Indigenous populations of the São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro coast: trade, aldeamento, slavery and extinction.

This essay will provide an estimate of the Amerindian population on the southern littoral of the state of Rio de Janeiro, at the time of first contact with Europeans in 1500. It will also attempt to trace the decline of that population up to 1600, taking into consideration forms of labor exploitation and disease. Environmental impact of this population will then be assessed as an essential aspect of human occupation. It will be possible to extend these observations to the littoral of São Paulo, with whose inhabitants those of Rio de Janeiro had considerable interaction.