Portuguese Discoveries (1487-1497)

               In the 15th and 16th centuries Portugal, with barely a million inhabitants, was hemmed in by the Atlantic to the west and a hostile Castile to the east. After years of struggle against the Moorish occupation, the Portuguese looked to the sea and what lay beyond. While the Spaniards set out in search of a route to the Orient by voyaging to the West, the Portuguese opted for the so-called Southern Cycle down the African coast. Reaching the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, they proved a sea route to the Far East across the Indian Ocean in 1497. They knew of the existence of lands across the Atlantic and they had made several expeditions to the West before Columbus discovered the Antilles in 1492. But they had kept the knowledge to themselves in order to thwart the ambitions of Spain, England, and France.Secrecy was the only available method of safeguarding the rewards of successful exploration against exploitation by more powerful maritime rivals.
               The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) settled possession of the new lands between Spain and Portugal. It was agreed that territories lying east of a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands should belong to Portugal, the lands to the west to Spain. This imaginary line, from pole to pole, cut through the easternmost part of the South American continent and constituted Brazil's first frontier, although the formal discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral did not take place until six years later in 1500.

First Settlements (1530-1549)

               Cabral's voyage was soon followed by other Portuguese expeditions. The most exploitable wealth they found was a wood that produced red and purples dyes, pau-brasil (from which the country derived its name). Organized occupation only began in 1530, when Portugal sent out the first colonists to establish permanent settlements. The existing small enclaves in the northeast were consolidated. São Vicente on the coast of the modern State of São Paulo was founded in 1532, and the city of Salvador, later chosen as the seat of the Governors General, followed in 1549. Indian tribes, some peaceful and others, especially in the interior, fierce and warlike, inhabited the land. As more of the land was settled, a system of administration became necessary.
               As a first step, the Portuguese Crown created a number of hereditary captaincies. Fourteen of these captaincies -- some larger than Portugal itself -- were established in the mid 16th century, and the beneficiaries, called donatários, were responsible for their defense and development. The captaincy system lasted long enough to influence the basic territorial and political pattern of modern Brazil.

The Union of Spain and Portugal (1580-1640)

               The moist and fertile seaboard of what is now the State of Pernambuco was highly suitable for growing sugar and also conveniently located as a port of call for sailing ships traveling from Portugal to West Africa and the Orient.
               A flourishing triangular trade soon developed, based on the importation of slave labor from West Africa to work on sugar plantations. The sugar was exported to markets in Europe where rising demand was beginning to outrun supplies from traditional sources.
               This development was interrupted by events in Europe. When King Sebastian of Portugal died in 1578, Philip II of Spain succeeded in his claim to the vacant throne in Lisbon. From 1580 to 1640, the two Iberian kingdoms were linked together under the Spanish crown. Thus, by the union of the two countries, South America became, for this time span, in its entirety a Hispanic world. Paradoxically, Portugal's 60 years of union with Spain were to confer unexpected advantages on her transatlantic colony. In the absence of boundaries, both the Portuguese and the Brazilians started penetrating deeper into the vast hinterlands.
               The main starting point for this exploration was the captaincy of São Vicente, and it was from their base in São Paulo that the pioneers pushed the frontier forward from the seaboard into the interior. Expeditions (known as bandeiras) in search of Indian slaves cut their way through forest, climbed the difficult escarpments, and marched across the inland plateau. The expeditionary (bandeirantes) are known to have brought back with them Indians captured from Jesuit missions scattered in the interior of the country. Thus, without their realizing it, the bandeirantes expanded the boundaries of the future independent Brazil.

Territorial Expansion (1600's)

               In 1640, when the Portuguese under John IV recovered their independence, they refused to abandon the lands they had occupied and colonized west of the original Tordesillas line. Claiming what has since become recognized in international law as the right of until postdates -- the right derived from "useful possession" -- the Portuguese succeeded in establishing themselves as the rightful owners. The second half of the 17th century saw Portugal freed from Spanish rule, the northeast of Brazil liberated from a 24-year occupation by Dutch forces, and the weakening of Brazil's sugar economy.
               An expeditionary movement outward followed the decline of sugar production from the sugar growing regions to unexplored territories.

Discovery of Gold (1690-1800)

               The most important discovery of these expeditions was gold. While the gold rush that followed drained thousands of people away from the coastal plantations, it also attracted fresh immigration from Portugal. As a result, cattle farming started in the interior to provide meat and leather for the mining centers. New cities emerged in what is now the State of Minas Gerais. Altogether, nearly 1,000 tons of gold and 3 million carats of diamonds were taken from the region between 1700 and 1800.
               After more than 200 years in Salvador, the capital was moved to Rio de Janeiro, where it dominated the main access route to Minas Gerais and was closer to the growing population centers in the southern regions of the colony.
               The growth of gold mining in Brazil was an important development that influenced the course of events not only in the colony but also in Europe.
               Although the gold was controlled by Portugal and shipped to Lisbon, it did not remain there. Under the Methuen Treaty of 1703, England supplied textile products to Portugal. These were paid for with gold from the Brazilian mines. The Brazilian gold that ended up in London helped to finance the Industrial Revolution.

Coffee

               An even more important source of wealth -- coffee -- followed the mining boom. Just as mining caused a migration of people from the northeast southwards to Minas Gerais, the spread of coffee growing increased the settlement of empty land further south. Coffee first reached Brazil via French Guiana in the 18th century. The early plantations were in regions well provided with slave labor in the hinterland of Rio de Janeiro.
               The abolition of slavery and European immigration into the State of São Paulo in the late 19th century caused coffee growing to move southwards to the region where soil conditions, climate, and altitude combined to create an ideal environment. This favourable environment in turn made Brazil the biggest coffee producer in the world.