The Guaraní or Ava (pronounced 'avá')
are a group of South American native peoples geographically located in Paraguay, northeastern and northwestern Argentina, Brazil, southeastern Bolivia and parts of Uruguay. The Guarani were the first producers of yerba mate. The Guarani speak linguistic variants of the Tupi-Guarani family, and are currently classified into three subgroups: the Guarani-Kaiowa, the Guarani-Mbya and the Guarani-Nandeva-Tapietas.