The Nambiquara are located in the north-western region of Mato Grosso, and are located in 10villages along the Porto-Velho-Cuiabá highway. The Nambiquara are known as Southern Nambikuara, Nambikuara do Sul and Nambikwara. They are primarily hunter gatherers. By 1985 the remaining 1,200 Nambiquara lived on a tiny arid reserve where they suffered malnutrition and imported diseases such as typhoid and yellow fever.
In 1960 the BR-364 highway, part of the Polonoroeste project, was bulldozed straight through Nambiquara land, and the tribe relocated to a tiny arid reserve. In 1985 the remaining 1,200 Nambiquara led protests against the invasion and the proposed construction of a hydroelectric dam on their lands. In September 1993 the logging company Anilton Antonio Pompermayer was ordered to pay an indemnity of US $200,000 to a group of Nambiquara for illegal invasion and logging in their Guaporé reserve.