快猫短视频

The Tupi people, who originated in what is now Brazil, probably spread out from this ancestral location following climatic change.

The language they speak, also called Tupi, is one of the most widespread language families among the Indigenous peoples of South America, and emerged about 5000 years ago in the south-west Amazon.

at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and his colleagues explored just how it came to be so widespread by simulating different scenarios for human expansion in South America. The team discovered that increased forest cover resulting from climatic changes may have played a role in the expansion of the Tupi throughout the continent.

鈥淲e found that the movement of the Tupi group was constrained by the forest,鈥� says de Souza. 鈥淭hey were essentially looking for forested areas when they were expanding.鈥�

Around 2000 to 3000 years ago, parts of the Tupi group left the Amazon to occupy other parts of South America, including the Brazilian coast. This movement coincides with a period 鈥� about 3000 years ago 鈥� when the continent鈥檚 climate became increasingly humid. The higher humidity may have resulted in forest expansion, which was ideal for the migrating Tupi, who were forest farmers.

However, other factors also seem to be at play, says de Souza. 鈥淭here are some discrepancies in the timing of the colonisation of certain areas that cannot be explained by climate change alone,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ne of the factors that we are not taking into account is relationships with other groups of people, for example conflicts or areas that were already densely settled by other people.鈥�

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