This text tell a story of genocide, European ruthlessness and Indian gullibility. In the 16th century the history of the Brazilian Indians was the history of Brazil itself. There were millions of natives living in the half of South America that is now Brazil but since its conquest the native peoples of South America have diminished and declined. In this book, Hemming - author of "The Amazon Frontier" which continues the story of the Brazilian Indians - tells the grim and tragic story of the beginning of that decline.