History Sandbox / BrazilianHistory

Eventually, however, by the end of the 18th century, all the easily obtainable gold finally began to deplete, giving an end to the gold cycle and the colony's profitability. The next main export product of Brazil was cotton, a profitable commodity at the time due to the demands created by the Industrial Revolution and the European population boom. Several other primary products were also exported, with coffee becoming the new main economic cycle in the following century. However, the colonial period was already starting to enter a crisis due to multiple factors. In addition to the gold depletion, England had emerged as the main economic power of the world due to the Industrial Revolution, which Portugal had not managed to follow as quickly and couldn't compete against, and the slavery that Brazil relied so much on began to be seen as backwards compared to salaried work. Additionally, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, the ideals of the UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, the desire for economical liberalism, and the Haitian and American Independences had led to the spread of countless movements across Latin America demanding independence from their European metropolises, including in Brazil, such as the Minas Gerais Conspiracy[[note]]A movement inspired by Enlightenment ideals and Republicanism, organized by the intellectual and aristocratic elite of Minas Gerais dissatisfied with Portuguese exploitation of gold, aimed to make the region independent. However, the movement was discovered after a few of the members snitched the plans to the Crown, and its leaders were exiled and jailed, with Tiradentes in special becoming a major figure in Brazilian identity after being publicly hanged and quartered by the Empire to intimidate the population.[[/note]] in 1789 and the Bahia Conspiracy [[note]]A movement in Salvador organized by black and mulatto citiezens from a range of social classes, rebelling against the slavery, oppression, lack of commercial freedom, and social inequity imposed by Portugal, inspired by the egalitarian ideals of the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and Haitian Independence. The movement was discovered, and its members were jailed and exiled, with three of them being decapitated and quartered.[[/note]] in 1798. Many Brazilian landowners also wanted to export their products directly to the foreign market instead of Portugal in order to make more profit, making the end of the Colonial Pact and of the monopoly Portugal had on Brazil desirable.

The Old Republic had two phases: The Sword Republic, a dictatorship led by the military and characterized by sociopolitical conflicts and economical crisis as the republic got consolidated, and the Oligarchic Republic, influenced by the economical elite and marking the predominance of the rural oligarchies in Brazilian politics, mainly from São Paulo.\\\

With the republic announced, Deodoro da Fonseca became president in a provisional government, and a constitution was promulgated in 1891, which gave the right to vote to all men over 21 years old, except for illiterates and soldiers. After the promulgation of the constitution, indirect elections kept Deodoro da Fonseca in the presidency, with Marshal Floriano Peixoto serving as vice-president. The Brazilian economy still relied heavily on the agricultural exportation of coffee (majoritally from São Paulo), so the government sought to stimulate industrialization and economic development by drawing inspiration from the American banking system and employing a practice called ''encilhamento'', in which banks would massively lend monetary credit to various foundations. Unfortunately, the ''encilhamento'' did not yield positive results on the long run and led to a sharp rise in inflation, short-lived corporations, and shell companies, causing one of the most disastrous economic crises in Brazil's history. The crisis was only mitigated by the end of the decade through measures such as controlling the emission of money and stimulating industrial development.

Amid the economic and political crisis, Deodoro da Fonseca strengthened his rule and ordered the closure of Congress in 1891, refusing to have his powers limited. The Navy, already resentful of the authoritarianism and concentration of power that had followed since the start of the republic, protested and pressured Deodoro to resign in what is known as the First Naval Revolt, while his vice-president, Floriano Peixoto, assumed power. However, since the Constitution stipulated that if the president had not completed two years of rule, new elections should be held, Floriano's continued presence in the role with the support of the São Paulo oligarchies was seen as illegal, but he arrested all the generals who protested against his rule.

