His father, Amaro Francisco dos Santos, was from the Fulni-ô tribe, located in northeastern Brazil.
In the article “Garrincha: the dribbling trajectory and the problems of Anjo das Pernas Tortas” we were wrong to say that the player’s ancestry was black. Manuel Francisco dos Santos – Mané Garrincha – was the son of an indigenous man, from the Fulni-ô tribe, a group from the Northeast who managed to keep their own language alive and active: Ia-tê.
On Twitter, indigenous activist Karibuxi pointed out the mistake, noting that “Garrincha was a Fulni-ô indigenous! His father was a villager and later emigrated to Rio de Janeiro, stop erasing indigenous history from the grasslands” , he said.
Amaro Francisco dos Santos, Garrincha’s father, was mentioned by journalist Mário Lima, who published the book “Garrincha, the arrow Fulniô das Alagoas”, in which he addresses the player’s indigenous origins. The Fulni-ô have long been considered by scholars to be the last remnants of the historic Karirí indigenous people, whose habitat included the entirety of northeastern Brazil.
The indigenous Fulni-ô currently inhabit the municipality of Águas Belas, located in the physiographic zone of the Sertão, 273 kilometers from the state capital of Pernambuco. The municipality is included in the so-called drought range. The Águas Belas region is cut from north to south by the Ipanema River, which flows into the São Francisco. In 1980, the population of the municipality was 37,057 inhabitants, of whom 11,714 lived in the urban area and 25,343 in the rural area, including the indigenous population.
The nickname Garrincha comes from one of his sisters. She would have nicknamed him after a bird that was difficult to hunt and very common in the region where they lived. Idol of Botafogo and of the Brazilian national team, the eternal number 7 shirt is still considered today the greatest dribbler of all time.
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Source: Terra
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
