Hello guys, I always fall in love with the dedication Civ players have to create mods that add Native American civs to the Civ series games, but it always seems boring to me that almost all of them are from North American nations, and obviously disregarding the Mesoamerica and the Andes, the spotlight of native nations always seems to be there. Of course, I am not saying that representing the nations there without having is that of other places is "wrong", far from it they deserve to appear, they have their own trajectories and dramas like any other nation in the world, and I also do not blame not having these unrepresented South American (non-Andean) peoples, the way Civ needs leadership to have a civ leaves any inclusion of a native South American nation difficult to be "historically true".

But... in Humankind things are different, and faction creation does not depend on having a strong leader figure, this greater flexibility allows adding them without any problem.

Anyway, as you will see in the thread title, my intention here is to explore what types of cultures from the Brazilian territory could be implemented in the game, I just do not extend the area to the rest of South America because in relation to the cultures I will comment on here, I am not a person who is an expert on the subject, how much more I would say about that of other countries that I do not know the history perfectly. Well, I could end up talking nonsense but I will leave my opinions of what could be done to include them, because I want to know your opinion on this subject, so let's start:

TUPIS: Medieval Agrarian or Militarist - EU: Ubirajaras (Archer-Lancer) - EQ: Malocas (Commons Quarter or Hamlet)

The Tupis together with the Guarani (which I will talk about next) are probably the most well-known Amerindian cultures in Brazil, having part of their vocabulary and names still existing in Brazilian Portuguese today, they existed throughout the Brazilian coast at the time of discovery from Brazil, in a curious way even with all this geographic area, they all spoke the same language (the "Lingua Geral" which was a lingua franca in Brazil even with the Portuguese colonizing for a long time), it is credited that they dominated the region traveling from the north coast to the south in different sequences of migration generating some curious situations in which Tupi tribes tens of kilometers away used the same word with the same meaning to refer to themselves (as the name Tupinambá or Tupiníquim), despite this does not mean that each tribe does not have its own characteristics, most of which are enemies of each other (such as the Termiminós and Tamoios), which leads me to question whether it is correct to group them all in a single culture (the opinion of an expert would be very useful here). In general they put a great deal of knowledge of native foods and herbs from Brazil and could have a reason to give them the Agrarian bonus, but they also resisted colonization until integration into Brazilian culture or their extinction for decades.

To their EU, the Ubirajara is a title given to the best hunter warrior of a tribe, this being a skillful one with spears, the Tupi warfare had as its main weapon the use of the bow, and with that this could be a hybrid unit between archer and spearman, thus having a bonus with jungle combat (ah, this combat bonus will be recurrent, so get used to it). And EQ, Maloca is a house common to all people in a Tupi village, it could be translated with a specific Hamlet or a Commons Quarter that works to explore part of a region.

GUARANIS: E. Modern Militarist - EU: Guarani Fighter (Gunner-Archer) - EQ: Opy (Religious based Quarter)

The Guarani lived a situation very similar to that of the Tupis, but the difference is that they are found in the La Plata Basin and that they still exist today, as they are usually in the interior of the continent, the Guarani survived colonization, and it can be said that the greatest legacy besides the influence in the region is the current country of Paraguay (which is an excellent choice of Industrial / Contemporary culture); but let's go to their history: the most significant moment in the Guaranis' written history is the Guaranitic War, the war to expel the Jessuite missions from Portuguese territories, part of the Guarani in particular formed a syncretism with the Jessuites and the missions became formidable and during the war the Jessuits helped to arm and train Guarani for the defense of their lands, the invasion of Bandeirantes and the destruction of all missions in Portuguese territory is a very sad moment in Guarani history; they continued to be extremely important people during all the armed conflicts in the La Plata Basin and their story is much more complex than what I described here.

Well their EU has the name of Guarani because literally the word Guarani means warrior, in general I am referring to the Guarani resistance in the defense of the missions. And EQ is the Opy, it is a religious building, to portray the aspect of maintaining the guaranitic faith promoted by shaman-chiefs amid the catechesis of the missions. Anyway, I don't speak Guarani and I may well have mistaken the names used here, so take the nomenclature with a grain of salt.

