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In 1645, a bloody war raged between Dutch settlers and the Portuguese empire over the sugar plantations of north-east Brazil. Trapped on either side of the conflict were the Potiguara, a powerful indigenous nation. They formed two different groups, each with its own leader, and each sided with one of the two European nations. At the
time, their leaders wrote a series of letters in the Tupi language, enticing their relatives to desert their lot and join enemy lines.
Now, a painstaking new translation of the correspondence has been hailed as a “huge achievement in casting new light on these unique sources written by a native people. The forthcoming publication is the fruit of 30 years of work by Eduardo de Almeida Navarro, a specialist in classical indigenous languages at the University of São Paulo.
The letters were first uncovered in the Dutch archives in 1885, but the texts were blotted and jumbled. Many words were not in existing glossaries of Tupi. avarro spent decades compiling a comprehensive ancient
Tupi dictionary, which helped him fully translate the letters, revealing the desperate efforts of the Potiguara chiefs to save their people from destruction.
“Its hugely exciting to be able to make this contribution to the history of my country,” said Navarro.
Internet: theguardian.com (adapted).
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