The Tupi people of Brazil expanded more than 2000 years ago. Expansion to the author means " spreading, or conquering of new regions without migration’s implication of an abandonment of previous territory" (Noelli 1998:659). The Tupi language has around 41 languages that spread several millennia ago throughout the eastern side of South America. The Tupi languages was spoken in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, however the most known and spoken languages from the 41 languages were Guarani and Tupinambá. The speakers of these languages are referred to as " Tupi". The language was learned between the 16th, 17th and 18th century and since the 19th century many scholars have been interested in the Tupi phenomenon, mainly because the Tupi differentiated through distinct historic and cultural processes while holding onto other common traditions.
Many people considered the Tupi people shifts as migration, however this term is only appropriate to describe the people who wanted to escape the the Europeans in AD 1500. The Tupian people who moved for reasons like demographic growth, the breaking-up of villages, forestry management did not migrate since they still held possession of their domains for a long period of time, (Noelli 1998:660) they simply expanded to new territories.
The expansion is seen as having two periods, a first alongside the principal rivers, a second colonizing the smaller tributaries. In the case of the Guarani, the author states that colonizations followed a north-south direction, from Amazonia to the mouth of the River Plate (Noelli 1998:661). However when moving up the Atlantic rivers into the hinterlands Guarani pottery in the Guarita tradition lost decorative techniques (modelling, excision and incision in fine and long lines) during the southward expansions outside Amazonia, through the Maderia and Guaporé rivers (Noelli 1998:661).
In terms of land, the Tupi people of Brazil were the most settled compared to the rest of the indigenous groups of Brazil. The management of crops and plant-gathering directly influenced the rhythm of expansion. While moving, the author addresses that the Tupi transported their plants with them and introduced them to the places they settled in (Noelli 1998:664). They transformed the primary place they settled in into known and productive areas. Moreover, the author believes that the "Tupi expansions is related to territoriality with its social units marked by consanguineous relations and alliances, what is called tekohá" (Noelli 1998:665).
In conclusion, Archaeology and linguistics proved that the Tupi people remained in the same place from which they moved from. "Several groups of Tupian people may have lived for at least 5,000 years in the Guaporé basin and adjacent regions" (Noelli 1998:665).
Reference :
Noelli, Francisco S.
1998 The Tupi Exansion. In The Handbook Of South America Archaeology. Helaine Silverman and Willan H. Isbell, eds. Pp. 659-670. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Since I come from Oman, our first language is very similar to the rest of the middle east. When traveling I find it very easy to communicate with people living there since although the language “ Arabic” Varies from place to place such as the pronunciation basically the accent, It is still easy to understand and communicate. However the Tupi People of Brazil Spoke 41 different languages. I come from a place where one tribe just speaks one language, so I was shocked when coming to learn that about the Tupi People and I was also curious how they communicated with one another. One downside the Tupi people faced in the early centuries was that they had a hard time communicating with one an other with all the different languages they had.
ReplyDeleteThe Tupi people got their lands taken away by the Europeans and were also forced to change their beliefs. Nowadays in American, everyone has their freedom of speech, No one is forced to change their beliefs and sometimes people take that for granted, when it should be considered a privilege. Moreover, when talking about the Tupi people of brazil I should be culture sensitive towards them, since I grew up in Oman which has a very different culture compared to them I would not want to sound ethnocentric towards them. Although I was taught and brought up in a different way, that does not mean that the Tupi people are wrong, and what they believed in was wrong. Most people looked down upon the Tupi people and considered them savages since they were cannibals, but people should look at it in their perspective and not judge the indigenous group based on one aspect, they also influenced brazil in many positive ways.
As a Young women who gets the privilege to travel on her own to purse her education, I sometimes take it for granted, the Tupi woman have no say in what they do, they should just follow the leaders of the family who are men. I live in a society where woman have their own voice unlike the Tupian woman and for that I am greateful.