Sepé Tiaraju

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Sepé Tiaraju was an indigenous Guarani leader born (no date available) in the Jesuit mission of São Luiz Gonzaga and who died on February 7, 1756, in the municipality of São Gabriel, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Sepé Tiaraju lead the fight against the Portuguese and Spanish colonial powers in the Guerras Guaraníticas (Guarani wars) and was killed together with around fifteen hundred of his fellow warriors. After two hundred and fifty years of the date of his death he still remains a very influential figure in the popular imagination, considered a saint by some.

This conflict in South America resulted from the land demarcations established by the European powers with the Tratado de Madrid (1750). According to this treaty the Guarani population inhabiting the Jesuit missions in the region had to be evacuated. After one hundred and fifty years living a unique communal life the prospect of returning to the forests was not considered an option by most mission Guaranis. Further treaties such as the Santo Idelfonso Treaty (1777) and the Badajoz Treaty (1801) still grappled with issues related to this topic.

The Christianized Guarani population residing in the Jesuit missions (called missões or reduções, in Portuguese), that is in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina combined, is estimated to have numbered approximately eighty thousand at the start of the conflict. At that time these so called evangelized Guaranis - as opposed to the many Guaranis living the traditional way and not in the Jesuit missions - raised what is believed to have been the largest herd of cattle in all of Latin America. Therefore, the Europeans' interests in the area extended beyond land appropriations.

Sepé Tiaraju was immortalized in the letters by Brazilian writer Basílio da Gama in the epic poem O Uraguay (1769). The expression and battle cry "Esta terra tem dono!" (or "This land has owners!") is attributed to Sepé Tiaraju.