The
History of Brazil
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History of
Brazil
This document
discusses the role of the
Spanish and Dutch in settling Brazil,
including the city of Olinda.
History of Brazil
The Native American peoples who were the original
inhabitants of what is now Brazil included the Arawak
and Carib
groups in the north, the Tupí-Guaraní
of the east coast and the Amazon River valley, the Ge of eastern and
southern Brazil, and the Pano in the west. For the most part these
groups were essentially seminomadic peoples, who subsisted by hunting
and gathering and simple agriculture. Those groups in the more remote
areas of the interior maintained their traditional way of life until
the late 20th century, when their existence was threatened by the
advancing frontier. See Native
Americans.
European Exploration and Early Settlement
The Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez
Pinzón was the first known European in the region now constituting
Brazil. Landing near the site of present-day Recife on January 26,
1500, he subsequently drifted northward as far as the mouth of the
Orinoco
River. The newly found territory fell within the region assigned to
Portugal by the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), a
Spanish-Portuguese agreement that modified the Line
of Demarcation promulgated in 1493 by Pope
Alexander VI. Probably for this reason, Spain made no territorial
claims on the basis of Pinzón's discovery. In April 1500, the
Portuguese navigator Pedro
Álvares Cabral also reached the coast of
present-day Brazil and formally claimed the surrounding region in the
name of Portugal. The territory was named Terra da Vera Cruz (Portuguese
for "Land of the True Cross"). An expedition under the
command of the Italian navigator Amerigo
Vespucci was sent to Terra da Vera Cruz by
the Portuguese government in 1501. In the course of his explorations
Vespucci named many capes and bays, including a bay which he called
Rio de Janeiro. He returned to Portugal with a cargo of brazilwood,
and from that time forward Terra da Vera Cruz bore the name of the
valuable wood Brazil.
In 1530 the Portuguese king John III initiated a program of systematic Brazilian colonization. As a first step the king divided Brazil into 15 districts, or captaincies, and granted each of the districts, in perpetuity, to a person prominent at the Portuguese court. The grantees, known as donatarios, were vested with extraordinary powers over their domains.
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
Philip II of Spain inherited the Portuguese crown in 1580. The period of Spanish rule was marked by frequent aggressions against Brazil by the English and Dutch, the traditional enemies of Spain. A Dutch fleet seized Bahia in 1624, but the city was recaptured by a combined force of Spaniards, Portuguese, and Native Americans the following year. The Dutch attacked again in 1630, and an expedition sponsored by the Dutch West India Company captured Pernambuco (now Recife) and Olinda. Most of the territory between Maranhão Island and the lower course of the São Francisco River fell to the Dutch in subsequent operations. Under the able governorship of Count Joan Mauritz van Nassau-Siegen, the Dutch-occupied part of Brazil prospered for several years. Nassau-Siegen resigned in 1644, however, in protest against the exploitative policies of the Dutch West India Company. Shortly after his departure the Portuguese colonists, with support from their mother country, rose in rebellion against Dutch rule. The Dutch capitulated in 1654, after nearly a decade of struggle, and in 1661 renounced by treaty their claims to Brazilian territory.
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.
Brazilian expansion southward had been preceded by penetration of large sections of the interior. Jesuit missionaries had begun to operate in the Amazon Valley early in the 17th century. Before the middle of the century, parties of Paulistas, the name by which residents of São Paulo were known, had reached the upper course of the Paraná River. Because these expeditions were undertaken principally for the purpose of enslaving the Native Americans, the Paulistas encountered vigorous opposition from