Also known as the First Republic, this period started with the proclamation of the republic on November 15th, 1889, when the military overthrew the monarchy and Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca established a republic, becoming the first president of Brazil. A new flag was officialized a few days later, retaining the green background and golden diamond from the Imperial flag, which were taken from the Houses of Braganza and Habsburg (representing D. Pedro I and his wife Maria Leopoldina). However, the imperial coat of arms was replaced with a celestial sphere that features a star for each province and the phrase "Order and Progress", which was taken from Auguste Comte's positivist motto.\\\

Amid the economic and political crisis, Deodoro da Fonseca strengthened his rule and ordered the closure of Congress in 1891, refusing to have his powers limited. The Navy, already resentful of the authoritarianism and concentration of power that had followed since the start of the republic, protested and pressured Deodoro to resign in what is known as the First Naval Revolt. His vice-president, Floriano Peixoto, assumed power. However, since the Constitution stipulated that if the president had not completed two years of rule, new elections should be held, his continued presence in the role with the support of the São Paulo oligarchies was seen as illegal, but Floriano arrested all the generals who protested against his rule.

Also known as the First Republic, this period started with the proclamation of the republic on November 15th, 1889, when the military deposed the Royal Family due to several antecedents and Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca established a republic, becoming the first president of Brazil. A new flag was officialized a few days later, retaining the green background and golden diamond from the Imperial flag, which were taken from the Houses of Braganza and Habsburg (representing D. Pedro I and his wife Maria Leopoldina). However, the imperial coat of arms was replaced with a celestial sphere that features a star for each province and the phrase "Order and Progress", which was taken from Auguste Comte's positivist motto.\\\

The Old Republic had two phases: The Sword Republic, a dictatorship led by the military and characterized by sociopolitical conflicts and economical crisis as the republic got consolidated, and the Oligarchic Republic, influenced by the economical elite and marking the predominance of the rural oligarchies in Brazilian politics.\\\

With the republic announced, Deodoro da Fonseca became president in a provisory government, with a contitution being promulgated in 1891, which gave vote for all men above 21-years old, apart from analphabets and privates. After the promulgation of the constitution, indirect elections kept Deodoro da Fonseca in the presidency, with the also Marshal Floriano Peixoto as the vice-president. Brazilian economy was still completely leaned on agricultural exportation of coffee, so to stimulate industrialization and economical development, the government took inspiration on the American

Native Brazilian History and culture are rich and diversified, with more than 305 different ethnicities inhabiting different parts of the country. The languages of the originary peoples are hugely varied, and can be divided into four main language families: the Tupi (Coastal Regions), which includes Tupi-Guarani, Mondé, Tuparí, Juruna, Mundurukú, and Ramarána, the Macro-Jê (Central Plateau), such as Aimoré, Jê, Bororo, Botocudo, Karajá, and Maxakalí, the Aruak (Lower Amazon), and the Karib (regions from the North and Midwest), not including smaller families like the Tukano and Yanomami, and isolated languages. Among the Macro-Tupi groups, the Tupi inhabited the coastal regions from Ceará to São Paulo, while the Guarani occupied the southern coast and the watersheds of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Thus, the Tupi were the ones who first made contact with the Europeans, and it is from Tupi-Guarani that most Brazilian words of native origins come from. Native Brazilians usually thrived on agriculture (especially of cassava), hunting-gathering, and fishing lifestyles. Among coastal peoples, sea fruits were some of the main sources of food, leaving traits of their discarded shells in archeological formations known as "sambaquis". The sambaquis are of huge archeological importance of this age, as they allow the study of the culture and History of the peoples who inhabited the coastal region.

In the Northern region, the island of Marajós in the mouth of the Amazon river has a rich collection of complex urns, vases, and other ceramics made by the Marajoara, who lived on the island from 500 to 1300 AD. The presence of Terra Preta (Black Soil), a highly fertile soil in the Amazon basin, is believed to have been artificially crafted by pre-Columbian peoples in order to better cultivate in the notoriously poor Amazonian soil.

