Colonisation of Brazil

Region chosen: Brazil

Colonised by: Portugal
Motive behind colonisation:
Portugal colonised Brazil in 1500 after Pedro Alvares Cabral and 1,200
Portuguese adventurers landed there by mistake while trying to reach Southern
Africa. The Portuguese were interested in Brazil's natural resources,
including timber, sugarcane, gold, and diamonds, and wanted to expand their
maritime empire. They also wanted to establish control over trade routes,
spread Christianity, and find a faster route to India. The Portuguese realized the
economic potential of Brazil and quickly established industrial production of
Brazilwood, sugar production, and slavery to facilitate exportation. The
Portuguese crown also sent missions to Brazil in 1530 to expel the French and
establish colonial villages.

Methods used to gain, consolidate and maintain power:

Europeans explored the Brazilian coastline only after mapping parts of
the Caribbean Sea and the northeastern coast of South America; moreover,
intensive exploration of Brazil resulted indirectly from Portugal’s efforts to
expand its colonies in Africa and Asia. In 1498 the Portuguese navigator Vasco
da Gama discovered an all-water route to the Indies and the Spice Islands via
Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese king, hoping to capitalize on this
discovery, dispatched an imposing armada to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral,
whose sailing directions had been drawn up by da Gama himself. To avoid the
calms off the Gulf of Guinea, Cabral bore so far to the west that on April 22,
1500, he sighted the mainland of South America. The Treaty of
Tordesillas (1494) between Spain and Portugal had established a line at about
longitude 46° 30′ W that divided Spanish (west) and Portuguese (east) claims
in the New World. The region sighted by Cabral lay well within the Portuguese
zone, and the crown promptly claimed it. Portugal’s new possession was
initially called Vera Cruz (“True Cross”), but it was soon renamed Brazil
because of the copious amounts of brazilwood (pau-brasil) found there that
yielded a valuable red dye.

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 Impact on the region colonised:

Disease
Disease from European explorers wiped out the majority of Indigenous
Brazilians. As with other countries, upon first contact with Europeans, a large
number of the native population died due to foreign diseases.
Smallpox
Smallpox was the disease that wreaked the most havoc on the indigenous
peoples of Brazil and the Americas more generally. Europeans had a long
history of exposure to the disease, and some built-in immunity, but the
populations of the Americas had never been in contact with it.
That meant that the years following the arrival of Europeans were devastating
to the indigenous populations, especially those on the coast that had the most
contact with Europeans. Estimates of the number that died vary. In Aztec
Mexico, over 20 million, or over 90% of the population, may have died. In Brazil,
smallpox spread rapidly, with a high mortality rate during the late 1500s.

Slavery
Slavery was a significant aspect of Brazil's colonization, providing free labour
for settlers. Indigenous Brazilians were disadvantaged, often forced into slavery
to cut Brazilwood. The importation of African slaves began in the late 16th
century, replacing indigenous labour as populations declined. Slavery
expanded with sugar cultivation in the 1600s and gold and diamond mine
discovery in the 1690s. Slaves later worked on cattle ranches and coffee farms.
The Portuguese were involved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, bringing nearly
6 million slaves to Brazil.

Religion
The Portuguese colonisation of Brazil was justified by the spread of
Catholicism, which the Portuguese crown saw as a civilising mission for the
natives. The Jesuit Order played a significant role in the colonisation, building
an extensive network of missions that often served as forced relocation camps
for indigenous peoples. The Jesuits' legacy is complex, as they employed
indigenous peoples in slave labour and aimed to convert them to Catholicism,
while also adopting indigenous culture and traditions. They opposed
enslavement by settlers and tried to protect them from being enslaved outside
missions. However, their privileged position as a major landowner and

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 monopoly on indigenous labour caused resentment among other wealthy
landowners. Reforms in the 1750s led to conflict with the Jesuits, leading to
their eventual expulsion from Brazil and the Portuguese Empire in 1759. Despite
their expulsion, their impact continues to influence the dominance of
Catholicism as the major religion in Brazil today.

SOURCES:

Britannica

Google Generative AI

StudySmarter

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