Ñande reko: fundamentos dos conhecimentos tradicionais ambientais Guaraní

This article presents some major issues of Guarani´s environmental resource management in southern Brazil and in the Rio de La Plata Basin. From a wide interdisciplinary database bequeathed by different authors since 16th century, it is possible to adopt as hypothesis that the Guarani reproduced at their settlements a system of knowledge originally designed in the Amazon, framing the form, and function of their material culture, ecological, and botanical knowledge and practices. The basis of subsistence was the agroforestry polyculture of a plant of food, medicinal, and raw material transported and managed in the long term, including more species adopted in the new conquered areas. These characteristics made the Guarani able to found settlements, manage plants and animal in diverse ecosystems, and to modify vegetation landscapes to provide food security.