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| This article is part of the Brazilian History series. |
| Indigenous peoples |
| Colonial Brazil |
| Empire of Brazil |
| 1889-1930 |
| 1930-1945 |
| 1945-1964 |
| 1964-present |
The indigenous people of Brazil (povos indígenas in Portuguese) comprise a large number of ethnic groups who lived in the country's present territory before its discovery by Europeans around 1500. Like Columbus, who thought he had reached the "Indies" (East Asia), the first Portuguese explorers called them índios (indians); and that name is still used today in Brazil.
The Brazilian indigenous peoples were mostly semi-nomadic tribes who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture. Many of the groups which existed in 1500 died out as a consequence of the European settlement, and many were absorbed into the Brazilian population. The indigenous population has declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimted 5-6 million to just 100,000 in 1950. Only a few tribes still survive in their original lifestyle in remote corners of the Amazon rainforest. However, changes in government policies over the past fifty years have managed to afford some protection to the remaining indians, and the population has risen again to some 300,000 (1997), grouped into some 200 tribes.
Brazilian indians made substantial and pervasive contributions to the country's material and cultural development — such as the domestication of cassava, which is still a major staple food in rural areas of the country.
The origins of the first Brazilians are still a matter of dispute among archaeologists. The traditional view, which traces them to Siberian migration to America at the end of the last ice age, has been increasingly challenged by South American archaeologists.
anthropological and genetic evidence strongly indicates that most Native American peoples descend from people from Northeast Asia (Siberia) who entered America in at least three separate waves. In Brazil, particularly, most indian tribes who were living in the land by 1500 descended from the first wave of migrants, who are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait at the end of the last ice age, around 9,000 BC.
This migrant wave would have reached Brazil around 6,000 BC, probably entering the Amazon region from the Northwest. (The second and third migratory waves from Siberia, which are thought to have generated the Athabascan and Eskimo peoples, apparently did not reach farther than the southern United States and Canada, respectively.)
The traditional view above has recently been challenged by findings of human remains in South America, which are claimed to be too old to fit this scenario — perhaps even 20,000 years old. Also, some recent finds (notably the Luzia skeleton in Lagoa Santa) are claimed to be morphologically distinct from the Asian hunters and more similar to African and Australian natives.
These American Aborigines would have been entirely displaced or absorbed by the later Siberian immigrants. The distinctive indians of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the American continent, may have been the last remains of that aboriginal populations.
While the archaeological evidence for the older population seems too strong to ignore, this theory is still resisted by many scientists because of the apparent lack of a viable route for migration, either from Oceania of from Africa.
In any case, the bulk of the archaeological evidence that has survived dates from the period after the Asian migratory waves. The indians of Brazil, unlike their cousins in Mesoamerica and West of the Andes, did not keep written records or erect stone monuments; and the humid climate and acidic soil have conspired to destroy almost all traces of their material culture, including wood and bones. Therefore, what we know about the social and political history before 1500 is what we could infer from such meager evidence as pottery finds and stone arrowheads.
The most conspicuous remains of pre-discovery societies are very large mounds of discarded shellfish (sambaquís) found in some coastal sites which were continuously inhabited for over 5,000 years; and the substantial "black earth" (terra preta) deposits in several places along the Amazon, which are believed to be ancient garbage dumps. Indeed, recent excavations of such deposits in the middle and upper course of the Amazon have uncovered remains of some very large settlements, containing tens of thousands of homes, indicating a complex social and economical structure.
The first Brazilians appear to have subsisted from hunting, fishing, and gathering. They used bone and chipped stone tools and weapons, similar to those found throughout the Americas at comparable dates. Eventually those were replaced by polished stone tools.
Pottery was introduced at a very early date; indeed the earliest ceramic finds in the Americas are from the Amazon region, which may indicate a local invention and cultural diffusion from South to North, opposite to the generally expected trend. Brazilain potters used sophisticated materials (such as microscopic silica spikes obtained from certain freshwater sponges) to make fine utilitarian and ceremonial vessels, with intricate carved, molded, and painted decoration. However they did not know the potter's wheel or the vitreous glazes.
The evolution of pottery styles in various locations indicates a complex pattern of internal migrations and replacement. In particular, is seems that the Tupi-Guarani indians — which by 1500 were a major ethnic family East of the Andes — originated as a small tribe in the Amazon region, and migrated to their historic range — from Central Brazil to Paraguay — sometime in the first millennium AD.
At some point, Brazilian indians developed or learned the technique of agriculture. Some crops (like maize) were imported from the more advanced civilizations West of the Andes, while cassava, which became the main staple for many populations, appears to have been developed locally.
Brazilian indians had no domesticated animals that could be used for transportation or plowing, so agriculture was carried out entirely by hand power. That involved cutting down the jungle to create a clearing, burning the dead wood in place to free its mineral nutrients, planting the crops and harvesting. Usually two or three crops were planted together. Fields would be abandoned and rebuilt frequently.
Brazilian indians manufactured an alcoholic beverage, cauim, from fermented maize or cassava — a custom which they probably imported from beyond the Andes, together with agriculture.
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