Tutti's World: Brasil-Brazil

When The Portuguese first arrived in Brazil there were an estimated 2 to 5 million Indians living in it. Today there are fewer than 200,000. The Indian population was quite diverse but, the Tupi were the most prevalent on the coast. Today many animals, rivers, mountains and even towns have Tupi names.

Pedro Cabral landed at present day Porto Seguro (Northeast) on 22 April 1500. His men stayed for 9 days, built a cross and held the first Christian service in the land they called Terra de Vera Cruz (land of the true cross). India and Africa were actually the countries Portugal were most interested in but the red dye from Brazil's wood called for attention and soon there was a Brazil-wood trade. Trade depended heavily on the Indian labor, which occurred in exchange for metal axes and knives that the Indians had never seen before. Brazil wood remained the only exportable commodity for the first half of the 16th century and the colony changed its name to Brazil. There was French and Dutch competition for the trees, however, and soon the Indians stopped volunteering their labor.

In 1531, King Joao III of Portugal sent the first settlers to Brazil. Because wealthy nobles were more interested in Asia, common fidalgos (gentry) were brought to the land instead (Portuguese officials, soldiers, exiled prisoners, new Christians and Jesuit priests).

In 1549, Tome de Souza was the first governor of Brazil, sent by the king. Bahia (Northeast) was the capital until the colonial capital was transferred to Rio de Janeiro in 1763. It was discovered that the climate was good for growing sugar cane (a highly desired product in the European market), but this required heavy labor. So, the Indians were forced into slavery. They fought back and won many victories, but the capture and sale of Indian slaves became Brazil's second largest enterprise.

The Jesuit priests went to great lengths to save the Indians from slaughter, but they were rarely successful. In 1759, the Jesuits were finally expelled from Brazil.

By the end of the 16th century, about 30,000 Portuguese settlers and 20,000 black slaves lived in isolated towns surrounded by hostile Indians. Where sugar grew - mainly Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio - so did the colony. African slaves were now used in the 17th century because they were more resistant to European diseases than the Indians were. Soon the infamous triangular trade was established; slaves and elephant tusks from Africa, sugar, sugar cane liquor and tobacco from Brazil, and guns and luxury goods from Europe. The plantation owners ruled colonial Brazil; they had almost total control over free whites and absolute control over slaves.

Although Portugal and Spain divided the New World exclusively between them with The Treaty of Tordesilhas, there were some bloody battles between Portugal, France and Holland settlers. Dutch merchants had profited the most from the Brazilian sugar trade for years and they even founded what they called New Holland in what is today Sergipe. Both the French and Dutch were expelled from the country when Portugal was unified with Spain.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Bandeirantes from Sao Paulo continued to march into the interior to capture Indians. Most of them, born of Indian mothers and Portuguese fathers spoke Tupi-guarani and Portuguese.

In the 1690s, Bandeirantes found gold in Brazil's oldest geological formation, Serra do Espinhaco. Because of the gold rush, settlers went in droves to what is now the Southern central part of Minas Gerais (Southeast). For 50 years, until the mines began to decline, Brazilian gold caused major demographic shifts. Some 400,000 new Portuguese arrived in Brazil in the 18th century, causing some problems with the settlers that were already there.

Wealthy merchants built opulent mansions and churches. Towns arose in the mountain valleys, such as Sao Joao del Rei and Vila Rica de Ouro Preto. The absence of white women led to a large number of mulatto offspring. Gold did little to develop Brazil’s economy, making just a few merchants and miners very rich. The wealth also went to Portuguese merchants and the king in Portugal. The only important legacy of the gold is the shift in population from the Northeast to the Southeast. Some settlers stayed in Minas, raising cattle and some ended up in Rio de Janeiro.

On November 29, 1807 Napoleon’s army marched on Lisbon and the Portuguese Prince Regent (Dom Joao VI) and his entire court went to Brazil for protection. The Prince declared Rio de Janeiro the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Brazil became the only New World colony to ever have a European monarch ruling on its soil.

Five years later, Dom Joao VI returned to Portugal for political pressures, leaving his son, Pedro, in Brazil as Prince Regent.

According to legend, in 1822, Pedro declared independence by pulling his sword and yelling, "Independence or death." He placed himself at the country’s head as Emperor Dom Pedro I. Portugal was too weak to fight its son and possibly the British, who had the most to gain from Brazilian independence and would have come to the aid of the Brazilians. Without blood, Brazil had attained its independence.

Dom Pedro ruled for 9 years, but was forced to abdicate (for scandals of illegitimate children), paving the way for his 5 year old son to become emperor.

