This information came from 'ARMIES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY': 2:The armies of the Aztec and Inca Empires, other native peoples of the Americas, and the Conquistadores 1450-1608. Organization, warfare, dress and weapons; 247 illustrations; by IAN HEATH. First published in Great Britain in 1999 by Foundry Books. Copyright 1999 by Ian Heath.
This book has invaluable information for those interested in the Indians of the Americas and would be well worth purchasing.
This section of the web site will be devoted to historical tidbits on some of the ranges and figures we carry or are interested in. References will be given so that you can look up information and so that due credit can be given to the authors.
TUPÍ INDIANS (South America 1500-1600)
The large cannibalistic TUPÍ tribe was one of the first that the Portuguese and Spaniards came into contact with when they with they landed on the coast of Brazil. The term "TUPÍ" actually embraced numerous related tribes which included the Tupeinambá (including the Tamoyo and Arape), Tupinikin or (Margaya), Tobayara, Potiguara, Tupina, Temiminó and Caeté. These tribes had only recently migrated into the coastal lands, driving out the Gê-speaking peoples who had previously occupied the same coastal region. By the time the Spaniards and Portuguese had first contact with this tribe, they had overrun most of the Brazilian coastline from the mouth of the Amazon southwards beyond modern São Paulo. Each tribe consisted of many palisaded villages that were made up of between four to eight communal houses. Each of these communal houses could accommodate up to 30 families. The villages were known to move location about once every five years. The Potiguara were considered the most powerful, united and largest TUPÍ tribe of any in Brazil. Gabriel Soares de Sousa reports that they were able to field armies somewhere in the range of 20,000 men.
There was constant inter-tribal warfare. This conflict provided victims for their sacrificial rituals and cannibalism. The various TUPÍ tribes delighted in allying themselves with the Portuguese and French invaders against each other.
The principal weapon among the TUPÍ was a bow that we believe to be 6½-7 feet long and made of red or black wood. It appears that the stave was decorated with inlaid marquetry patterns using coloured wood. The bow-string was dyed either green or red and the bow was extremely heavy. Much heavier than the Spaniards or Portuguese could handle or shoot with any speed. However, the Indians could draw and shoot them so fast, holding their supply of arrows in the same hand that they held the bow, that they rarely missed their mark, no matter how difficult.
The arrows were an ell long (45in.) and were made of reed with flights consisting of two long feathers usually rose coloured, red. blue, green and such colors. They were tipped with fish or animal teeth, bone or barbed heads carved from hayri. Simply put, they had their tips sharpened and fire-hardened. After the arrival of the French and Portuguese these traditional arrowheads began to eventually be replaced by nails and other types of iron blade. The TUPÍ arrows were know to penetrate the quilted breastplates or curates.
The other main weapon was the tacape. This as a flat, paddle-shaped club made of heavy black or red woo,. It had an oval or circular head which was about an inch thick with very sharp edges. This was a long club, usually 5-6 ft., and usually was wielded with two hands. Like the bow, it often had a pattern of coloured wood inlaid into it and particularly during celebrations, it was often decorated with feathers.
Fighting was used as a means of exacting revenge and taking prisoners. They usually would skirmish together at night, delighting on surprising enemy settlements rather than having pitched battles with them. These attacks were usually launched at dawn to the sound of gourd trumpets and with fire arrows being shot into the roofs of the huts . The villagers would then be killed or captured as they fled. If a village was expecting an attack, they would plant swathes of wooden spikes beyond the palisade, hoping to gall and/or pierce the feet of their enemies, hoping that their screams of pain would warn them of the attack.
I imagine it was a strange sight to see two or three thousand naked men on opposing sides shooting with bows and arrows at one another, hopping about with great agility from one spot to another so that it would be hard to be hit, and shouting and crying loudly. Men hit by arrows just simply tore them out and returned to the fight..
In melee, they would charge one another with their great wooden swords and clubs, with two handed blows. It would become a fight to the finish, with each warrior fighting as long as he could move his arms or legs.
All of those taken alive, no matter who, were sacrificially executed and eaten. However, all were not eaten straight away. Some lived for considerable time after capture, having time to marry and bear children during their captivity. In other words, the tribe was never with an empty pantry!
There appeared to be no order or discipline in their fights except that they seem to follow the counsels of the old men. They fought in a disorderly fashion and quarreled among themselves because they had no commanders to restrain them.
Those TUPÍ living on the coast or along the great rivers usually traveled by canoes. These canoes were made out of the trunk of a single tree and were to a point sea worthy. Each canoe could carry up to 20-30 warriors.
PHYSICAL COLOR
The TUPÍ were thought to be a "tawny" shade, similar to the Spaniards or Provencals.
DRESS
Most of the clothes they possessed were traded for among the Portuguese and distributed among them by the French. But mostly they only wore and occasional penis-string. Sometime the old men wore a sheath of leaves round the genitals, but for the most part they were naked, especially in battle.
They chose to decorate themselves for battle with paint and or by using resin to glue finely-chopped colorful feathers, mainly red and white, to their bodies. Apparently sometimes the feathers were so thick that you could only see their legs. They often painted themselves completely, sometimes all in one color which was usually black or bluish black. They often would paint one arm and leg black and the other red, or mix them up, or paint themselves in a chequered pattern. They often like to blacken their legs or thighs black. Thevet records the men's bodies being painted with figures of birds or waves of the sea. They also liked to paint their eyelids and over their eyebrows with figures of white and black, blue and red. They would often paint their forehead from temple to temple with black. They also could be extensively scarred or tattooed. Sometime they would cut a long scar with black pigment rubbed into it, for every enemy slain, so that part of the body grew according to the number of victims killed or captured. Sometime the scars covered them from head to toe.
They also wore colorful feather head-dress. They were also known to wear caps of red, yellow and green feathers, mainly for feast or ceremonial occasions. Red feathers were worn on the head to distinguish friends from foe.
In other words, these were unconventionally colorful characters!!
Trophy teeth from their victims were strung and worn as a necklace. The chieftains like to wear long necklaces of snow-white snail-shell beads wound several times around the their neck. They also sported sharp bone, white, blue or green stone lip-plugs. Almost every TUPÍ had "three holes in the lower lip and would wear stones hanging down from them." Some chieftains and medicine-men wore up to seven similar plugs in their cheeks. Some would have holes in their eyebrow and ears. These stones would be bits of marble, crystals, alabaster, very white bones. To find out more detail, please read the book.
TUPÍ WARRIOR
The TUPÍ warrior was thought to have worn a "feather skirt" or "hoop" that was made of bright parrot type colored feathers that covered only the private parts and backside. Their are 4 lovely illustrations of these unusual feather skirts or hoops in this book.
The shields carried by the TUPÍ were usually very long. However, some were oval and of no great size. Probably there was great variations from tribe to tribe, so you could probably use what ever you wanted. They seem to be fashioned out of manatee or tapir hide or some kind of bark. The ones made of hide were painted in diverse colors. They were used mainly to deflect arrows and probably not during hand to hand battle. It is possible that not all tribes had shields.
TUPI WOMEN
On long expeditions, the women would go along and carry all the provisions needed such as hammocks. They were also to prepare all their food. These possessions were carried in a basket on their back. It is thought that the young unmarried women wore their hair long and flowing while the older or married women would wear their hair braided in a single long think braid. It is thought that some women would cut their hair and go into battle. Some of them painted their bodies but I am not sure if they fought naked. Maybe they just helped provide the warriors with arrows and food.