Indigenous peoples in Brazil in the context of "History of Brazil"

São Paulo (/ˌsaʊ ˈpaʊloʊ/, Portuguese: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ) is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. It is located in the Southeast Region and is bordered by the states of Minas Gerais to the north and northeast, Paraná to the south, Rio de Janeiro to the east and Mato Grosso do Sul to the west, in addition to the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is divided into 645 municipalities. The total area is 248,219.481 square kilometres (95,838.077 square miles) km, which is equivalent to 2.9% of Brazil's surface, being slightly larger than the United Kingdom. Its capital is the municipality of São Paulo.

With more than 44 million inhabitants in 2022, São Paulo is the most populous Brazilian state (around 22% of the Brazilian population), the world's 28th-most-populous sub-national entity and the most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, and the fourth-most-populous political entity of South America, surpassed only by the rest of the Brazilian federation, Colombia, and Argentina. The local population is one of the most diverse in the country and descended mostly from Italians, who began immigrating to the country in the late 19th century; the Portuguese, who colonized Brazil and installed the first European settlements in the region; Indigenous peoples, many distinct ethnic groups; Africans, who were brought from Africa as enslaved people in the colonial era and migrants from other regions of the country. In addition, Arabs, Armenians, Chinese, Germans, Greeks, Japanese, Spanish and American Southerners also are present in the ethnic composition of the local population.

Bandeirantes (Portuguese: [bɐ̃dejˈɾɐ̃tʃis]; lit. 'flag-carriers'; singular: bandeirante) were frontiersmen and explorers in colonial Brazil who, from the early 16th century, participated in inland expeditions to find precious metals and enslave indigenous peoples. They played a major role in expanding Brazil's borders to its approximate modern-day limits, beyond the boundaries demarcated by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas.

Most bandeirantes hailed from São Paulo, then a small village in the Captaincy of São Vicente from 1534 to 1709 and later the Captaincy of São Paulo from 1720 to 1821. Some bandeirantes were descended from Portuguese colonists who settled in São Paulo, but most were of mameluco descent with both Portuguese and indigenous ancestry. This was due to miscegenation being the norm in colonial Brazilian society, as well as polygamy.

Afro-Brazilians (Portuguese: Afro-brasileiros; pronounced [ˈafɾo bɾaziˈle(j)ɾus]), also known as Black Brazilians (Portuguese: Brasileiros negros), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are more evident are generally seen by others as Black and may identify themselves as such using the term preto, for instance. Those with less noticeable African features may not be seen as such, but nevertheless choose to identify themselves using the term pardo, negro, or afrodescendente. However, Brazilians rarely use the term "Afro-Brazilian" as a term of ethnic identity and never in informal discourse.

Preto ("black") and pardo ("brown/mixed") are among five ethnic categories used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), along with branco ("white"), amarelo ("yellow", ethnic East Asian), and indígena (indigenous). In the 2022 census, 20.7 million Brazilians (10,2% of the population) identified as preto, while 92.1 million (45,3% of the population) identified as pardo, together making up 55.5% of Brazil's population. The term preto is usually used to refer to those with the darkest skin colour, so as a result of this many Brazilians of African descent identify themselves as pardos. The Brazilian Black Movement considers pretos and pardos together as part of a single category: negros (Blacks). In 2010, this perspective gained official recognition when Brazilian Congress passed a law creating the Statute of Racial Equality. However, this definition is contested since a portion of pardos are acculturated indigenous people or people with indigenous and European rather than African ancestry, especially in Northern Brazil. A survey from 2002 revealed that if the pardo category were removed from the census, at least half of those identifying as pardo would instead choose to identify as black. Another survey from 2024 showed that only 40% of pardos consider themselves Black.

Tacuru is a city in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, located in the Midwest region of the country. The city is located on the border with Paraguay. Tacuru, which uses Guarani as an official language alongside Portuguese, is noted as one of the few cities in Brazil that have adopted an indigenous language as an official language.

The Landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in Porto Seguro in 1500 (Portuguese: Desembarque de Pedro Álvares Cabral em Porto Seguro em 1500) is an oil painting by the Brazilian artist Oscar Pereira da Silva. The work, which was completed in 1900, depicts the first landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral's ships in 1500 on the land of present-day Brazil and the first meeting between Portuguese and indigenous Brazilian people. It established Oscar Pereira da Silva (1867-1939) as a prominent painter on the Brazilian artistic scene of the early 20th century. Pereira da Silva's painting is one of the most-referenced images of Pedro Álvares Cabral's arrival in Brazil, and is widely used in both textbooks and other academic publications. The painting was well received by society and the press of the time; its representation of indigenous Brazilians has been subsequently reexamined.

In Brazil, an Indigenous territory or Indigenous land (Portuguese: Terra Indígena [ˈtɛʁɐ ĩˈdʒiʒẽnɐ], TI) is an area inhabited and exclusively possessed by Indigenous people. Article 231 of the Brazilian Constitution recognises the inalienable right of Indigenous peoples to lands they "traditionally occupy" and automatically confers them permanent possession of these lands.

A multi-stage demarcation process is required for a TI to gain full legal protection, and this has often entailed protracted legal battles. Even after demarcation, TIs are frequently subject to illegal invasions by settlers and mining and logging companies.

Antônio Gonçalves Dias (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈtoni.u ɡõˈsawviz ˈdʒiɐs, ɐ̃ˈtonju -]; August 10, 1823 – November 3, 1864) was a Brazilian Romantic poet, playwright, ethnographer, lawyer and linguist. A major exponent of Brazilian Romanticism and of the literary tradition known as "Indianism", he is famous for writing "Canção do Exílio" (arguably the most well-known poem of Brazilian literature), the short narrative poem I-Juca-Pirama, the unfinished epic Os Timbiras, and many other nationalist and patriotic poems that would award him posthumously with the title of national poet of Brazil. He was also an avid researcher of Native Brazilian languages and folklore.

He is the patron of the 15th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.