book chapter

Descriptive treatise on Brazil in 1587

Revista do Instituto Historico e Geographico do BrazilRio De Janeiro • Published In 1851 • Pages: 94-347 [incomplete]

By: Soares de Souza, Gabriel, Métraux, Alfred.

Abstract
This bulky work (365 pages) was written in the second half of the sixteenth century by a Portuguese who resided in Brazil for a long time. It is a complete description of the colony from the geographical, botanical, zoological and anthropological points of view. The author resided mainly in the region of Bahia and the Tupi tribe which he describes is the one that lived around that city. Soares de Souza gives valuable historical information on the Tupinamba and their migrations. The anthropological section contains many minute details which he alone gives; unfortunately, however, his style is clumsy and sometimes obscure. He also mentions the culture traits that differentiated the coastal Tupi tribes. In the botanical section there are many data on economy. He also carefully defines the geographical boundaries of various Indian tribes, Tupi and Tapuya.
Subjects
Hunting and trapping
Fishing
Cannibalism
Warfare
Aftermath of combat
Burial practices and funerals
Sex
culture
Tupinamba
HRAF PubDate
2003
Region
South America
Sub Region
Eastern South America
Document Type
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator Type
Unknown
Document Rating
3: Good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent
Analyst
Alfred Métraux ; 1971
Field Date
1570-1587
Coverage Date
1570-1587
Coverage Place
Bahia, Brazil
Notes
Gabriel Soares de Souza
This document consists of excerpts
Translation of: [Tratado descriptivo do Brazil em 1587]
The original Portuguese text is not included
Translated for the HRAF files by prior to 1956
LCCN
98648817
LCSH
Tupinamba Indians