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. The first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose wood was used for funiture and whose red sap for a valuable dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuguese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The universal consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.\\\

The relationship with the natives was multifaceted -- there were many ethnicities that allied themselves with Portugal against their own enemies, but there were also many instances of brutal conflict between Indigenous groups and the colonizers, and, ultimately, the broad context for Portugal was to create an Exploration and Extraction Colony for their own mercantilist interests. There was commerce, cultural exchange and barter trade, but the Portuguese would also enslave, kidnap, and wage war against countless tribes for centuries to come. In the first years, the Portuguese considered the natives as commercial partners, but they soon began to enslave enemy tribes in mass to explore their workforce after the introduction of sugar cycle. This exploration and the spread of deadly foreign diseases had a disastrous impact on the natives' well-being and culture and led to extremely high death rates, with their population drastically declining from millions to only 700,000 by 1650. Most of the cultural practices of the natives in the initial years were documented by the Jesuits, who also made the first translations between Portuguese and Tupi.\\\

In 1578, the disappearance in combat of Portugal's King D. Sebastião I during a battle against the Moroccan army led to a political succession crisis in the Portuguese Empire, as the king hadn't left an heir. This crisis got used by Spanish King UsefulNotes/PhilipII to assert his claim to Portugal's throne in 1580, leading to the annexation of Portugal by Spain and the formation of the Iberian Union. With Portugal and Spain united, the Treaty of Tordesillas became irrelevant, allowing Brazil's on-going expansion of territory to officially go further beyond the line dividing Portuguese and Spanish America and assume its current continental proportions through expeditions seeking precious metals, the search for the ''drogas do sertão'' (products obtained from the flora in the Amazon, such as guaraná, urucum, cocoa, salsa and Brazil nut), and the expansion of livestock farming. While Spain didn't make any significant changes in Portugal's administration of Brazil, the merging with Spain led to conflicts with the Netherlands. Portugal and the Dutch had an arrangement in which Portugal produced sugar in Brazil's northeast and the Netherlands refined and traded it in Europe, but since the Dutch and Spanish empires were enemies, [[UsefulNotes/TheDutchPortugueseWar the Dutch and Portuguese went to war and the Dutch invaded Brazil's Northeast in 1630]], taking control of the sugar industry in the region and turning into their own colony until 1654. The governor of the colony was Maurice of Nassau, who brought several changes to the territory, including inviting scientists and painters who depicted and studied Brazil's nature, peoples and landscapes.

Also known as the First Republic, this period started with the proclamation of the republic on November 15th, 1889. The fall of the monarchy was partially caused by the loss of support, such as the insatisfaction of the military following the consequences of the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheTripleAlliance and the abolition of slavery angering the landlord slave owners, though it's worth noting the spread of positivist ideals had already made the idea of the monarchy seem impopular among military men. Thus, the military deposed the Royal Family, and Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca established a republic, becoming the first president of Brazil. A new flag was officialized a few days later, retaining the green background and golden diamond from the Imperial flag, which were taken from the Houses of Braganza and Habsburg (representing D. Pedro I and his wife Maria Leopoldina). However, the imperial coat of arms was replaced with a celestial sphere that features a star for each province and the phrase "Order and Progress", which was taken from Auguste Comte's positivist motto.\\\

The Old Republic had two phases: The Sword Republic, a dictatorship led by the military and characterized by sociopolitical conflict and troubles as the republic got consolidated, and the Oligarchic Republic, influenced by the economical elite and marking the predominance of the rural oligarchies in Brazilian politics.\\\

The Old Republic had two phases: The Sword Republic, a dictatorship led by the military and characterized by sociopolitical conflict and troubles as the republic got consolidated, and the Oligarchic Republic, influenced by the economical elite and marking the predominance of the rural oligarchies in Brazilian politics.

After Brazilwood, Brazil's second main economic cycle was sugarcane, as Portugal had already cultivated it in its island colonies, Brazilian litoral's soil and climate were favorable for it, and sugar was highly valuable in Europe. With Brazil becoming the largest source of sugar in the world, the sugarcane industry was vital to the economic development in the colonial period, and since the Northeast was where the production was focused on the most, especially in Pernambuco and Bahia, these regions were the economic, social, and political center of the colony in the 16th and 17th centuries. The sugar mill became the economical center of most towns, and the ''senhores de engenho'' (sugar mill lords) rose as the main political, economical and social elite of the time. However, the constant need for manpower for the growing production of sugarcane and the protest and opposition of the Jesuits against the on-going enslavement of the natives led colonizers to engage in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, in which slave traders would buy African slaves and transport them to be sold in Brazil, all under terrible conditions.[[note]]In fact, another name for the slaveships was "tumbeiro", from tumba (tomb), as a reference to how high the death rate was among the enslaved during the trip[[/note]]. The selling of slaves was highly profitable for the traders, and thus, the African slave trade unfortunately persisted as an economic activity in Brazil up until 1850, with slavery itself going on until 1888.

