O que as penas das aves nos contam sobre a história de São Paulo?

Globalization and Tupi women labor in the Sixteenth Century

Abstract

This article discuses about the historical agency of Tupi-Guarani women through the interpretation of chronicles, maps, and paintings. Studying these representations, I reflect about the material culture regarding the use of feathers of birds of the South American fauna, specially by Tupi women. In this sense, both local birds and animal goods were items highly used in exchanges between European and native peoples during the sixteenth century. It is stablished at San Vicente, in Portuguese America, as the focal point of the commerce of animals and feathers goods in the southern portion of the continent. On the other hand, based on recent researches, I point out the participation of indigenous women in exchanges relations, in the production of goods and the dismantling of the birds.