Portuguese Discoveries (1487-1497)
First Settlements (1530-1549)
The Colonial Period
The Union of Spain and Portugal (1580-1640)
Territorial Expansion (1600's)
Gold Discovery (1690-1800)
Coffee
Brazil from Independence
The Feeling of Nationhood
Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil (1808-1821)
Proclamation of Independence (1822)
The Empire
Pedro I (1822 - 1831)
Pedro II (1831-1889)
The Republic
End of the Empire: Abolition of Slavery (1888)
Federation and Presidential System
The New Republic (1930 1937)
The Vargas Era (1938-1945)
Post War Brazil
Modern Brazil
Military Rule (1964-1985)
Return to Democracy (1985)
Discovery,
Settlement, and the Colonial Period
Portuguese
Discoveries (1487-1497)
In
the 15th and 16th centuries Portugal, an Iberian Kingdom
with barely a million inhabitants, was hemmed in by
the Atlantic in front and by a hostile Castile behind.
After years of struggle against the Moorish occupation,
the Portuguese turned their attention and energy 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 were led by the navigator, Vasco
da Gama, across the Indian Ocean to discover the sea
route to the Far East 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 forestall the ambitions of Spain,
England, and France. For a small nation, secrecy was
the only available method of safeguarding the rewards
of bold and successful exploration against exploitation
by more powerful maritime rivals.
The
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) settled the question of
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 eastern- most
part of the South American continent and constituted
Brazil's first frontier, although the formal discovery
by Pedro Alvares Cabral did not take place until six
years later in 1500.
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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 with domestic animals, plants, and seeds 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. The land was sparsely inhabited by Indian tribes,
some peaceful and others, especially in the interior,
fierce and warlike. 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
fiefs, or 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.
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The
Colonial Period
The
moist and fertile seaboard of what is now the State
of Pernambuco was very 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. The sugar plant and the technique of its cultivation
had reached Brazil from Madeira. 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.
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The
Union of Spain and Portugal (1580-1640)
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 Peninsular kingdoms
were linked together under the Spanish crown. Thus,
by the union of the two countries, South America became,
for the 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 expeditioners
(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.
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Territorial
Expansion (1600's)
In
1640, when the Portuguese under John VI 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 uti possidetis the right derived
not only from title but also 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.
The decline of sugar production was followed by a movement
outward from the sugar growing regions to unexplored
territories.
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Gold
Discovery (1690-1800)
The
most important consequence of these expeditions was
the discovery of gold. While the gold rush which followed
drained thousands of people away from the coastal plantations,
it also attracted fresh immigration from Portugal. Other
consequences were the growth of cattle farming in the
interior to provide meat and leather for the mining
centers and the emergence of new cities 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 l800. The growth of
gold mining in Brazil was an important development which
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 which
ended up in London helped to finance the Industrial
Revolution.
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Coffee
But
the boom in gold and diamond mining, like that of sugar,
was destined to be followed by the rise of an even more
important source of wealth: coffee. Just as mining caused
a migration of people from Pernambuco and Bahia southwards
to Minas Gerais, so the spread of coffee-growing advanced
the settlement of empty land still further to the south.
Coffee first reached Brazil via French Guiana in the
18th century. The ear]y plantations were in regions
in the hinterland of Rio de Janeiro well provided with
slave labor; but 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. Soon this combination
made Brazil the biggest coffee producer in the world.
Another
important event in the second half of the 18th century
was the transfer of the seat of colonial government.
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.
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Brazil
from Independence
The
Feeling of Nationhood
The
role of Portugal during the period it ruled Brazil was
essentially that of intermediary between the colony
as producer and the European economic centers as consumers.
Monopolizing all trade with Brazil, Portugal retained
a substantial part of the profits, and this led to growing
discontent among the settlers. The fight to expel French
and Dutch invaders from the northeast at the beginning
of the 17th century produced a growing feeling of nationalism
in the Brazilian colonists.
The
stirrings of unrest stemming from the urge to secure
political freedom began in earnest in the second half
of the 18th century. Although the concept of independence
was generally shared, some movements against the Portuguese
authorities were clearly regional in scope. The Minas
Conspiracy (Conspiração Mineira), the
most significant of these isolated movements, took place
in the center of what was then the gold mining region.
Its enthusiastic leader was a youthful cavalry officer,
Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, nicknamed Tiradentes.
