The Paulistas are the people who come from the Brazilian state of São Paulo. During the colonial period, it became synonymous with the term Caipira, and centuries later, due to its historical relationship with the bandeiras, with São Paulo being the cradle of several explorers and their starting point, the term Bandeirante also came to serve as a synonym to designate them; São Paulo, likewise, came to be known as the Bandeirante state. The population is known for its rich diversity of cultural and religious manifestations, with the interior of São Paulo being the place of origin of the Caipira culture (including the Caipira dialect, cuisine and Caipira music), and its coastline, the cradle of the Caiçara culture.

The Paulista language, of Tupi origin, but with elements of Portuguese, Spanish and Guarani, was their native language for many years; in addition to São Paulo, it was also spoken in Paraná, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Goiás due to the influence of the Bandeirantes, but gradually fell into disuse with external cultural influence, until it disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, being one of the origins of the Caipira dialect, which went on to preserve various terms.

Due to conflicts, in the 18th century there was a large diaspora of Paulistas who lived in the region that now corresponds to Minas Gerais, and many of them settled in the Center-West of Brazil, contributing to the spread of the Caipira culture and the natural formation of a Paulista/Caipira cultural region called Paulistânia. Estimates suggest that more than 2 million Paulistas are spread throughout Brazil, with 680,000 living in the South, 600,000 in other states in the Southeast, 530,000 in the Northeast, 490,000 in the Midwest and more than 90,000 in the North; in countries such as the United States, more than 80,000 live legally, in Japan another 40,000 live, and around 19,000 are in Spain.

The Paulista history begins with the arrival of João Ramalho Maldonado, a Portuguese adventurer and explorer born in Vouzela. Considered the first Bandeirante by Alfredo Ellis Jr., one of the pioneers in studies on Paulistania, Ramalho left continental Portugal for Terra de Vera Cruz when Catarina Fernandes das Vacas, his wife, was pregnant; the reasons why he left Europe are not known. Living in the Paulista lands probably since 1508, twenty-four years before the beginning of the Portuguese colonization in the region, he soon adapted to the land and the indigenous, coming to know Tibiriçá, a chief who became his friend.

Ramalho got together with the Indian Bartira, Tibiriçá's daughter. The wedding ceremony followed an Indian tradition, and a partnership was established between Bartira's father and João Ramalho, to the point that Tibiriçá would do nothing without first consulting his son-in-law. Even though he was Portuguese, Ramalho was totally indigenized, his life and his children's lives imitated the Indians'. Ramalho had many wives besides Bartira, his children dated sisters and had children with them, went to war with the Indians and their parties were Indian parties, they lived naked like the Indians themselves. Because he was not married on paper, he had problems with the Jesuits, being expelled from a mass and later excommunicated by the Catholic Church.

With the union of Ramalho and Bartira, a large family of Caboclos was born, which spread through generations, thus giving rise to the first Paulistas, who, due to the poverty of the Piratininga Fields as well as the poverty of the Capitania of São Vicente itself in the beginning, gave rise to many future Bandeirantes who would explore the South American backlands, expand the Paulista territory and spread its culture.

Due to his role in the initial colonization of the São Paulo region, João Ramalho came to be recognized as the father of the Paulistas or the founder of Paulistanity. In the 20th century, their descendants also became known as Quatrocentões. In addition to several Bandeirantes, illustrious figures such as Queen Silvia of Sweden, the regent of the Empire of Brazil Diogo Feijó, and presidents Getúlio Vargas and Prudente de Morais are examples of personalities who descend from João Ramalho and Bartira.

As the Bandeirantes gained power and the vice-kingdom of Brazil developed, the Portuguese element predominated in the population, the Indians being either absorbed or killed.^{[citation needed]} But the Captaincy of São Vicente, enlarged by the bandeiras to include Mato Grosso, Goiás, Paraná and Santa Catarina, remained undeveloped, having neither the gold of Minas Gerais nor the sugar cane of Pernambuco, two of the most lucrative products in the 16th, 17th, and 18th century. As a consequence, it did not receive the same influx of black slaves during the 16th and 17th centuries as the more prosperous provinces of Brazil. Nevertheless, the number of black slaves increased substantially in São Paulo during the Brazilian Empire, as the slave traffic reached its peak during the first half of the 19th century. After the abolition of the international slave trade in 1850, many more slaves were transferred from declining regions of Brazil to work in coffee plantations.^{[citation needed]}