Old Tupi or Classical Tupi is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the native Tupí people of Brazil, mostly those who lived close to the sea. It belongs to the Tupi–Guarani language family, and has a written history spanning the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. In the early colonial period Tupi was used as a lingua franca throughout Brazil by Europeans as well as Amerindians and had literary usage, but it was later suppressed almost to extinction, leaving only one modern descendant with an appreciable number of speakers, Nheengatu.