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This region is part of the great Pantanal area, which the old explorers used to call "The Xaraiés Sea". The Cadiueus Indians - descendants of the old Guaicurú tribe and the only knight warriors in Brazil - still live here.
The Guaicurus, brave warriors who distinguished themselves by their leadership and strategy, helped the Portuguese to maintain its hold on Brazil during the 16th century so it wouldn't be under Spanish dominion.
During the Paraguai War (1864-1870), which was the longest armed conflict in South America, the Cadiueus fought alongside the Brazilians. This is the reason why they had part of their land acknowledged and live today in the Terra Indígena reserve in Serra da Bodoquena.
The colonization in the lands close to the mountain range started only in the 1830s. However, it was with the creation by the government of an agricultural community in 1948 that, in 1950, the first peasants settled permanently on the land where today is the town of Bodoquena.
The town of Bodoquena used to be a district of Miranda named Campão until 1982, when it got its emancipation and became Bodoquena, which in the Indian language means "Marsh on the mountain".