The slaves brought to Brazil were from a highly wide range of cultural and ethnic diversity; most were traded by the Kingdom of Angola and were thus from Midwestern Africa's cultures, although many also came from the Gulf of Guinea and the eastern coast, including Mozambique. Overall, they can be divided into two main groups: ''bantos'' and ''sudaneses''. Despite efforts to suppress their cultural practices, the slaves still brought with them a rich and diverse heritage that has shaped the country's identity to this day, forming Brazil's highly miscigenated culture alongside Portugal and the native peoples. Therefore, colonial Brazilian society can be said to be composed of descendants of Portuguese settlers, Indigenous peoples, descendants of Africans, and mixed people between all three. The villages created by escaped slaves are called quilombos, the largest and most prominent of which was likely Palmares, whose most famous leaders were Ganga Zumba and his successor, Zumbi dos Palmares. It is believed that Palmares had up to twenty thousand black refugees, as well as other people from a variety of backgrounds such as natives and poor white men.

The relationship with the natives was multifaceted -- there were many ethnicities that allied themselves with Portugal against their own enemies, but there were also many instances of brutal conflict between Indigenous groups and the colonizers, and, ultimately, the broad context for Portugal was to create an Exploration and Extraction Colony for their own mercantilist interests. There was commerce, cultural exchange and barter trade, but the Portuguese would also enslave, kidnap, and wage war against countless tribes for centuries to come. In the first years, the Portuguese considered the natives as commercial partners, but they soon began to enslave enemy tribes in mass to explore their workforce after the introduction of sugar cycle. This exploration and the spread of deadly foreign diseases had a disastrous impact on the natives' well-being and culture and led to extremely high death rates, with their population drastically declining from millions to only 700,000 by 1650. Most of the cultural practices of the natives in the initial years were documented by the Jesuits, who also made the first translations between Portuguese and Tupi.

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. The first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose wood was used for funiture and whose red sap for a valuable dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuguese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The universal consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.

Also known as the First Republic, this period started with the proclamation of the republic on November 15th, 1889. The fall of the monarchy was partially caused by the loss of support, such as the insatisfaction of the military following the consequences of the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheTripleAlliance and the abolition of slavery angering the landlord slave owners, though it's worth noting the spread of positivist ideals had already made the idea of the monarchy seem impopular among military men. Thus, the military deposed the Royal Family, and Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca established a republic, becoming the first president of Brazil. A new flag was officialized a few days later, retaining the green background and golden diamond from the Imperial flag, which were taken from the Houses of Braganza and Habsburg (representing D. Pedro I and his wife Maria Leopoldina). However, the imperial coat of arms was replaced with a celestial sphere that features a star for each province and the phrase "Order and Progress", which was taken from Auguste Comte's positivist motto.

[[caption-width-right:350: Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca proclaims the republic in front of a crowd. [-Benedito Calixto. ''Proclamação da República'', 1893. Museu Paulista, São Paulo.-]]]
Also called First Republic, this period started with the proclamation of the republic on November 15th, 1889. The fall of the monarchy was partially caused by the loss of support from the elites, such as the consequences of the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheTripleAlliance insatisfying the military and the abolition of slavery angering the land-owning oligarchies, who used slaves as workforce and demanded idenization, though it's worth noting the spread of positivist ideals had already made the idea of the monarchy seem impopular among military men. Thus, the military deposed the Royal Family and Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca established a republic, him being the first president of Brazil.

