Paulistas

The Paulistas are the people who come from the Brazilian state of São Paulo. During the colonial period, it became synonymous with the term Caipira, and centuries later, due to its historical relationship with the bandeiras, with São Paulo being the cradle of several explorers and their starting point, the term Bandeirante also came to serve as a synonym to designate them; São Paulo, likewise, came to be known as the Bandeirante state. The population is known for its rich diversity of cultural and religious manifestations, with the interior of São Paulo being the place of origin of the Caipira culture (including the Caipira dialect, cuisine and Caipira music), and its coastline, the cradle of the Caiçara culture.

The Paulista language, of Tupi origin, but with elements of Portuguese, Spanish and Guarani, was their native language for many years; in addition to São Paulo, it was also spoken in Paraná, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Goiás due to the influence of the Bandeirantes, but gradually fell into disuse with external cultural influence, until it disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, being one of the origins of the Caipira dialect, which went on to preserve various terms.

Due to conflicts, in the 18th century there was a large diaspora of Paulistas who lived in the region that now corresponds to Minas Gerais, and many of them settled in the Center-West of Brazil, contributing to the spread of the Caipira culture and the natural formation of a Paulista/Caipira cultural region called Paulistânia. Estimates suggest that more than 2 million Paulistas are spread throughout Brazil, with 680,000 living in the South, 600,000 in other states in the Southeast, 530,000 in the Northeast, 490,000 in the Midwest and more than 90,000 in the North; in countries such as the United States, more than 80,000 live legally, in Japan another 40,000 live, and around 19,000 are in Spain.

“Race of giants” in Portuguese: raça de gigantes is an epithet referring to the old Paulista explorers, used by the French naturalist Augustin Saint-Hilaire when describing the challenges they endured during their expeditions into the backcountry. In the 20th century, the term was invoked in works referring to a historiographical lineage that argued in favor of the biological and political superiority of the Paulista people.