The present study aims at establishing a historical-cultural relationship between the Kaiowá and the Guarani and the native tea plant (Paraguayan tea), with alternatives for the promotion of local development. The text seeks to understand the repercussions in the use of the plant Ilex by the indigenous communities and the colonizers, with the economic exploitation of the plant and the strengthening of traditional knowledge. Throughout the study, effort has been made to bring together information which clarifies the role of the native tea plant in regional history, emphasizing and adequating the roles of the agents responsible for the development of what today is the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, with special emphasis on the participation of the Jesuits, the Kaiowá and Guarani and the social-environmental repercussions as a result of colonization, as well as the importance of policies that strengthen the cultivation of the plant in areas where it grows wild.
Ilex paraguariensis; Indigenous peoples; Traditional knowledge