European Exploration and Early Settlement

Because of the dangers implicit in the French depredations along the Brazilian coast, King John revoked most of the powers held by the donatarios and placed Brazil under the rule of a governor-general. The first governor-general, Thomé de Souza, arrived in Brazil in 1549, organized a central government, with the newly founded city of Salvador, or Bahia, as his capital, instituted comprehensive administrative and judicial reforms, and established a coastal defense system. Large numbers of slaves were brought into the region from Africa to overcome the shortage of laborers. São Paulo, in the south, was founded in 1554.

In 1555 the French founded a colony on the shores of Rio de Janeiro Bay. The Portuguese destroyed the French colony in 1560, and in 1567 they established on its site the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Spanish Rule and Dutch Incursions

Portuguese Restoration

With the successful revolt in Portugal against Spanish overlordship in 1640, Brazil reverted to Portuguese sovereignty and was made a viceroyalty. Generally peaceful conditions prevailed between the Spanish and Portuguese in South America until 1680. In that year the Portuguese dispatched an expedition southward to the east bank of the estuary of the Río de la Plata and founded a settlement called Colonia. This move led to a protracted period of strife over ownership of the region, which eventually emerged as the republic of Uruguay in 1828.

The Portuguese foreign minister and premier Marquês de Pombal instituted many reforms in Brazil during the reign of Portugal's King Joseph Emanuel. He freed the Native American slaves, encouraged immigration, reduced taxes, eased the royal monopoly in Brazilian foreign commerce, centralized the governmental apparatus, and transferred the seat of government from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro in 1763. Pombal expelled the Jesuits in 1760, because their influence among the Native Americans and growing economic power were resented by many Brazilians.

The Sojourn of the Portuguese Court

Prince John inherited the Portuguese crown as John VI in March 1816. In the five-year period before his recall to Portugal, his regime steadily lost favor among the Brazilians. The royal government was corrupt and inefficient, and republican sentiment, widespread in the country following the French Revolution, had gained considerable momentum when the neighboring Spanish colonies declared their independence. In 1816 King John intervened, occupying Banda Oriental (Uruguay), then under the control of Spanish-American revolutionaries. He crushed a revolutionary uprising in Pernambuco the next year. Banda Oriental was annexed to Brazil in 1821 and renamed Cisplatine Province. Before departing for Portugal in 1821, John VI made his second son, Dom Pedro, regent of Brazil. Sharp antagonism to the king's Brazilian reforms had developed meanwhile in Portugal; the Cortes, the Portuguese legislature, enacted legislation designed to return Brazil to its former status as a colony. Dom Pedro was ordered to return to Europe. In 1822, responding to the pleas of the indignant Brazilians, Dom Pedro announced his refusal to leave Brazil. He convoked a Constituent Assembly in June, and in September, when dispatches from Portugal disclosed that the Cortes would make no major concessions to Brazilian nationalism, he proclaimed the country's independence. By vote of the upper house of the Constituent Assembly, he became emperor of Brazil in the same year. All Portuguese troops in Brazil had been forced to surrender by the end of 1823.

The Empire of Brazil

Regencies ruled Brazil for the following decade, a period of political turbulence marked by frequent provincial revolts and uprisings. Toward the end of the decade a movement to place the young emperor at the head of the government gained popular support, and in July 1840 the Brazilian Parliament proclaimed that Pedro II had attained his majority.

The chief domestic political issue of the emperor's reign grew out of a broad movement for the abolition of slavery in Brazil. Importation of African slaves was outlawed in 1853. An organized campaign for emancipation of the 2.5 million slaves already in Brazil was launched a few years later. The abolitionists won their first victory in 1871, when the national Parliament approved legislation freeing children born of slave mothers. For various reasons, including the sacrifices entailed by the Paraguayan war, a parallel movement for a republic developed at about this time. Liberalism became widespread during the next 15 years. Slaves more than 60 years of age were liberated in 1885. In May 1888 all remaining slaves were emancipated.

The Early Republic

Instituted without compensation for the slave owners, emancipation alienated the powerful landed interests from the government. Moreover, sections of the Roman Catholic clergy were hostile to certain of Pedro's policies, many leading army officers were secretly disloyal, and large sections of the populace favored a republic.

