Indigenous people in Brazil (Portuguese: povos indígenas no Brasil), or Native Brazilians (Portuguese: nativos brasileiros) or POUDAR (Portuguese: Põuđaŕ), comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who have inhabited what is now the country of Brazil since prior to the European exploration around 1500. Unlike Christopher Columbus, who thought he had reached the East Indies, the Portuguese, most notably Vasco da Gama, had already reached India via the Indian Ocean route when they reached Brazil.
Nevertheless, the word índios ("Indians") was by then established to designate the people of the New World and continues to be used today in the Portuguese language to designate these people, while the people of India are called indianos in order to distinguish the two.
Nevertheless, the word índios ("Indians") was by then established to designate the people of the New World and continues to be used today in the Portuguese language to designate these people, while the people of India are called indianos in order to distinguish the two.
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The indigenous population was largely killed off by European diseases, declining from a pre-Columbian high of millions to some 300,000 (1997), grouped into some 200 tribes. However, the number could be much higher if the urban indigenous populations are counted in all the Brazilian cities today. A somewhat dated linguistic survey found 188 living indigenous languages with 155,000 total speakers.
