 The indigenous peoples in Brazil () comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups, who have inhabited the country prior to the European.The word "índios" ("Indians"), was by then established to designate the people of the Americas and is still used today in the Portuguese language to designate these peoples, while the people of Asiatic India are called "indianos".At the time of first European contact, some of the indigenous peoples were traditionally semi-nomadic tribes who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, agriculture, and arboriculture.