In 1889, a military coup supported by the coffee aristocracy and a popular wave of republican sentiment, toppled the Brazilian Empire. The emperor went into exile and died in Paris several years later. A military clique ruled Brazil for 4 years. Little change occurred except for the increase of power of the military and coffee growers, while it diminished for the sugar barons.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Brazil was primarily a country of masters and slaves. They only exception was in the South, the most European region of Brazil. Portuguese farmers who brought their wives with them settled that region. Economically backward, no one could afford slaves in the South.

Slavery in Brazil was not abolished until 1888, 25 years after the USA and 80 years behind Britain. There were several attempts by slaves to fight against their oppressors. One example was the Quilombos, communities of runaway slaves scattered throughout the countryside. The most famous of them is the Palmares; it endured for some time, but the Bandeirantes finally destroyed it. Even though these communities were destroyed, only the abolition itself stopped the Quilombos.

Settlements separated by enormous distance, little transportation or communication and an economy oriented toward European markets rather than local ones made Brazil a weak nation with little sense of identity.

In 1889, coffee totaled 2/3 of the country's exports. With the end of slavery, during the next decade, 800,000 European immigrants, mostly Italians, came to work on the coffee plantations. Millions more from Japan, Germany, Spain and Portugal flooded into the cities from 1890 to 1916.

Brazil was still a rural society (only 10% lived in cities in 1890), but cities were growing rapidly. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were the main beneficiaries of the coffee boom.

In 1890, with the invention of the pneumatic tire and the expansion of the automobile industry in the USA, Amazon had an economic boom because it began to export the Hevea brasiliensis - the rubber tree - that was processed into rubber. In that year, 42,000 tons of latex were exported. The prosperity ended quickly, however, because British colonies in Southeast Asia also began to export rubber also. Brazil's place remained as an exporter of agricultural products and an importer of manufactured goods.

In 1917, after repeated sinkings of Brazilian ships by the Germans, Brazil entered WWI on the Allied side.

Coffee was king until the global economy crisis of 1929; the coffee growers were weakened considerably. The military took power by force in 1930, when their candidate, Getulio Vargas, failed to legitimately win the election. Vargas' regime was inspired by Mussolini's and Salazar’s fascist states. He banned political parties, imprisoned political opponents and censored the press.

When WWII struck, Vargas sided with the Allies but democratic Europe was very different from his quasi-fascist state. Vargas was forced to resign as a militant leader, but he returned to power again in 1951 as president. Vargas' presidential administration was plagued by corruption.

After WWII, Brazil marched toward industrialization (petroleum and steel corporations were established by this time) and a minimum wage was set. Vargas was forced to resign again but this time he shot himself in the heart instead. After Vargas came Juscelino Kubitschek, Janio Quadros and Joao Goulart who took the presidency when Quadros resigned for no apparent reason, after 6 months in office.

In 1964, the military again took over (The Revolution of 1964). Brazil's military regime was not as brutal as those of Chile and Argentina because the repression tended to come and go in cycles but it was still a hard time, especially around 1968 and 1969 when torture and murder of political opponents was widespread. Brazil's economy grew quickly, mostly by heavily borrowing from international banks. The middle class and "favelas" (shanty towns) all over the big cities grew in this time as well.

By the end of the 1970s, even a growing economy could not silence the dislike of Brazil's military regime. Students and Church leaders began an opposition and fought for social justice. In 1980, with economy petering out and popular opposition picking up steam, the military announced the so called "abertura" (opening); a slow and cautious process of returning the government to civilian rule.

In 1985, somewhat surprisingly, the opposition candidate, Tancredo Neves, was elected. Tragically, Tancredo died the day before assuming the presidency and was succeeded by the vice-president, Jose Sarney. During his term, the economy was hampered by severe inflation.

In 1989, a new candidate, Collor won the election. By 1992, however, he was removed from office and indicted by the Federal Police, on charges of corruption (he used extortion to remove more than 1 billion $US from Brazil's economy). Collor's removal helped to show the Brazilian people that their fragile democracy was capable of removing a president without help from the military. Collor escaped prison though, he was offically found "not guilty."

Vice-president Itamar Franco became president at the end of 1992 and surprised his critics with an honest and competent administration. Plano Real is considered the most successful economic plan in a decade. Fernando Cardoso was the next president, elected in 1994. He was reelected in 1998.

Currently, Brazil is in a state of flux, with some aspects of its economy growing, and others contracting. Inflation is under control, but a high currency exchange to the US dollar has considerably raised the price of imports. Other problems exist as well, but Brazilians remain optimistic, however, as their country is a great power, one that deserves much respect in the international community.

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