Norte) was defined in 1985 by the National Security Council with the stated aim of occupying the northern frontier of Brazil with military outposts to defend against socialist regimes to the north, Colombian guerrillas and drug traffic.

[16] The Waimiri Atroari Program to mitigate the impact of the Balbina Hydroelectric Dam was proposed in 1987, covering health, education, environmental protection, agriculture and security and historical memory.

Eletronorte agreed to fund the program, which was administered by Funai, and in 1989 the 2,585,911 hectares (6,389,930 acres) Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Territory was officially established.