Eventually, however, by the end of the 18th century, all the easily obtainable gold finally began to deplete, giving an end to the gold cycle and the colony's profitability. The next main export product of Brazil was cotton, a profitable commodity at the time due to the demands created by the Industrial Revolution and the European population boom. Several other primary products were also exported, with coffee becoming the new main economic cycle in the following century. However, the colonial period was already starting to enter a crisis due to multiple factors. In addition to the gold depletion, England had emerged as the main economic power of the world due to the Industrial Revolution, which Portugal had not managed to follow as quickly and couldn't compete against, and the slavery that Brazil relied so much on began to be seen as backwards compared to salaried work. Additionally, UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, the ideals of the UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, the desire for economical liberalism, and the Haitian and American Independences had led to the spread of countless movements across Latin America demanding independence from their European metropolises, including in Brazil, such as the Minas Gerais Conspiracy[[note]]A movement inspired by Enlightenment ideals and Republicanism, organized by the intellectual and aristocratic elite dissatisfied with Portuguese exploitation of gold in Minas Gerais, aimed to make the region independent. However, the movement was discovered after a few of the members snitched the plans to the Crown, and its leaders were exiled and jailed, with Tiradentes in special becoming a major figure in Brazilian identity after being publicly hanged and quartered by the Empire to intimidate the population.[[/note]] in 1789 and the Bahia Conspiracy [[note]]A movement in Salvador organized by black and mulatto citiezens from a range of social classes, rebelling against the slavery, oppression, lack of commercial freedom, and social inequity imposed by Portugal, inspired by the egalitarian ideals of the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and Haitian Independence. The movement was discovered, and its members were jailed and exiled, with three of them being decapitated and quartered.[[/note]] in 1798. Many Brazilian landowners also wanted to export their products directly to England instead of Portugal in order to make more profit, making the end of the Colonial Pact and of the monopoly Portugal had on Brazil desirable.

On January 22, 1808, Regent-Prince D. João, his wife Carlota Joaquina, his mother, the Queen Dona Maria I, his son Pedro de Alcântara, and thousands of members from the Royal Family's entourage arrived in Salvador, shielded by English fleets. In exchange for England's military efforts to shield the fleets and guard the Madeira Island, and the recognition of legitimacy, the Regent-Prince had to sign the Treaty of Opening of Ports to Friendly Nations, a commercial deal that opened Brazil's ports for the first time to directly trade products with nations other than Portugal. This allowed England to expand its products into the Brazilian market, which was seen by them as a promising consumer and supplier for English commerce. At the same time, this treaty developed Brazil's rapprochement with other countries and effectively ended the Colonial Pact that had been in operation since the start of colonization, greatly diversifying the imported manufactured goods Brazilian population could have access to and the destinations of Brazil's exportations. One month later, the Royal Family went to Rio de Janeiro and officially declared it to be the capital of the Portuguese Empire, including other Portuguese colonies such as Angola and Mozambique. This makes Brazil the only colony in the world to host the capital of an European empire. Duebto the Napoleonic Wars, Brazil would also occupate the French territory in the Americas, the UsefulNotes/FrenchGuiana.

Native Brazilian History and culture are rich and diversified, with more than 305 different ethnicities inhabiting different parts of the country. The languages of the originary peoples can be divided into four main language families: the Tupi, which includes Tupi-Guarani, Mondé, Tuparí, Juruna, Mundurukú, and Ramarána, the Macro-Jê, such as Jê, Bororo, Botocudo, Karajá, and Maxakalí, the Aruak, and the Karib, not including smaller families like the Tukano and Yanomami, and isolated languages. Among the Macro-Tupi groups, the Tupi inhabited the coastal regions from Ceará to São Paulo, while the Guarani occupied the southern coast and the watersheds of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, and it is from Tupi-Guarani that most Brazilian words of native origins come from. Native Brazilians usually thrived on agriculture (especially of cassava), hunting-gathering, and fishing lifestyles. Among coastal peoples, sea fruits were some of the main sources of food, leaving traits of their discarded shells in archeological formations known as "sambaquis". The sambaquis are of huge archeological importance of this age, as they allow the study of the culture and History of the peoples who inhabited the coastal region.

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. The first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose wood was used for funiture and whose sap for a valuable red dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The universal consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.

The relationship with the natives was multifaceted -- there were many ethnicities that allied themselves with Portugal against their enemies, but there were also many instances of brutal conflict between Indigenous groups and the colonizers, and, ultimately, the broad context for Portugal was to create an Exploration and Extraction Colony for their own mercantilist interests. There was commerce, cultural exchange and barter trade, but the Portuguese would also enslave, kidnap, and wage war against countless tribes for centuries to come. This exploration, and most of all, the spread of deadly foreign diseases, had a disastrous impact on the natives' well-being and culture, with their population drastically declining from millions to only 700,000 by 1650. Most of the cultural practices of the natives in the first years were documented by the Jesuits, who also made the first translations between Portuguese and Tupi.