Tiradentes had found support mainly among intellectuals
seized with the same libertarian ideals that had inspired
the French Encyclopedists and the leaders of the American
Revolution. The conspiracy was discovered and its leaders
received very harsh sentences. Tiradentes was hanged
in a public square in Rio de Janeiro. Other incidents,
some of which had wide support, occurred in Pernambuco
and Bahia, where the decline of the sugar economy aggravated
the problems created by the country's subordination
to Portugal. None of them, however, was important enough
to seriously undermine the Portuguese domination at
the time.
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Transfer
of the Portuguese Court to Brazil (1808-1821)
In
1808, as Napoleon's armies began the invasion of Portugal,
the decision was made to transfer the monarch and his
court to Rio de Janeiro, where he would remain until
1821. The establishment of the royal administration
in the colony for a period of 14 years would accelerate
the march towards independence, but from now on with
a unique undertone. The Portuguese Crown, consciously
or not, took some measures that eased the transition
toward independence. The elevation of Brazil, in 1815,
from the status of a colony to that of a United Kingdom
with Portugal may be seen as an example. Another lies
in the fact that, although Napoleon's dominance ended
in 1815, King João VI preferred to remain in
Rio de Janeiro. Six years later, in 1821, King João
VI had to yield to unrelenting pressures from the politicians
back home. He returned to Lisbon, but left the Crown
Prince in Rio with the title of Viceroy Regent. Furthermore,
in the presence of members of colonial society, the
King supposedly advised him: Pedro, my son, when the
time comes, place the crown on your head before an adventurer
puts it on his.
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Proclamation
of Independence (1822)
The
irritating opposition of Lisbon's politicians to this
state of affairs and the cajoling from close Brazilian
advisers attracted the young prince to the cause of
independence. Barely a year after the King's return
to Portugal, on September 7,1822, the Crown Prince proclaimed
the independence of Brazil as an Empire and had himself
solemnly crowned Emperor Pedro I on December 1, 1822.
The mastermind behind Brazilian independence was José
Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, a distinguished
Brazilian geologist and writer who had become the most
important and trusted of the Prince's advisers. While
the Spanish viceroyalties in America had to fight fiercely
for their independence (to end up as 18 different republics),
Portugal and Brazil settled the matter by negotiation,
with Great Britain acting as a broker. After a relatively
short war of independence (1822-1824) Brazil became
an Empire under Dom Pedro I, who, nevertheless, continued
to be the heir to the Portuguese throne.
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The
Empire
Pedro
I (1822 - 1831)
The
first ruler of independent Brazil was a striking personality.
He made an important contribution to the acceleration
of the social and political evolution of the 19th century
by granting Brazil in 1824 and Portugal, two years later,
constitutional charters which were extremely advanced
for the time and broke the taboos of the Divine Right
of Kings. In 1826, on the death of João VI, Dom
Pedro inherited his father's kingdom. However, he abdicated
the Portuguese throne soon after in favor of his infant
daughter, Maria da Glória, who became Queen Maria
II. In 1831, he abdicated the throne of Brazil in favor
of his son, Dom Pedro II, who was still a minor. This
decision, prompted in part by differences with the Brazilian
Parliament, was also motivated by an adventurous spirit
which took him back to Portugal to oust his brother,
Miguel, who had usurped the throne from young Queen
Maria.
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Pedro
II (1831-1889)
Unlike
his father, Pedro II grew up to be a stern, temperate,
scholarly monarch. During his rule of half a century,
Brazil reached political and cultural maturity, and
the unity of the vast country was firmly secured. Political
and social institutions developed peacefully and attained
stability. A competent administration was created, slavery
was progressively eliminated until its complete abolition
in 1888, European immigration was actively promoted,
and health and welfare schemes were planned on a national
scale. The influence exercised by the Emperor on the
people and institutions of the country did much to ensure
that the transition from Monarchy to Republic, when
it eventually came, took place without bloodshed.
Although peace and stability were maintained within
the country under the Empire, Brazil was exposed to
external threats along its southern frontier during
this period which brought about the War of the Triple
Alliance. This was a long and unpopular war (1865-70)
in which Brazil united with Argentina and Uruguay against
Paraguay. Under the peace treaty of 1872, Brazil guaranteed
the territorial integrity of Paraguay and renounced
all its claims to indemnities and payment of war debts.
This is the last armed conflict Brazil has ever had
with any of its ten neighbors.
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The
Republic
End
of the Empire: Abolition of Slavery (1888)
The
final abolition of slavery is usually regarded as the
most immediate cause for the fall of the monarchy. With
the Emperor away in Europe, his daughter, Princess Isabel,
acted as Regent. On May 13, 1888, responding to the
collapse of slavery as a workable system and yielding
to pressures from the abolitionists, she signed the
so-called Golden Law (Lei Áurea) which abolished
slavery in Brazil.
