A History of Latin America

THE BEGINNING OF COLONIAL BRAZIL 123

East, forced the king to assign to private individuals
the major responsibility for the colonization of Bra-
zil. This responsibility took the form of the captaincy
system, already used by Portugal in Madeira, the
Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands. The Brazilian
coastline was divided into fi fteen parallel strips ex-
tending inland to the uncertain line of Tordesillas.
These strips were granted as hereditary captain-
cies to a dozen individuals, each of whom agreed
to colonize, develop, and defend his captaincy or
captaincies at his own expense. The captaincy sys-
tem represented a curious fusion of feudal and com-

mercial elements. The grantee or donatory was not

only a vassal who owed allegiance to his lord the

king, but he was also a businessman who hoped to

derive large profi ts from his own estates and from

taxes obtained from the colonists to whom he had

given land. This fusion of feudal and commercial

elements characterized the entire Portuguese colo-

nial enterprise in Brazil from the beginning.

Few of the captaincies proved successful from ei-

ther the economic or political point of view because

few donatories possessed the combination of invest-

ment capital and administrative ability required to

MARANHÃO

MATO GROSSO

PARANÁ

GOIÁS

MINAS GERAIS

RIO DE JANEIRO

ESPÍRITO SANTO

BAHIA

CEARÁ

RIO

GRANDE

DO NORTE

ALAGOAS

SERGIPE

RIO

GRANDE

DO SUL

SANTACATARINA

SÃOPAULO

PIA

UÍ

GR

ÃO

PA

RÁ

PARAÍBA

PERNAMBU

CO

São Vicente Rio de Janeiro

Santa Cruz

São Paulo

Santos

Colônia de Sacramento

Pôrto Seguro

Olinda

Natal

Fortaleza

San Luis

Maranhão

Belem

Recife

Vila Rica do

Ouro Preto

Salvador

Amazon

R.

Soli

mões

R.

NegroR.

São

Fr

anc

isc

oR

.

Ara

gu

aia

R.

Pa

ra

gu

ay

R.

Pa

ran

áR

.

Uru

gua

yR

.

Par

an

áR

. Tiet
éR.

Xin

gu

R.

Cu

iab

áR

.

0 500 Mi.

0 250 500 Km.

250

Tre

aty

bo

un

dar

y 1

(^777)
MaIlharajó
Ilha Santa Catarina
SOUTH
AMERICA
Area of
main map
Colonial Brazil