Tupi people

Lore & Background

The Tupi people inhabited 3/4 of all of Brazil's coast when the Portuguese first arrived there. In 1500, their population was estimated at 1 million people. They were divided into tribes, each tribe numbering from 300 to 2,000 people. Some examples of these tribes are: Tupiniquim, Tupinambá, Potiguara, Tabajara, Caeté, Tamoios, and Temiminó. The Tupi were adept agriculturalists; they grew cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, beans, peanuts, tobacco, squash, cotton, and many others. There was not a unified Tupi identity despite the fact that they spoke a common language. According to Eduardo Navarro, the different Tupi peoples believed they descended from a mythological character called Tupi. Because of this, many Tupi tribes had ethnonyms that began with 'tupi', such as the Tupinambá, the Tupiniquim, the Tupiguaé, and the Tupiminó. However, the main cult among the Tupi who inhabited the coast of Brazil in the 16th century was not that of Tupi, but that of Tupã, the thunder, who was not actually a god, but rather a manifestation of the god Nhanderuvuçu. Catholic priests chose Tupã as a symbol for the Christian God and associated Jurupari with the Christian devil. The Tupi practiced cannibalism in rituals, capturing enemies to eat them, believing this allowed them to absorb the captured warriors' strength. They also ate the remains of dead relatives as a form of honoring them. The practice was made famous in Europe by Hans Staden, a German soldier captured by the Tupi in 1552. Some academics have disputed the existence of cannibalism among the Tupi, but most Brazilian scholars attest to its cultural centrality. When the Portuguese arrived, a process of mixing between Portuguese settlers and indigenous women started through 'cunhadismo', an old native tradition of incorporating strangers by offering an Indigenous woman as wife. This led to a large mixed-race population.

Reader's Guide

Upon discovering the existence of the Tupi people, Portuguese settlers assumed that they lacked any sort of religion, a belief that began the process of assimilating the Tupi to Christianity. The settlers began erecting villages for the Tupi, known as aldeias, with the intention of more disciplined religious conversion and institutionalization of European customs. The Portuguese settlers also considered the Tupi useful as laborers for cultivating and shipping exports and eventually enslaved the Tupi. Fatal Afro-Eurasian diseases spread on the plantations at which the Tupi worked. This combination of factors nearly led to their complete annihilation, with the exception of a few isolated communities. The remnants of these tribes are today confined to indigenous territories or acculturated to some degree into the dominant society. Cannibalistic rituals among Tupi and other tribes in Brazil decreased steadily after European contact and religious intervention. When Cabeza de Vaca arrived in Santa Catarina in 1541, he attempted to ban cannibalistic practices in the name of the King of Spain.

Did You Know?

• The Tupi population in 1500 was estimated at 1 million people.
• The Tupi grew crops such as cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, beans, peanuts, tobacco, squash, and cotton.
• The Tupi believed they descended from a mythological character called Tupi.
• The main cult among coastal Tupi in the 16th century was that of Tupã, the thunder, not Jurupari.
• Hans Staden, a German soldier, was captured by the Tupi in 1552 and wrote about his experience.