Colonial Brazil

From Free net encyclopedia

The Age of Exploration

The discovery of Brazil was preceded by a series of treaties between the kings of Spain and Portugal, the last of them is the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, creating the Tordesillas Meridian, that divided the world between that two kingdoms. Every land discovered or to be discovered at east of that meridian was property of Portugal, and the land discovered or to be discovered at west of that meridian was property of Spain.

The treaty of Tordesillas was arguably the most decisive event in all Brazilian history, since it alone determined that the country was settled by Portugal instead of Spain. Indeed, the present extent of Brazil's coastline is almost exactly that defined by the treaty.

Discovery

It is widely and politically accepted that Brazil was discovered by Europeans on April 22, 1500, by Pedro Álvares Cabral, but there are controversies on the matter. Cabral was on his way to India, around Africa. The place where Cabral arrived is now known as Porto Seguro ("safe harbor"), and is located in the state of Bahia.

In 1503, an expedition under Gonçalo Coelho discovered that the French were making incursions to the land and looting it. In 1530 there was a new expedition from Martim Afonso de Sousa to patrol the entire coast, banish the French, and to create the first colonial towns: São Vicente at the coast, and São Paulo on the border of the altiplane. In 1549, Tomé de Sousa, the first Governor-General was sent to Brazil. He built the capital of Brazil, Salvador.

French and Dutch incursions

French colonists tried to settle in present-day Rio de Janeiro, from 1555 to 1567 (the "France Antarctique" episode), and in present-day São Luís, from 1612 to 1614 (the so called "France Équinoxiale").

The unsuccessful Dutch intrusion into Brazil was longer lasting and more troublesome to Portugal. The Seventeen Provinces were at war with Habsburg Spain and Portugal, and Dutch privateers began by plundering the coast: they sacked Bahia in 1604, and after the Twelve Years' Truce ran out, in 1624 they captured the capital San Salvador, from which they removed gold and silver literally in barrels before a Spanish fleet recaptured the town (Braudel 1984, p.232). From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch set up more permanently in commercial Recife and aristocratic Olinda, and with the capture of Parahyba in 1635, the Dutch controlled a long stretch of the coast most accessible to Europe, without, however, penetrating the interior. But the large Dutch ships were unable to moor in the coastal inlets where lighter Portuguese shipping came and went, and the ironic result of the Dutch capture of the sugar coast was that the price of sugar rose in Amsterdam (Braudel). During the Nieuw Holland episode, the colonists of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil were in a constant state of siege, in spite of the presence in Recife of the great duke John Maurice of Nassau as governor, 1637-(1641?). After several years of open warfare, the Dutch formally withdrew in 1661; the Portuguese paid off a war debt in payments of salt (Braudel).

Little French or Dutch cultural and ethnic influences remained of these failed attempts.

• Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, Vol. III of Civilization and Capitalism, 1984.

Template:Former Dutch colonies

Inland expansion

In the 16th century, the territory of Brazil was officially limited on the west side by the Tordesilhas meridian. Its subsequent expansion beyond that line was a natural consequence of the geography: from the part of the South American coast allotted to them by the treaty, the spaniards found their way inland blocked by the Andes, the mountains of Northern Brazil, and the mighty Parana River, and could not oppose the Portuguese expansion west of the treaty line.

Origin of the name

There is still some confusion about the origin of the name. The official story, which used to be given in school textbooks, is that the land was named for brazilwood (Portuguese pau-brasil), a tree which was the source of a prized red dye. The tree supposedly had been given that name because the dye's color was like that of a burning coal, brasa in Portuguese.

The name was originally spelled "Brazil" (hence the English spelling), and was changed to "Brasil" in the 1940s, as part of an extensive spelling reform. Actually both "Brazil" and "Brasil" would be valid spellings under the new rules; the change to "Brasil" may have been motivated by the presumed etymology above (brasa was spelled with "s").

However, "Brazil" had been in use as a placename for several centuries before Cabral. The legend of Saint Brendan tells how an Irish monk of that name crossed the ocean in a leather boat and reached the island of Hy Brazil — said to mean "blessed land" in Gaelic — where they saw many wonders. While it is disputed whether the legend is pure fiction or is based on a real trip (perhaps to Iceland or North America), the name apparently became part of European maritime folklore, to designate an hypothetical land located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. According to this theory, when Cabral found a new land in those parts, it was naturally identified with Brendan's Brazil. As for the tree, it may have been named after the land, rather than the other way around.

Portuguese Settlement

The only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, Brazil was claimed for Portugal in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral. It was ruled from Lisbon as a colony until 1808, when the royal family, having fled from Napoleon's army, established the seat of Portuguese Government in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil became a kingdom under Dom João VI, who returned to Portugal in 1821. His son declared Brazil's independence on September 7, 1822, and became emperor with the title of Dom Pedro I. His son, Dom Pedro II, ruled from 1831 to 1889, when a federal republic was established in a coup by Deodoro da Fonseca, Marshal of the army. Slavery had been abolished a year earlier by the Regent Princess Isabel while Dom Pedro II was in Europe.

Having established some cities, Portugal started the colonization of Brazil. Having no means to administer the new colony, the king of Portugal divided the land in 15 "Capitanias Hereditárias" ("heritage captainships"), that were given to anyone who wanted to administer and explore them. From the 15 original Capitanias, only two, Pernambuco and São Vicente, prospered.

In 1789, there was the Inconfidência Mineira, a rebel movement that failed, and the leader of which, Tiradentes, was hanged.

United Kingdom Period

In 1808, the French troops of Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal, and Dom João, governor in place of his mother, Dona Maria I, ordered the transfer of the royal court to Brazil. Brazil was elevated to the condition of United Kingdom creating the Reino Unido de Portugal, Algarve e Brasil (English: United Kingdom of Portugal, Algarve and Brazil) (1815). There was also the election of Brazilian representatives to the Cortes Constitucionais Portuguesas (Portuguese Constitutional Courts).

The King of Portugal, fleeing before Napoleon's army, moved the seat of government to Brazil in 1808. Brazil thereupon became a kingdom under Dom João VI. Although the royal family returned to Portugal in 1821, the interlude led to a growing desire for independence amongst Brazilians, In 1822, the son of Dom João VI, then prince-regent Dom Pedro I, proclaimed the independence, September 7, 1822, and was crowned emperor.