Chief Tibiriçá (died 1562) baptized as Martim Afonso was an

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

leader who converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

under the auspices of

José de Anchieta José de Anchieta y Díaz de Clavijo, SJ (Joseph of Anchieta; 19 March 1534 – 9 June 1597) was a Canarian Jesuit missionary to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in the second half of the 16th century. A highly influential figure in Brazil's h ...

. He led the

Tupiniquim people Tupiniquim (also Tupinã-ki, Topinaquis, Tupinaquis, Tupinanquins; plural: Tupiniquins) are an indigenous people of Brazil of the Tupi family, who now live in three indigenous territories (''Terras Indígenas'' in Portuguese). The indigenou ...

of Piratininga and other tribes. His daughter, Bartira, took the name Isabel and married a Portuguese man named João Ramalho. After his conversion to Christianity he became a strategic ally and protector of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and the Portuguese; his name appears on letters to Saint

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

and King João III of Portugal. Tibiriçá chose to side with the Jesuits and against his own brother Piquerobi with help of his nephew and his son-in-law João Ramalho. His granddaughters and their descendants married Portuguese noblemen that led the colonization of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

under

Martim Afonso de Sousa Martim Afonso de Sousa ( – 21 July 1564) was a Portuguese '' fidalgo'', explorer and colonial administrator. Life Martim Afonso de Sousa was born in Vila Viçosa, and had been raised in the Duke of Bragança household and was a personal fri ...

, including Jorge Ferreira, Domingos Luiz (a knight of the Order of Christ), and Tristão de Oliveira, son of capitão-mor Antonio de Oliveira and Genebra Leitão de Vasconcelos, both of important noble families.

Etymology

The writer Eduardo Bueno, based on Teodoro Sampaio, says that "Tibiriçá" means ''"watchman of the land"'' in Tupi, also fitting the expression ''"sentinel of the mountains"''. The writer and researcher Clóvis Chiaradia states that Tibiriçá comes from the Tupi Tibi-r-eçá (tibi, "''your land"'' + eçá, ''"eye"'', ''"to see"'' or ''"seen"''), meaning ''"the watchman of the land"'', agreeing with Eduardo Bueno and Teodoro Sampaio. Tupinologist

Eduardo de Almeida Navarro Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (born 20 February 1962) is a Brazilian philologist and lexicographer, specialist in Old Tupi and Nheengatu. He is a full professor at the University of São Paulo, where he has been teaching Old Tupi since 1993, a ...

argues that "Tibiriçá" and "Tebireçá" come from the Tupi ''tebiresá'', which means ''"eye of the buttocks"'' (tebira, ''"buttock"'' + esá, ''"eye"'').

Biography

He was converted and baptized by the

and Leonardo Nunes. His Christian baptismal name was Martim Afonso, in honor of the founder of São Vicente,

, changing his name to Martim Afonso Tibiriçá. He was head (''Morubixaba'', in

old tupi Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

) of a part of the indigenous nation established in the fields of Piratininga, based in the village of Inhampuambuçu. He was the brother of Piquerobi and Caiubi, indigenous men who stood out during the Portuguese colonization of Brazil: the first, as an enemy of the Portuguese; and the second, as a great collaborator of the Jesuits. He had many children. With the Indian Potira, he had Ítalo, Ará, Pirijá, Aratá, Toruí, Bartira and Maria da Gra. Bartira would marry João Ramalho, of whom Tibiriçá was a great friend and at the request of which he defended the Portuguese when they arrived in São Vicente. In 1554, he accompanied Manuel da Nóbrega and Anchieta in the work of founding São Paulo and established himself in the place where the São Bento Monastery is now located, scattering the natives throughout the vicinity. The current Rua de São Bento was, for this reason, originally called Martim Afonso (the name in which the cacique was baptized). Thanks to his influence, the Jesuits were able to group the first neophyte huts in the vicinity of the college. In the attack known as the Siege of Piratininga, Tibiriçá gave the Jesuits the greatest proof of fidelity on July 9, 1562 (not the 10th as is usually written), when, while raising the flag and a wooden sword painted and decorated in different colors, he bravely repelled the attack on the village of São Paulo carried out by the Tupi, Guaianás and Carijós Indians and led by his nephew Jaguaranho (son of Piquerobi). During the fighting, Tibiriçá killed his brother Piquerobi and his nephew Jaguaranho. Tibiriçá died on December 25, 1562, as José de Anchieta attests in his letter sent to Father Diogo Laínes, due to a plague that devastated the village. His remains are found in the crypt of the Catedral da Sé (

São Paulo Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Assumption and Saint Paul (), also known as the See Cathedral (), is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Paulo, Brazil. Its current and seventh metropolitan archbishop is Dom Odil ...

). In his honor, the state highway SP-031, linking Ribeirão Pires to Suzano, was named Índio Tibiriçá, in addition to having his name on two streets in the capital, one in Luz and the other in Brooklin Paulista.

Descendants

Tibiriçá has left many descendants in Brazil and elsewhere, via his daughters, who had offspring with Portuguese settlers. The author Amador Bueno and his descendants, for example. In 1580, Susana Dias, his granddaughter, founded a farm on the banks of the

Tietê River The Tietê River ( ) is a Brazilian river in the state of São Paulo. The first known use of the name Tietê was on a map published in 1748 by d’Anville. The name means "truthful river", or "truthful waters”, in Tupi. The Tietê River i ...

, west of the city of São Paulo, near the waterfall called "Parnaíba" by the indigenous people: today it is the city of Santana de Parnaíba.

Queen Silvia of Sweden Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Vict ...

is one of numerous descendants of Susana Dias. His ancestry is described in the Genealogia Paulistana, by Luís Gonzaga da Silva Leme.GONZAGA DA SILVA LEME, Luís ''Genealogia Paulistana, Volume I''São Paulo. Duprat & Comp. 1903. p. 30.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tibirica Indigenous Brazilian people Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions Year of birth unknown 1562 deaths Tupiniquim people 16th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas