The Tapes: Path, Territoriality and Re-signification in the Historical-Cultural Formation of Southern Brazil

This article analyzes the origin, meaning and historical implications of the term "Tapes", derived from the Tupi-Guarani word tapé, which means "path", "trail" or "road".1 From this etymological basis, the relationship between language, territoriality and identity of the Guarani groups that inhabited plateau regions west of Lagoa dos Patos, in present-day southern Brazil, this study investigates. These groups, later called "Tapes", were associated with a strategic area of circulation that connected the interior to the coast, configuring themselves as an important axis of mobility and exchange before and during the colonial period.The research also addresses the process of consolidation of the so-called "Tape zone", as well as the formation of Jesuit reductions from 1626 onwards, under the action of the Society of Jesus, which contributed to the spatial and sociocultural reorganization of these peoples. It also analyzes the subsequent appropriation and re-signification of the term "Tapes" by the Portuguese colonizers and bandeirantes, evidencing its transformation from a designation linked to indigenous mobility to a generic category of territorial and ethnic identification.Methodologically, the study is based on bibliographic review and historical analysis of a qualitative nature, dialoguing with contributions from historiography, anthropology and linguistics. As a result, a critical reading of the construction of the term "Tapes" this article proposes, understanding it not only as a geographical or ethnic denomination, but as an expression of power dynamics, circulation and symbolic dispute in the process of historical formation of southern Brazil.