Ethnography in South America: The First Two Hundred Years

Abstract

The arrival of Europeans on the South American continent occasioned much writing of diverse kinds. This chapter examines the development of European ideas about "Indians", and some consequences of these ideas. Many of the early ethnographic works about South America were written by Spaniards. Individuals who spoke Guaraní either as their mother tongue or as a second language are most frequently mentioned as translators in the European sources. Some of the translators were prisoners of war who had learned a second language in captivity and were handed over to the Spanish along with items of food. The Portuguese occupation of the coast of Brazil pushed Indians inland and occasioned several migrations of Tupinamba Indians in search of a land without evil. Increasingly, this meant a land without Portuguese. Furthermore, the presence in Indian villages of missionaries, representatives of an alien and ever more dominant culture, changed the fabric of Indian life bringing it more in line with what Europeans expected.