António Raposo Tavares

António Raposo Tavares
Statue of António Raposo Tavares at the Museum of Ipiranga
Born	1598 São Miguel do Pinheiro, Kingdom of Portugal
Died	1658 (aged 59–60) São Paulo, Brazil
Nationality	Portuguese
Occupation	Explorer
Known for	Expanding the Portuguese territory in the colony of Brazil.

António Raposo Tavares o Velho (Portuguese: the old one) (1598–1658) was a Portuguese colonial bandeirante who explored mainland eastern South America and claimed it for Portugal, extending the territory of the colony beyond the limits imposed by the treaty of Tordesillas. He also led the largest expedition ever made in the Americas, covering over 10,000 kilometres (over 6,200 mi) around South America, unifying completely the two large South American river basins and the Andes in a single voyage. Raposo Tavares departed from São Paulo towards the rivers of the Río de la Plata Basin (mainly the Paraguay River) and the Andean slopes, and from there to Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon. Raposo Tavares was partly of Jewish origin according to the Jewish historian Anita Novinsky.

Tavares was born in São Miguel do Pinheiro, Alentejo, Portugal in 1598. He sailed for South America in 1618 with his father Fernão Vieira Tavares. In 1622, after his father died, he settled around São Paulo; six years later, in 1628, he left the village with the first bandeira composed of 900 settlers and 2000 Tupi warriors. This voyage was started to hunt the heretics down and to capture more indigenous slaves (mostly Tupi, Tememinos and Carijós). The bandeirantes first attacked some Guarani villages in the upper Parana valley, which were protected by the Spanish Jesuits and brutally killed many people, capturing 2500 Indians. This journey allowed the annexation of a portion of the land east of the Uruguay River (current states of Paraná and Santa Catarina) to the Portuguese colony.