The Caipira people (pronounced [kaiˈpi.ɹa] in Caipira dialect) are an ethnographic group originally from the state of São Paulo. They are also distributed mainly among the Brazilian states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná, and historically associated with the colonization of the mountainous regions of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. During the colonial period, their main mechanism of communication was the Paulista general language, which was spread to other regions by the Bandeirantes; today they have their own dialect, in which some elements of the Paulista and the Galician-Portuguese language have been preserved.
The Caipira people and its culture is considered by intellectuals as an evolution of the old Paulista society and the Bandeirante culture. The areas where Caipira culture was introduced are grouped into a single region known as Paulistânia, a cultural and geographical concept that began to gain prominence in the 20th century.