Fonseca and Peixoto

Political turbulence, due essentially to the lack of national democratic traditions and experience, marked the early years of the new republic. During 1891 the arbitrary policies and methods of President Fonseca aroused strong congressional opposition. Early in November he dissolved the congress and assumed dictatorial power. A naval revolt later that month forced him to resign in favor of Vice President Floriano Peixoto. The Peixoto government, another dictatorial regime, survived a military and naval rebellion (1893-1894) and a series of uprisings in southern Brazil.

Civilian Rule

Order was gradually restored in the country during the administration of President Prudente José de Moraes Barros, the nation's first civilian chief executive. Beginning in 1898, when Manuel Ferraz de Campos Salles, a former governor of São Paulo, became president, energetic measures to rehabilitate the dislocated national economy were adopted. By securing a large foreign loan, Campos Salles strengthened Brazilian finances and expanded trade and industry.

Coffee and rubber production had meanwhile increased steadily in Brazil. Between 1906 and 1910 falling coffee prices on the world market severely disrupted the national economy. The price of Brazilian rubber began to drop toward the close of this period. As a result, social and political unrest was widespread during the administration of President Hermes da Fonseca, a conservative and militarist. Wenceslau Braz Pereira Gomes, an industrialist, was elected to the presidency without opposition in 1914 and held office until 1918.

After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, rising demand in foreign markets for Brazilian coffee, rubber, and sugar considerably relieved the economic difficulties of the country. Brazil adopted a policy of neutrality in the early stages of the war, but as a consequence of German attacks on its shipping, the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany in August 1917. In October, Brazil entered the war on the side of the Allies. Naval units were sent to the fighting zones, and the nation's contributions of food and raw materials to the war effort were substantial.

Industrial retrenchment and sharp curtailment of governmental expenditures were necessitated by the onset of an economic crisis in 1922. In July 1924 a period of unrest culminated in large-scale revolt, especially serious in São Paulo. Most of the army remained loyal to President Artur da Silva Bernardes, who had taken office in 1922, and, after more than six months of fighting, the rebels were defeated. Bernardes ruled by martial law for the remainder of his term. During the administration of his successor, President Washington Luiz Pereira de Souza, the economic crisis deepened, causing numerous strikes and an upsurge of radicalism. Strikes were outlawed by the government in August 1927, and stringent measures against communism were adopted.

The Vargas Period

In an attempt to ease the economic distress of the country, Vargas reduced coffee production and purchased and destroyed surplus stocks of the commodity. Expenditures entailed by this program intensified the financial problems of the government, however, and Brazil defaulted on its foreign debt. In 1932 the Vargas regime quelled a formidable rebellion in São Paulo after nearly three months of large-scale warfare.

Vargas allayed much of the political unrest in Brazil by convening a Constituent Assembly in 1933. Among the features of the new constitution adopted by this body in 1934 were sections curtailing states' rights and providing for woman suffrage, social security for workers, and the election of future presidents by the congress. On July 17, Vargas was elected president.

In the first year of his constitutional administration Vargas encountered considerable opposition from the radical wing of the Brazilian labor movement. Abortive Communist-led revolts occurred in Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro in November 1935. Martial law was declared, and Vargas was authorized by the congress to rule by decree. Mass arrests of radicals and other opponents of the government followed. Popular discontent soon attained grave proportions, with a newly formed pro-Nazi party organization (Integralista) winning broad support among the Brazilian middle class. This group soon became a center of antigovernment activity. In November 1937, almost on the eve of the presidential election, Vargas dissolved the congress and proclaimed a new constitution vesting his office with absolute, dictatorial powers. He reorganized the government in imitation of totalitarian Italy and Germany, abolished all political parties, and imposed censorship of the press and mails.

The Estado Novo

The Vargas government, officially styled Estado Novo (New State), was to continue in office pending a national plebiscite on the new organic law. No date was set for the plebiscite. Through a series of decrees extending greater social security to the plantation workers, Vargas mobilized the support of a large section of the population. The only serious challenge to his regime came from the Integralistas, who staged a revolt in 1938. The uprising was crushed within a few hours.