It
must be noted that by the end of the 19th century, slavery
in Brazil was declining under pressure from immigrant
laborers whose wages cost less than the upkeep of slaves.
Nevertheless, the Golden Law set off a reaction among
slave owners which rapidly eroded the political foundations
of the monarchy. After a few months of parliamentary
crises, the Emperor was deposed on November 15, 1889,
by a military movement that proclaimed the abrogation
of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic.
This institutional transformation, albeit profound,
was carried out without bloodshed. Although treated
with all possible respect, the Emperor and his family
had to be asked to leave the country. Accompanied by
some close associates, they went into exile in France.
Most of the leading figures of the country lent their
support and collaboration to the new regime; among them
was one of Brazil's most outstanding statesmen, the
Baron of Rio Branco. It was his wisdom and skillful
diplomacy that enabled Brazil to end, by treaty or arbitration,
nearly all its outstanding frontier disputes.
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Federation
and Presidential System
The
newborn republic adopted a federative system which has
kept its same characteristics until today. Under federation
the provinces of the Empire were transformed into States.
The parliamentary system was replaced with a presidential
one, a bicameral Congress (Chamber of Deputies and Senate)
was created, as well as a completely independent Supreme
Court. At the states' level the same structure was adopted.
President after president, elected under the rules of
the prevailing constitutional system, succeeded each
other in office until 1930.
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The
New Republic (1930 1937)
The
so-called First Republic lasted until 1930 when, for
the first time, the government was overthrown by force.
The main aim of the victorious revolutionary movement
headed by Getúlio Vargas was the reform of an
electoral and political system which, in the absence
of strong national parties, had led to the practice
of electing presidents supported by the governors of
the leading states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
The governors, in turn, secured the election of congressional
representatives pledged to carry out the policies of
the central government. Getúlio Vargas, who was
to govern Brazil for the next 15 years, came to power
at a troubled time. The country was feeling the effects
of the world depression which drastically reduced the
price of coffee. The domestic political scene was affected
not only by the resultant financial crisis, but also,
as the decade advanced, by clashes between militant
minorities inspired by ideas reaching the country from
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on one hand, and by the
Communist ideology imported from the Soviet Union on
the other.
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The
Vargas Era (1938-1945)
In
1934, after the Vargas regime had been consolidated,
a new constitution was introduced which greatly widened
the franchise and gave the vote to women. In late 1937,
shortly before the presidential elections were due,
the heated political atmosphere and disruptive activities
led President Vargas to declare a state of emergency.
Vargas followed up his declaration by dissolving Congress
and assuming extraordinary powers to govern by decree
under an authoritarian charter. However difficult the
times, some important policies were adopted then which
included the introduction of advanced social welfare
legislation, a reform of the educational system, and
substantial progress in industrialization, including
the construction of Brazil's first big steel mill (1942-1946).
When
World War II started, the Vargas government could not
ignore the spontaneous preference of the majority of
Brazilians for the Allies. Popular sentiment, further
inflamed by the hostile actions of German U-boats off
the Brazilian coast, forced the President to abandon
a neutral stance. In August, 1942, Vargas declared war
on the Axis powers. Brazil equipped a 25,000-man strong
Expeditionary Force which, attached to the U.S. Fifth
Army, fought in Italy. Brazil was the only American
country, besides the U.S. and Canada, to send armed
forces to the European theater of war.
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Post
War Brazil
Modern
Brazil
As
the war in Europe drew to its close, Vargas was forced
to resign and elections were held to appoint a successor.
Going to the polls for the first time in l5 years, the
electorate gave the majority of their votes to General
Eurico Gaspar Dutra who had been Vargas' Minister of
the Army during the war. A new democratic constitution
was approved by a constituent assembly in 1946 which
remained in force until 1967. Dutra's term came to an
end in 1951. Meanwhile Vargas, who had sat out his exile
at his ranch in Rio Grande do Sul, had prepared for
the elections. Vargas had come to reap some of the rewards
of his progressive measures in the fields of social
welfare and trade union legislation. At the conclusion
of Dutra's term, Vargas was constitutionally elected
president of the republic. In 1954, in the middle of
a bitter political crisis, Vargas put a pistol to his
heart and pulled the trigger. A caretaker administration
finished his term of office.
