FOCUS QUESTIONS

• What were the main features of the Portuguese colonial system, and how did it
  compare to the Spanish?


• How did transatlantic markets, foreign competition, and Portuguese policy
  toward indigenous peoples affect the economic and social organization of the
  fazenda?


• What was the role of black slavery in the economic and social life of colonial Brazil?


• What were the relationships among the great landowners ( fazendeiros) and high
  colonial offi cials, church dignitaries, and wealthy merchants?

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Colonial Brazil

RAZIL’S EXISTENCE was unknown in Eu-

rope when the Treaty of Tordesillas

(1494) between Spain and Portu-

gal fi xed the dividing line between their overseas

possessions 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde

Islands, assigning a large stretch of the coastline

of South America to the Portuguese zone of explo-

ration and settlement. In 1500, Pedro Alvares Ca-

bral sailed with a large fl eet to follow up Vasco da

Gama’s great voyage to India. He was, according

to one explanation, driven by a storm farther west

than he had intended and therefore made landfall

on the Brazilian coast on April 22. Some histori-

ans speculate that he purposely changed course to

investigate reports of land to the west or to verify

a previous discovery. Whatever the reason for his

westward course, Cabral promptly claimed the

land for his country and sent a ship to report his

discovery to the king.

The Beginning of Colonial Brazil

Portugal’s limited resources, already committed to

the exploitation of the wealth of Africa and the Far

East, made it impossible to undertake a full-scale

colonization of Brazil. But Portugal did not en-

tirely neglect its new possession. Royal expeditions

established the presence of a valuable dyewood,

called brazilwood, that grew abundantly on the

coast between the present states of Pernambuco

and São Paulo. Merchant capitalists soon obtained

concessions to engage in the brazilwood trade and

established a scattering of trading posts, where Eu-

ropean trinkets and other goods were exchanged

with natives for brazil logs and other exotic com-

modities. A small trickle of settlers began—some

castaways, others degredados (criminals exiled from

Portugal to distant parts of the empire). These ex-

iles were often well received by the local natives

and lived to sire a large number of mixed-bloods

who gave valuable assistance to Portuguese colo-

nization. Meanwhile, French merchant ships, also

drawn by the lure of brazilwood, began to appear

on the Brazilian coast. Alarmed by the presence of

these interlopers, King João III in 1530 sent an ex-

pedition under Martim Affonso de Sousa to drive

away the intruders and to establish permanent

settlements in Brazil. In 1532 the fi rst Portuguese

town in Brazil, named São Vicente, was founded

near the present port of Santos.

THE CAPTAINCY SYSTEM

The limited resources of the Portuguese crown, com-

bined with its heavy commitments in the spice-rich

B