After Brazilwood, Brazil's second main economic cycle was sugarcane, as Portugal had already cultivated it in its island colonies, Brazilian litoral's soil and climate were favorable for it, and sugar was highly valuable in Europe. With Brazil becoming the largest source of sugar in the world, the sugarcane industry was vital to the economic development in the colonial period, and since the Northeast was where the production was focused on the most, especially in Pernambuco and Bahia, these regions were the economic, social, and political center of the colony in the 16th and 17th centuries. The sugar mill became the economical center of most towns, and the ''senhores de engenho'' (sugar mill lords) rose as the main political, economical and social elite of the time. However, the need for manpower for the growing production of sugarcane and the protest and opposition of the Jesuits against the on-going enslavement of the natives led colonizers to engage in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, in which slave traders would buy African slaves and transport them to be sold in Brazil, all under terrible conditions.[[note]]In fact, another name for the slaveships was "tumbeiro", from tumba (tomb), as a reference to how high the death rate was among the enslaved during the trip[[/note]]. The selling of slaves was highly profitable for the traders, and thus, the African slave trade unfortunately persisted as an economic activity in Brazil up until 1850, with slavery itself going on until 1888.

The slaves brought to Brazil were from a highly wide range of cultural and ethnic diversity; most were traded by the Kingdom of Angola and were thus from Midwestern Africa's cultures, although many also came from the Gulf of Guinea and the eastern coast, including Mozambique. Overall, they can be divided into two groups: ''bantos'' and ''sudaneses''. Despite efforts to suppress their cultural practices, the slaves still brought with them a rich and diverse heritage that has shaped the country's identity to this day, forming Brazil's highly miscigenated culture alongside Portugal and the native peoples. Therefore, colonial Brazilian society can be said to be composed of descendants of Portuguese settlers, Indigenous peoples, descendants of Africans, and mixed people between all three. The villages created by escaped slaves are called quilombos, the largest and most prominent of which was likely Palmares, whose most famous leaders were Ganga Zumba and his successor, Zumbi dos Palmares. It is believed that Palmares had up to twenty thousand black refugees, as well as other people from a variety of backgrounds such as natives and poor white men.

[[folder:Pre-Cabralin Period (50,000 to 20,000 BD - 1500 AD)]]

Native Brazilian History and culture are rich and diversified, with more than 305 different ethnicities inhabiting different parts of the country, whose languages belong to two main language families: Macro-Tupi, including populations like the Tupi-Guarani, Mondé, Tuparí, Juruna, Mundurukú, and Ramarána peoples, and Macro-Jê, including, among others, the Jê, Bororo, Botocudo, Karajá, and Maxakalí peoples. Among the Macro-Tupi groups, the Tupi inhabited the coastal regions from Ceará to São Paulo, while the Guarani occupied the southern coast and the watersheds of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Thus, the Tupi were the ones who first made contact with the Europeans. Native Brazilians usually thrived on agriculture (especially of cassava), hunting-gathering, and fishing lifestyles. Among coastal peoples, sea fruits were some of the main sources of food, leaving traits of their discarded shells in archeological formations known as "sambaquis". The sambaquis are of huge archeological importance of this age, as they allow the study of the culture and History of the peoples who inhabited the coastal region.

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. Additionally, there was a need for the Church to gain more followers in the new world as a reaction against the Protestant Reformation. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. The first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose wood was used for funiture and whose sap for a valuable red dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The universal consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.

The relationship with the natives was multifaceted -- there were many ethnicities that allied themselves with Portugal against their enemies, but there were also many instances of brutal conflict between Indigenous groups and the colonizers, and, ultimately, the broad context for Portugal was to create an Exploration and Extraction Colony for their own mercantilist interests. There was commerce, cultural exchange and barter trade, but the Portuguese would also enslave, kidnap, and wage war against countless tribes for centuries to come. This exploration, and most of all, the spread of deadly foreign diseases, had a disastrous impact on the natives' well-being and culture, with their population drastically declining from millions to only 700,000 by 1650.

