The study in hand focuses on the action of the Church, by way of Salesian missionaries, together with the Bororo people at the Meruri mission, situated in the Brazilian Centro-Oeste. This approach centralizes its attention on the struggle of the Bororo Indians for their survival, whether in their contact with the first colonizers, or in their contact with missionaries. Between 1940 and 1960, for reasons little sought out by scholars up to now, the Bororo residents in Meruri decided to die. Today, going against this decision, the Bororo in Meruri are growing demographically. Considering these facts, two questions spontaneously present themselves: 1a. What made the Bororo opt for death? 2a. What motivated this indigenous nation, already self-determined, to recuperate enthusiasm for life? Beginning with a brief historical reconstruction of the missionary experience in Meruri - Mato Grosso State, in the Centro-Oeste region of Brazil, the study opens out to include the option of this Brazilian ethnic group.
Bororo ethnic group; Territoriality; Death; Survival