Prefeitura de São Paulo

“We brought the news that they [the Indians] constitute a tranquil, joyful society. There, no one tells the other what to do. The old one owns history, the indian owns the village and the children owns the world.” (Orlando Villas Bôas)

The life of sertanists Orlando, Claudio and Leonardo often confuses itself with that of brazilian Indians, people they learned to love and defend, restablishig the humanist basis of the Indian politics promoted by Marechal Rondon. Their story begins in 1943 when the brothers enlisted for the Roncador-Xingu expedition to explore the central West of Brazil. Then was forged a commitment to understand and protect unknown tribes, many hostile ones, from predatory civilization represented by the explorers themselves. The Villa-Boas brothers contributed to the preservation of the endangered culture of the Indian people and the survival of entire nations with the creation, in 1961, of the Xingu National Park. They were nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.