 Tembe was spoken by less than a quarter of its ethnic population of 820 in 2000; Guajajara, on the other hand, is more robust, being spoken by two thirds of its 20,000 people.Tenetehára speakers were first contacted in 1615 by a French expedition in the margins of the Pindaré river.They clashed against slaver raids until Jesuit missions were set up among them (1653-1755).