According to Dantas (1980b, 178-9), Shoco (Ceocoses, Ciocó, Chocó, etc.) have been mentioned in historical accounts since the seventeenth century, and since their territorial occupation included several indigenous villages in São Francisco River valley there are wide possibilities for Shoco cultural and linguistic affiliations. Nascimento (2000, 17) mentions that probably Shoco Indians were present in Colégio village from the beginning, since historical accounts always noted their presence. Indigenous groups along the São Francisco valley have always maintained interethnic contacts, traveling to each other‟s villages and sharing cultural traits. Mota (1997, 1987) and Mata (1989) explain that Kariri and Shoco shared cultural background and kinship from which they became Kariri-Shoco: “a complex nation of people, at once united and divided” (Mota 1997, 15). Several individuals from other indigenous groups, such as from contemporary Pankararu, Fulni-o, Carapotó, and Shucuru-Kariri, have also joined and shaped the Kariri-Shoco as an ethnic, northeastern Brazilian group, particularly through kinship bonds from intermarriage. During my field research, descendants of these groups, including Shoco, explained how their ancestors came to Porto Real do Colégio and gathered together forming the contemporary Kariri-Shoco. They also provided explanations on conflicts between Kariri and Shoco themselves, which revealed that although they have much intermarriage and most people are both Kariri and Shoco (united), they were divided by conflicts and political disputes, which they described as being part of different peoples. The historical process that indigenous peoples have experienced in northeast Brazil relates to the greater history of Brazil, where Portuguese, African, and
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