After Brazilwood, Brazil's second main economic cycle was sugarcane, as Portugal had already cultivated it in its island colonies, Brazilian litoral's soil and climate were favorable for it, and sugar was highly valuable in Europe. With Brazil becoming the largest source of sugar in the world, the sugarcane industry was vital to the economic development in the colonial period, and since the Northeast was where the production was focused on the most, especially in Pernambuco and Bahia, these regions were the economic, social, and political center of the colony in the 16th and 17th centuries. The sugar mill became the economical center of most towns, and the ''senhores de engenho'' (sugar mill lords) rose as the main political, economical and social elite of the time. However, the need for manpower for the growing production of sugarcane and the protest and opposition of the Jesuits against the enslavement of the natives led colonizers to engage in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, in which slave traders would buy African slaves and transport them to be sold in Brazil, all under terrible conditions.[[note]]In fact, another name for the slaveships was "tumbeiro", from tumba (tomb), as a reference to how high the death rate was among the enslaved during the trip[[/note]]. The selling of slaves was highly profitable for the traders, and thus, the African slave trade unfortunately persisted as an economic activity in Brazil up until 1850, with slavery itself going on until 1888.

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. Additionally, there was a need for the Church to gain more followers in the new world as a reaction against the Protestant Reformation. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. Right away, the first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose wood was used for funiture and whose sap for a valuable red dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The universal consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.

While Portugal was promptly informed of the new territory, the country initially used the new lands as more of a stop between fleets and installation of the ''feitorias'' until 1530, focusing on the exportation of Brazilwood while profiting on the commerce with the East Indies. The period between 1500 and 1530, without a colonization and settlement policy, is called the Pre-Colonial period. After an expedition to explore the coast in 1530, Portugal began to establish permanent settlements and colonies on Brazil's coast. The collapse of the spice trade with India and the need to secure their territory against other European powers, especially France, mobilized the empire to expand the process of colonization, with a focus on exporting raw materials and precious metals. The first Brazilian town was São Vicente, in São Paulo, founded in 1532.

While Brazil had been experiencing cultural and economic advances, the situation in Portugal was far from ideal. The economy was in shambles, and the regencies were manipulated by England, leading to dissatisfaction among the population and the spread of liberal views. The Liberal Revolution of Porto in 1820 demanded the end of Absolutism, the creation of a Constitutional Monarchy, and the return of the Royal Family to Portugal, making it the capital of the empire again. The movement was led in part by the Portuguese bourgeoisie and demanded that D. João VI reestablished the Colonial Pact and turned Brazil back into a colony, ensuring Portuguese monopoly over its commerce and taking it away from England.

The revolution was welcomed by Portuguese merchants and military in Brazil, as it would mean commercial exclusivity and a lack of foreign competition. However, the return of the royalty was feared by the colonial elites in Brazil, who had benefited from the political and economic autonomy brought by the arrival of the Royal Family. Pressured by Portugal, D. João VI returned to Portugal in 1821 to sign the Constitution, leaving his son Pedro de Alcântara as Prince-Regent of Brazil.

However, the Portuguese Court was not satisfied and demanded the return of Pedro as well, but he refused and, with the support of the elites, publicly declared in January 1822 that he would stay in Brazil. The pressure of Portugal to recolonize Brazil became unpopular among the Brazilian people, and when the relationship between the Brazilian elites and the colonial bonds became unsustainable, the path of separation from Portugal appeared as a possible political path. With the help of his wife D. Maria Leopoldina and his advisor José Bonifácio, Pedro conducted the separation, and a Constitutional Assembly was formulated. A law was also decreed that said the measurements taken by Portugal would only be valid in Brazil if Pedro approved them first.

