Tupi people
| Albert Eckhout's painting of the Tupi | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Historical:
1,000,000
| |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Central and Coastal Brazil | |
| Languages | |
| Tupi languages, later língua geral, much later Portuguese | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous, later Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Guaraní tribes |
The Tupi people, a subdivision of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic families, were one of the largest groups of indigenous peoples in Brazil before its colonization. Scholars believe that while they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, from about 2,900 years ago the Tupi started to migrate southward and, from around 1,000 years ago, gradually occupied the Atlantic coast of Southeast Brazil.
Many Tupi people today are merged with the Guaraní people, forming the Tupi–Guarani languages. The Guarani languages are a subdivision of the Tupian languages.