The article aims to reflect on and understand the historical and economic context at the time of creation of the "Projeto Grande Carajás" (pgc) in Brazil, as well as to briefly present its goals and structure, and its positive and negative consequences for the Amazon. The methodology is the bibliographical research of published works on the subject. The article concludes that the pgc brought about some benefits for the Amazon region, but also detrimental effects on nature, emphasizing the negative consequences that it had on indigenous populations. It interweaves some criticisms about the role of Funai at the time of its implementation, which virtually ceased to exercise its constitutional function in reference to the rights of indigenous peoples, and about the Brazilian military state, which tried to develop the region based on a planning inconsistent with the reality of indigenous peoples.