On September 7th, 1822, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil, turning it into an Empire and becoming D. Pedro I of Brazil, including establishing of a Constitutional Assembly and drafting a new Constitution. This led to the Brazilian War of Independence, in which Brazilian forces fought against Portuguese troops loyal to the Portuguese Crown. The conflict also involved some indigenous peoples and Afro-Brazilian militias. The war ended in 1823, and Portugal demanded 2 million pounds as part of the negotiations for a peaceful separation between Brazil and Portugal. This first years of the period involved several moments of political instability, but it also led to new opportunities for Brazilian cultural expression and the development of a distinct national identity. The Empire of Brazil can be divided into the First Reign, by D. Pedro I, the Regencial Period, led by regencies after Pedro I had to return to Portugal and his son was too young to assume the throne yet, and the Second Reign, by D. Pedro II.\\\

On April 22, 1500, a Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at what is now Porto Seguro in Bahia, a land he then initially named "Ilha de Vera Cruz". Portugal's original and main objective was actually to establish a new route to the East Indies and thus strengthen the spice commerce that it had pioneered since 1498 with Vasco da Gama's voyage during the Age of Exploration. Additionally, there was a need for the Church to gain more followers in the new world as a reaction against the Protestant Reformation. However, it is believed that the expedition also aimed to investigate and secure potential uncharted territories after the Treaty of Tordesilhas had divided every newly discovered land outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain in 1494: Spain had been given the lands west of a meridian set 370 leagues from Cape Verde, while Portugal had been given the lands to the east, which would eventually be revealed to include part of Brazil. Right away, the first commercial product to be exported was Brazilwood, a tree abundant on the coast whose sap would be used for a valuable red dye fabric. The tree, called ibirapitanga in Tupi, was acquired through barter trades with the Tupi in trading posts and warehouses called ''feitorias'', thus intensifying the relationship with the natives and Portuese occupation in the Americas. The exact origin of the term "Brazil" is still disputed[[note]]The consensus is that it comes from "brasilia" ("ember-colored" in Latin), referencing the red color of the dye[[/note]], but it was from Brazilwood that it became widely used.

On January 22, 1808, Regent-Prince D. João, his wife Carlota Joaquina, his mother, the Queen Dona Maria I, his son Pedro de Alcântara, and thousands of members from the Royal Family's entourage arrived in Salvador, shielded by English fleets. In exchange for England's military efforts to shield the fleets and guard the Madeira Island, and the recognition of legitimacy, the Regent-Prince had to sign the Treaty of Opening of Ports to Friendly Nations, a commercial deal that opened Brazil's ports for the first time to directly trade products with nations other than Portugal. This allowed England to expand its products into the Brazilian market, which was seen by them as a promising consumer and supplier for English commerce. At the same time, this treaty developed Brazil's rapprochement with other countries and effectively ended the Colonial Pact that had been in operation since the start of colonization, greatly diversifying the imported manufactured goods Brazilian population could have access to and the destinations of Brazil's exportations. One month later, the Royal Family went to Rio de Janeiro and officially declared it to be the capital of the Portuguese Empire, including other Portuguese colonies such as Angola and Mozambique. This makes Brazil the only colony in the world to host the capital of an European empire. Brazil would also occupate the French territory in the Americas, the UsefulNotes/FrenchGuiana.

In 1815, Napoleon was defeated, leading to the Congress of Vienna, in which several European powers came together to discuss the redefinition of the frontiers of the countries involved in the Napoleonic Wars after they subsided. Portugal also participated, but Prince-Regent João had to legitimize his permanence in Brazil first. The Portuguese royalty had already established their interest in Brazil through granting noble titles, lands, and economic liberty to groups who feared losing those advances with the return of the royal famly, and it is said D. João himself was getting fond of Brazil. Therefore, in 1815, D. João officially ended Brazil's status as a colony by transforming it into a kingdom under the political body of the United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal, and the Algarves, with Rio de Janeiro as its capital. This marks the end of the colonial status of Brazil, as it was on equal footing with Portugal, rather than subjugated to it. In 1818, D. João was crowned King D. João VI in Rio, further formalizing the idea that the Portuguese royalty intended to remain in Brazil. In 1816, D. João ordered the Portuguese-Brazilian troops to conquer the Spanish regions of Cisplatina in the south, both as a retaliation for Spain having helped France to invade Portugal and because the region had been a disputed territory between Spain in Portugal through centuries, as the Río de la Plata was an important strategic and economical location. The region was called Província Cisplatina, and later would go on to become UsefulNotes/{{Uruguay}}.

[[folder:Old Republic]]