The Borarí Indigenous group came to this remote territory, in which the Arapiun had been living for centuries after fleeing poverty from Alter do Chao (A predominantly Borarí land, about 30 kilometers to the west of Santarém, the capital city of the Lower Tapajós, in the Brazilian Pará). They went along the Arapiuns River right up to its headwaters and, from there, they followed the course of the small Maró River, which gives the territory its name. The group is about 300 people spread over 3 villages: Novo Lugar, Cachoeira do Maró, and Sao José. But the territory is large: some 42.000 hectares of primary forest – that is, intact, never cut-down Amazonian forest.