MARAJOARAS: Medieval or Classical Aesthete(?) - EU: Icamiabas (Archer) - EQ: Tesos (Burial Mound)

Well, the Marajoaras, the most famous of the not famous Amerindians of Brazil in international terms, are a culture of collapse before the arrival of Europeans in the region where they lived, the islands of the Amazon delta, more specifically the island of Marajó, on these nodes we don't have a lot of information outside archeology, not to argue about which linguistic group they are or what their architecture was like since we have nothing left besides Tesos and its ceramics; now the reason for considering them as an Aesthete is that in a strange way this culture even without any confirmed descendants managed to influence the imaginary and arts of the state of Pará today, the art of Marajora (often mixed together with that of other cultures that disappeared from the region before Europeans) became a symbol of the region.

Now I must mention that in the lower Amazon there was also another very similar culture, the Tapajonians or Santarém culture (name of the city where it is located) that could be on that list but as there is less research on them I chose to only include the Marajoara.

Anyway about their EU, the Icamiabas or "broken breasts", before I need to tell you so far we don't have information about the warfare Marajora, so I chose to use a very emblematic warrior from the Amazon region; the Icamiabas are tribes of women warriors said to be formidable fighters and archers, and basically the reason why the Amazon has this name is because of them, "the amazons". The EQ, Tesos, are burial mounds that contain ornate funerary ceramics, these ceramics have different art patterns and have become the artistic symbol of the region's current handicrafts.

OMAGUAS or CAMBEBAS: Medieval or E. Modern Aesthete(?) - EU: Cambeba Canoes (Transport "Ship") - EQ:  Mudflat Yard (Farmers Quarter)

The Omaguas or Cambebas were a nation of the Upper Amazon living in principle on the part of the river between the city of Tefé in Brazil, going to Peru and Ecuador. They are a curious people for living almost exclusively on the fluvial islands of the Amazon for protection against other Amerindian peoples, and for having the habit of flattening their heads and also being the first humans to use rubber (as an ornament). The main source of information about them is the work of missionary Samuel Fritz who lived in their territory trying to catechize them. I am not so familiar with their history so I will not comment so much, but after the 18th century and that their territory was dominated by Tikuna tribes, and they participated in the Cabanagem Uprising along with other Amerindians.

Anyway about their EU: again as in almost all of Brazil, arches are their main weapon, but because their lives are in principle fluvial, I took the liberty of using the typical Amerindian canoes as a EU for them, because they have villages exclusively in islands it makes sense that they have a faster means of transport for gameplay purposes. As for EQ, they, like many others, make use of "black earth" and the palindium of mandionca as the main food outside the fishery, but the curiso and which they developed, living on islands, planting in mudflats.

XINGUANS or KUHIKUGUANS: Medieval or Classical Agrarian - EU: Zarabatana Scout - EQ:  Urban Orchards (Farmers Quarter)

The peoples of the Upper Xingu today live as a large community even though they are made up of different ethno-linguistic tribes, they can live in peace for more than centuries, that alone would be interesting but their pre-Columbian history is what impresses. Because there are only archaeological records and reports of oral tradition that are a bit "doubtful", deciphering this civilization from the same time as the Marajoara is a difficult task, but not impossible. The city of Kuhikugu is said to be the largest Amerindian city in Brazilian territory, having at its apex sustained about 50 thousand inhabitants, being a city with walls and having roads connecting other communities in the region. Kuhikugu got its name because the supposed descendants of that city are the Kuikuru tribe, despite indications that the region was inhabited since 1500 years ago, there are no indications of masonry, but there is the presence of walled orchards, aquaculture dams, trenches and protection fortifications. Kuhikugu was abandoned about 400 years ago, it is believed that the reason was the spread of Old World diseases; the city was only discovered in the last 50 years and there is not much information due to the lack of research on it and also that almost everything was taken over by the Amazon jungle.

