Tupí-Guaraní

Tupí-Guaraní, South American language family of the Tupian language stock, composed of more than 35 indigenous languages. The term can also refer to indigenous South Americans who speak one of the Tupí-Guaraní languages. These languages are spoken mainly in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and French Guiana. The most widely spoken Tupí-Guaraní language is Guaraní, which is one of the official languages of Paraguay.

At an early period, the eastern Tupí-Guaraní tribes were gathered into communal villages, called reducciones, by Jesuit missionaries. With the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America in the 18th century, the missions were broken up, with the more Europeanized people incorporating into the Spanish settlements and the others moving into the unexplored western wilderness. The Tupí-Guaraní people depended on hunting and fishing and, to a lesser extent, on agriculture for sustenance. They were expert stoneworkers and potters.

See also Native Americans of Middle and South America: Brazilian Highlands.