Cunhambebe (more correctly pronounced Quonambec in his native Tupi language) was an aboriginal Indian chieftain of the Tupinambá tribe, which dominated the region between present-day Cabo Frio (Rio de Janeiro) and Bertioga (São Paulo).
From the back cover endorsement by linguist R. M. W. Dixon: In fact, Dr. Seki's book on the Kamayurá is the first comprehensive grammar of an Indian language by a Brazilian since Anchieta's description of Tupinambá in 1595.
He tries to convince his captors by speaking in French (reciting the poem by Étienne Jodelle found in André Thévet's Singularities of France Antarctique) but the Tupinambás don't believe that the Frenchman was a prisoner of the Portuguese they have killed, and the Chief thinks he is Portuguese because "No Frenchman would shoot at the Tupinambá."
Yara Tupinambá (born April 2, 1932 in Montes Claros, Brazil) is a Brazilian visual artist.