Because there is so little concrete information about them, and also because of their possible decedents, they have virtually no conflict beyond the issue of the creation of the Xingu indigenous park, we are in a situation similar to that of the Harappans, I propose to use a sub-unit of the Horse Scoult unit that does not uses horses for their EU, and for greater distinction they are a ranged unit using blowguns (zarabatana in portuguese) as weapons and ignoring cost of movement penalty in jungles. Their EQ is based on the orchards they have built within their communities, it could also be their aquaculture dams although these are not so big for a quarter...

Other honorable mentions for Independent Peoples

These other peoples could also enter the list, but I have very little knowledge about them, but nothing would prevent them from appearing as Independent Peoples (minor factions), they are:
The Tapajonians - I've commented on them before
The Tikunas - they currently live where the Omaguas lived
The Cariris - they are a Gê nation that provoked conflict of the Confederation of the Cariris against the colonization of northeastern Brazil between 1682 and 1713, I just did not put them on the list because there is literally no solid information about them
The Mbayás - better known as Guaycurus being that offensive name given to them by the Guarani, are the main rival group to the Guarani and participated in the armed conflicts in the Gran Chaco region
The Yanomamis - were the last people with a large population to be "discovered" in the Alto Orinoco region, currently living with the dilemmas of finding themselves on the border between Brazil and Venezuela

Anyway, this text was big and I also did not comment on all the existing peoples in the Brazilian territory, remember that I may have spoken some nonsense here for not being an expert, but even so I wanted to share my thoughts; well, what do you think of these cultures? Would you like to see any of them in the game? If you have any idea of more concise designs, show it in the comments. This text posted a few hours ago on Humankind's redddit, if you want to take a look at the comments there, here's the link to the post there.

Similar points were brought up in a thread here. Since the devs have already chosen all of their cultures for medieval and earlier that means that this would have to be included in a DLC.

You've forgotten the Guaicurus. They would make up one of the most unique Native American cultures of the Southern Hemisphere.

3ldr1g0 wrote:

You've forgotten the Guaicurus. They would make up one of the most unique Native American cultures of the Southern Hemisphere.

Well the Embiás or Mbyás (Guycurus is an offensive name given by the Guaranis to them) are really interesting being able to use a horse EU but as I don't know them very well I have no idea what could be used as EQ, same reason for which I did not try to think of a design for the Cariris, I mentioned them to be an Indepedent People; if you have an idea of what EQ might look like, show it here;

KurouRingo wrote:
Very interesting read, my favourite are the Tupis, I like the mix of ranged and melee and the fact they get access to an influence-based EQ (Aka the Malocas). My second favourite would be the Omaguas which I would even dare to say might be the best choice for Medieval purely based on gameplay seen so far, since there is no other Aesthete culture in Medieval as of yet they could become a good choice if the legacy traits allow them, my only "problem" with them is the Canoes as an EU, if they exist in Medieval wouldn't this make them too similar to the Norsemen on this point ? After all from what I understand the Lankship is also a transport ship, they would then need a specificity to make them interesting ! About the legacy traits they are lacking in your descriptions, I would have been really curious to see what you had in mind ! 

About the EU of the Omaguas, they were what made the most sense of being able to explore a naval unit among Brazilian Amerindians, and I based myself on the Lankskip to make this unit, now different from the Nordic unit, the Canoes would absolutely not work in the open ocean, the ideal what was thought of is that this unit should be exceptional in "river tiles" imitating giant rivers such as Kongo, Amazonas, Brahmaputra, which I believe does not exist in HK, so it would be an exclusive transport unit for coastal tiles; as for Legacy Trait, I hadn’t thought about them, I think the simplest ones to do are Food bonuses based on the cultivation of Cassava and the use of "Terra Preta", obviously something like a "lower jungle movement penalty to all units" would be nice, the Omaguas could have something referring to the use of rubber as an ornament. Fun fact: I thought about making Omaguas as a Merchant, reason I believe they participated in the exploitation cycles of "Drogas do Sertão" and "Borracha" (rubber) da Amazonia but as I'm not sure about that and I chose Aesthete.

Tupis would be an awesome addition as a DLC!

One of the few cultures where whole body cannibalism was a big part of the rituals.