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BRAZIL MATTERS !
The Coming of the Portuguese
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- 1500AD
Portuguese expansion overseas was made possible by new inventions.
Portuguese sailors discovered lands in Africa, Asia, Australia and America.
One explorer, Cabral, reached Brazil in 1500AD and so it became Portuguese.
To increase the power of the Portuguese state and the Catholic Church, the tiny country of
Portugal expanded overseas into three continents between 1415 and 1500. In succession,
Portuguese explorers reached and claimed lands on Africa’s western coast; its eastern coast; in
Asia (bypassing Australia) and South America.
In the late C15th, Portuguese explorers, such as Bartolomeu Dias
and Vasco da Gama, sailed around Africa reaching India, in 1498.
A few years later, others went on to reach the East Indies, the
north coast of Australia and Japan. These maritime explorations
aimed to expand the economic power of Portugal. They brought
wealth to its rulers; developed trade and the import of spices,
textiles, ceramics, ivory, gems (and later gold); conquered territory
in the name of the Portuguese monarchs; imposed the Catholic
faith on the indigenous peoples of the newly acquired lands;
provided a source of slaves to work on the plantations in the new
colonies, on ships and in domestic service in Portugal, and
overseas and established Portuguese maritime supremacy.
In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesilhas divided the New World, the western
hemisphere, between Spain and Portugal. The agreement created an
imaginary line running north to south to the west of Europe. Although
Brazil was not yet discovered, this would be through the mouth of the
Amazon. All future discoveries to the west were to be Spanish, and to the
east were to be Portuguese. This spurred on both countries to explore as
fast as possible.
The caravela Vera Cruz recreates
the famous ship. Its triangular
sails enabled it to change direction
quickly and sail against the wind.
Lopo Pizarro
The driving force behind Portugal’s effort was Prince Henry The Navigator. He was the son of
King João I and Philippa of Lancaster. He established a school of navigation at Sagres, southwest Portugal. Inventions such as the quadrant, compass and faster ships, such as the caravela,
were developed. All this was based on scientific observation and experimentation. This technological lead in navigating ships enabled the Portuguese to outmanoeuvre other countries such as
Spain, Italy, France, Holland and England. As a result, Portugal created the first world-wide empire. Brazil became part of that empire.
On 22 April 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral, with a contingent of 13 ships and 1500 men, landed on
the Brazilian coast. In what would now be Porto Seguro, in the southern part of Bahia, he claimed
the territory for Portugal. There are two theories about this event. One is that he was trying to find
a sea route to India and was blown off-course; the second is that the Portuguese went deliberately to confirm their ideas that maybe there was a large land mass to the southwest of Africa.
Either way, Cabral found some of the thousands or so indigenous tribes with different languages,
cultures and lifestyles. At first, the natives were friendly and exchanged gifts with the Portuguese.
Around the same time, Spanish explorers were probing into northern Brazil.
Having claimed the territory, the Portuguese went away and showed little interest in their new
possession. Perhaps they were too busy protecting and developing their African and Asian
colonies. It was only from 1535, that the Portuguese began to secure their new colony. This was
because they were aware of the interest in Brazil being shown by the French, Dutch and English.
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