Despite the totalitarian character of his regime, Vargas maintained friendly relations with the United States and other democracies. His administration was openly hostile to the Third Reich, largely because German agents were so active in Brazil. After evidence of Nazi complicity in the Integralista revolt had been uncovered, Vargas imposed severe restrictions on German nationals. The consequent friction between Brazil and Nazi Germany led to a temporary break in their diplomatic relations in October 1938.

Siding with the Allies in World War II, the Vargas regime, aided by the United States, embarked on a vast program of industrial expansion, giving special emphasis to increased production of rubber and other vital war materials. Naval bases and airfields, constructed at strategic coastal points, became important centers of Allied antisubmarine warfare. The Brazilian navy eventually assumed all patrol activities in the South Atlantic Ocean. In 1944 and 1945 a Brazilian expeditionary force participated in the Allied campaign in Italy.

Meanwhile, manifestations of dissatisfaction with the Vargas dictatorship were increasing. Defiant action in February 1945 by a group of influential publishers forced the government to relax censorship of the press. On February 28 it was announced that congressional and presidential elections would be held later in the year. Gradually, all major restrictions against political activity were removed. Amnesty for all political prisoners, including Communists, was decreed in April.

The Dutra Government

During the election campaign a series of unpopular executive orders created fears that Vargas intended to resume the dictatorship. A military coup d'état in October 1945 forced Vargas to resign. José Linhares, chief justice of the supreme court, was appointed head of the provisional government. In the national elections held in December, the former minister of war Eurico Gaspar Dutra won the presidency by a large plurality; he was inaugurated in January 1946. The newly elected congress drafted a new constitution, adopted the following September.

In October 1947 the Brazilian government, provoked by a Soviet magazine article that referred to President Dutra as a puppet of the United States, severed diplomatic relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). A few months later the legislature voted to expel from office all Communists in elective positions. One senator and 14 deputies were affected.

Vargas's Second Presidency

Getúlio Vargas returned to power as president in January 1951, after defeating two rival candidates by a large plurality in elections held the previous October. Vargas formed a coalition cabinet representative of all major parties. The government took immediate steps to balance the national budget and develop a program to reduce living costs, increase wages, and extend social reforms. Inflation and high living costs, however, persisted throughout the postwar period, which was marked by an upsurge of Communist underground activities and a revival of nationalism that led to the nationalization of petroleum resources in September 1952. In addition, the so-called austerity program of the government caused anti-Vargas conservatives to become increasingly critical.

In August 1954, during a congressional election campaign, an air force officer was killed in the attempted assassination of an anti-Vargas newspaper editor. The killing brought the governmental crisis to a head: military officers demanded that Vargas resign. Early on August 24, Vargas agreed to relinquish power temporarily in favor of Vice President João Café Filho. Vargas committed suicide a few hours later.

The Kubitschek, Quadros, and Goulart Administrations

Jânio da Silva Quadros, former governor of São Paulo, became president of Brazil in January 1961 and immediately initiated a program of rigorous economies. All governmental ministries were ordered to reduce expenditures by 30 percent, and some civil-service employees were dismissed. Quadros also proposed to eliminate the corruption alleged to have flourished during the Kubitschek administration. President Quadros suddenly resigned his office in August, giving no explanation, and referring only to the "forces of reaction" that had blocked his efforts. Military leaders expressed opposition to the assumption of office by Vice President João Belchoir Marques Goulart, maintaining that he was sympathetic to the Communist regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba. A compromise was reached, however, when the Brazilian legislature amended the constitution in order to strip the presidency of most powers; executive authority was vested in a prime minister and cabinet who were responsible to the legislature. Goulart was installed in office in September 1961.

A year later, Goulart precipitated a cabinet crisis with a request for a national plebiscite to measure support for a return to a presidential form of government. The plebiscite was held and the proposal approved; in January 1963, the legislature enacted the change into law. Later that year Goulart pressed strongly for legislative approval of a program of basic reforms, and early in 1964 he signed decrees setting low-rent controls, nationalizing petroleum refineries, expropriating unused lands, and limiting export of profits. The measures seemed only to aggravate the nation's chronic inflation. On March 31 Goulart was overthrown by an army revolt and fled to Uruguay. General Humberto Castelo Branco, army chief of staff, was elected president.