Brazil
experienced five years of accelerated economic expansion
under President Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961), the
founder of Brasília. He was followed by President
Jânio Quadros, who resigned after less than a
year in office. Quadros' vice president was João
Goulart. Goulart was sworn in as president only after
Congress hastily voted in a parliamentary system which
drastically curtailed presidential powers. In a plebiscite
held four months later, however, President Goulart was
able to persuade the voters to restore the old presidential
system. Rampant inflation and political polarization
between left and right led to two and a half tumultuous
years of political and social unrest and economic crisis.
Fearing Goulart's Marxist leanings, the military overthrew
him in a coup on March 31,1964.
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Military
Rule (1964-1985)
The
period 1964 to 1985 was one of military rule, with some
relaxation of control after 1979. This period saw five
presidents, all of them military generals. The first,
Castello Branco, came to power on a wave of anti-communism.
His main task was to stabilize the country's political
and economic situation. Extensive amendments were made
to the Constitution to provide the government with the
powers and mechanisms to achieve those goals. During
the next 15 years, 1968-1983, the government issued
several Institutional Acts which were, in effect, presidential
decrees. Many individual and collective rights were
suspended during this period. New austerity measures
affected economic and political life. Collective bargaining
was eliminated, strikes were virtually outlawed, and
the working class movement was curtailed.
By
1968, in the term of President Arthur da Costa e Silva,
the economic strategies appeared to be working. Inflation
was contained and foreign firms began to make new investments,
assured of the regime's stability. Politically, however,
in response to the continued unrest, the government
became increasingly repressive. President Costa e Silva
resigned in 1969 because of illness. He was immediately
succeeded by a military junta and two months later by
Emílio Garrastazu Médici. Between 1967
and 1974 Brazil enjoyed one of the greatest rates of
economic growth in the world with real growth as measured
by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching 14 percent
in 1973. By the mid 1970's Ernesto Geisel, who way then
president, proposed a period of decompression gradual
steps which would lead to restoration of democratic
rule. In 1979, João Baptista Figueiredo was inaugurated
President. This was also the beginning of opening (abertura),
the process of restoring the political rights which
had been revoked. Many of the country's exiles were
allowed to return. The year also marked an acceleration
of the public's demand for re-democratization. Figueiredo
maintained a steady hand on the opening process. In
1982, the country held direct elections for state governors,
the first such elections since 1965.
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Return
to Democracy (1985)
In
1984 there were nationwide demonstrations demanding
direct "Elections Now (Diretas Já) to choose
a new president. In January, 1985, Tancredo de Almeida
Neves was chosen president by an Electoral College.
His election was significant because he was not only
the first civilian president to be elected in 21 years,
but also because he was the candidate of an opposition
coalition On March 14,1985, on the eve of his inauguration,
Neves was rushed to a hospital overcome with a lingering
illness he had endured for several months. The man who
became acting president was Vice President José
Sarney. When Neves died five weeks later, José
Sarney was sworn in as president promising to maintain
the course set by Tancredo Neves. The first priority
of President Sarney was the calling of general elections
in order to gather a National Constituent Assembly to
draft a new constitution. Never in the history of Brazil
was one able to observe such a high degree of popular
participation in the drafting of a law. After 18 months
of deliberations a new constitution was promulgated
on October 15,1988.
In
the first direct presidential election held since 1960,
Fernando Collor de Mello was elected President in a
run-off election that took place in December, 1989.
On September 29,1992, following allegations of corruption
within his government, Collor was suspended by the Chamber
of Deputies as President for 180 days during which time
the Senate was to complete a trial and decide whether
to remove him permanently. On December 29, 1992, minutes
after the Senate began to try him on corruption charges,
Collor resigned, but the Senate decided nonetheless
to impeach him by a large majority. Three hours later,
Itamar Franco, who served as Vice President under Collor,
was sworn in as President to serve the remaining two
years of Collor's five-year term. Collor's impeachment
by the House of Deputies, his trial by the Senate, and
his resignation mark a new chapter in the political
history of Brazil. During Itamar Franco's presidency
a comprehensive plan for curbing inflation was implemented.
On
October 3, 1994, voters cast 78 million ballots for
a new President of the Republic. Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
a sociologist and former Finance Minister responsible
for President Franco's economic plan, received the absolute
majority needed to win the presidency in a first round
election. He took office on January 1, 1995, for a four-year
term. His first year in office saw a steady decline
in the rate on inflation, opening the way for both sustained
economic growth and for determined government action
in social reform. Cardoso was elected to a second term
by a wide margin on October 4, 1998.
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