Military Government

The new regime, with extraordinary powers under the Institutional Act signed in April, suppressed opposition, particularly from the Left, and deprived some 300 people of political rights. It also adopted moderate versions of many reforms demanded by Goulart and fought inflation with wage controls, tightened tax collections, and other measures. A law passed in 1965 curbed civil liberties, increased the power of the national government, and provided for congressional election of the president and vice president.

The former minister of war Marshal Artur da Costa e Silva, candidate of the government's ARENA Party, was elected president in 1966. The Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the only legal opposition party, had refused to enter a candidate in protest against the government's disfranchisement of its most challenging opponents. Also in 1966 ARENA won the national and state legislative elections. President Costa headed a militarily oriented government that was concerned primarily with economic development. Although 1968 was marked by antigovernment activities, including student riots, the economy gained momentum. In December Costa assumed unlimited powers, which resulted in political purges, economic curbs, and censorship. In August 1969 he was incapacitated by a stroke, and in October the military chose as his successor General Emílio Garrastazú Médici; Congress elected him president. The Médici regime intensified repression, and revolutionary groups became more active. As the government encouraged economic growth and development of the vast interior regions, the economy was plagued by high energy costs, runaway inflation, and a large balance-of-payments deficit. The Roman Catholic clergy became increasingly critical of the government's failure to improve the condition of the poor.

In 1974 General Ernest Geisel, the president of Petrobras, the national oil monopoly, became president. At first he followed relatively liberal policies, relaxing press censorship and allowing opposition parties considerable freedom, but in 1976 and 1977 controls were tightened again just before the election of João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, who succeeded Geisel in 1979.

Cardoso also worked to reduce tensions between landowners and homeless squatters who occupied large unproductive states in the countryside. With 1 percent of the population owning 45 percent of the land in 1995, Brazil had the most unequal land distribution pattern in Latin America. Conflicts over land use and ownership led to a number of violent confrontations in 1995 and 1996 in which more than 40 people were shot and killed by Brazilian police. In November 1995 Cardoso signed a presidential decree that took possession of just over 100,000 hectares (approximately 250,000 acres) of land from large, private estates and reallocated it to more than 3600 poor families.

In January 1996 Cardoso signed a more controversial presidential decree that allowed non-Native Americans to appeal land allocation decisions made by Brazil's Indian Affairs Bureau. Cardoso's decree allowed regional governments, private companies, and individuals to challenge indigenous land claims in certain areas of the country, primarily in the Amazon region of northern Brazil. The law was widely condemned by human rights, Native American, and religious organizations.

Olinda
- The Description of the Town





The Description
of the twenty Churches
of Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil

To have a Look at the Map of the City of Olinda,
Pernambuco, Brazil,
and the Location of the
Hotel Pousada Peter - Art Gallery,
Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil,
please, click here !

How to get by Car
to the Historic Center of Olinda,
Pernambuco, Brazil 
and to the Hotel Pousada Peter
- Art Gallery,
please click here !

The Waterfalls
of Pernambuco, Brazil
-  Jewels of Brazil

The City
Brejo da Madre de Deus
Pernambuco, Brazil,
with its prehistoric archeological place
"O Sítio arqueológico
"Furna do Estrago",
is one of the most important
prehistoric places of Brazil !

The Map,
how to go from Recife and Olinda
to the City
Brejo da Madre de Deus,
Pernambuco, Brazil !

THE CARNIVAL OF OLINDA,
PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL -
CLICK HERE, PLEASE !



PRÉ-CARNIVAL
AND THE CARNIVAL
OF RECIFE AND OLINDA,
PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL !



To see a Video
about the Carnival of Olinda
and in Pernambuco, Brazil,
please click here !



To hear the famous Music of the Frevo
of the Carnival of Olinda,
Pernambuco, Brazil,
please click here !



The Beaches
of Pernambuco, Brazil !



There are many Excursions
from Olinda to the Beaches
of Pernambuco, Brazil.
To see the Map of the Beaches,
please click here !



The City Hall of Olinda
- Prefeitura de Olinda



Recife
- The Description of the Town



The Map and the Touristic Points
of the City Recife,
Pernambuco, Brazil.
Please click her !



To know more about the first
Jewish Synagogue of North and
South America,
"Kahal Zur Israel",
in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Please click here !




The Hadassah News
about Recife
Pernambuco, Brazil !