Brazil, Indigenous people in
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1 CE to 2215 CE
Indigenous people in Brazil (Portuguese: povos indígenas no Brasil), or Native Brazilians (Portuguese: nativos brasileiros), comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who have inhabited what is now the country of Brazil since prior to the European invasion around 1500.
Unlike Christopher Columbus, who thought he had reached the East Indies, the Portuguese, most notably Vasco da Gama, had already reached India via the Indian Ocean route when they reached Brazil.
Nevertheless, the word índios ("American Indian") was by then established to designate the people of the New World and continues to be used today in the Portuguese language to designate these people, while a person from India is called indiano in order to distinguish the two.
At the time of European contact, some of the indigenous people are traditionally mostly semi-nomadic tribes who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture.
Many of the estimated two thousand nations and tribes that exist in the sixteenth century suffer extinction as a consequence of the European settlement, and many are assimilated into the Brazilian population.
The indigenous population is largely killed by European diseases, declining from a pre-Columbian high of millions to some three hundred thousand (1997), grouped into two hundred tribes.
However, the number could be much higher if the urban indigenous populations are counted in all the Brazilian cities today.
A somewhat dated linguistic survey finds one hundred and eighty-eight living indigenous languages with one hundred and fifty-five thousand total speakers.
On January 18, 2007, FUNAI reports that it has confirmed the presence of sixty-seven different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 4forty in 2005.
With this addition Brazil has now surpassed New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted people.
Brazilian indigenous people have made substantial and pervasive contributions to the world's medicine with knowledge used today by pharmaceutical corporations, material, and cultural development—such as the domestication of tobacco, cassava, and other crops.
In the last IBGE census (2010), eight hundred and seventeen thousand Brazilians classified themselves as indigenous.
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The Dutch incursion is the longest and most serious challenge to Portuguese control by a major maritime power.
The struggle to drive out the Dutch has devastating effects on the sugar plantations and sugar mills.
The Dutch, particularly Governor John Maurice, Count of Nassau, has worked to build good relations with the Portuguese planters in the interior, supplying them with credit, slaves, merchandise, and European markets.
Nassau encourages religious tolerance, constructed buildings and canals in the style of Amsterdam, and brings in artists, engineers, and scientists to embellish, record, and study the local flora, fauna, and peoples.
The struggle to drive out the Dutch has devastating effects on the sugar plantations and sugar mills.
The Dutch, particularly Governor John Maurice, Count of Nassau, has worked to build good relations with the Portuguese planters in the interior, supplying them with credit, slaves, merchandise, and European markets.
Nassau encourages religious tolerance, constructed buildings and canals in the style of Amsterdam, and brings in artists, engineers, and scientists to embellish, record, and study the local flora, fauna, and peoples.
Sugar prices rise in Europe, but Brazilian planters cannot respond and permanently lose their leading market position.
The Dutch and English set up plantations in Suriname and Barbados, taking advantage of the techniques developed in Brazil and their better access to capital, merchant fleets, and the northern European market.
There will be years of recovery (1665-80, 1698-1710), but sugar is no longer the foundation of the Brazilian economy.
Northeastern Brazil enters into a long stagnation, and Portugal, which now depends heavily on Brazil after its losses to the Dutch in the East Indies, watches its economy deteriorate.
The Dutch and English set up plantations in Suriname and Barbados, taking advantage of the techniques developed in Brazil and their better access to capital, merchant fleets, and the northern European market.
There will be years of recovery (1665-80, 1698-1710), but sugar is no longer the foundation of the Brazilian economy.
Northeastern Brazil enters into a long stagnation, and Portugal, which now depends heavily on Brazil after its losses to the Dutch in the East Indies, watches its economy deteriorate.
Portugal and its Brazilian subjects have divergent interests in responding to the Dutch.
When the Duke of Braganca takes the throne as João IV in 1640, his government faces the determination of Philip IV to reconquer Portugal, and he therefore needs to maintain peace with the rest of Europe.
As much as the Portuguese economy needs the revenues from the sugar trade, the court has to face the reality that in Europe the Dutch dominate a good portion of that trade.
Thus, if Portugal attacks Dutch-held Pernambuco, it will earn an enemy in Europe and lose access to the market.
At the same time, the king understands the importance of Brazil when he calls it his milk cow (vaca de kite).
Indeed, historian Charles Boxer will assert that Portugal's independence depended chiefly on the Brazil trade, which centered on sugar and slavery.
The Dutch do not show the same hesitation.
In 1641 they seize Luanda, an important source of enslaved Africans, in violation of a truce with Portugal.
Holland now holds sugar and slave ports in the South Atlantic and the distribution system in Europe.
Lisbon cannot merely abandon its subjects in Brazil, but it realizes that it will be foolhardy to fight for the sugar area without also regaining the source of enslaved Africans.
The colonists in the Dutch-occupied area play their own game of deception.
They borrow Dutch money to restore their war-torn plantations and engenhos and to buy slaves, but they realize that their long-term interests lie in expelling the Dutch and with them their indebtedness.
After 1645, together with the governor general in Bahia, they conspire, rebel, and fight against the Dutch.
Their victories of 1648 and 1649 at the Battle of Guararapes in the Recife area of Pernambuco are commemorated today.
However, after nine years of war the scorched-earth tactics have ravaged the region.
When the Duke of Braganca takes the throne as João IV in 1640, his government faces the determination of Philip IV to reconquer Portugal, and he therefore needs to maintain peace with the rest of Europe.
As much as the Portuguese economy needs the revenues from the sugar trade, the court has to face the reality that in Europe the Dutch dominate a good portion of that trade.
Thus, if Portugal attacks Dutch-held Pernambuco, it will earn an enemy in Europe and lose access to the market.
At the same time, the king understands the importance of Brazil when he calls it his milk cow (vaca de kite).
Indeed, historian Charles Boxer will assert that Portugal's independence depended chiefly on the Brazil trade, which centered on sugar and slavery.
The Dutch do not show the same hesitation.
In 1641 they seize Luanda, an important source of enslaved Africans, in violation of a truce with Portugal.
Holland now holds sugar and slave ports in the South Atlantic and the distribution system in Europe.
Lisbon cannot merely abandon its subjects in Brazil, but it realizes that it will be foolhardy to fight for the sugar area without also regaining the source of enslaved Africans.
The colonists in the Dutch-occupied area play their own game of deception.
They borrow Dutch money to restore their war-torn plantations and engenhos and to buy slaves, but they realize that their long-term interests lie in expelling the Dutch and with them their indebtedness.
After 1645, together with the governor general in Bahia, they conspire, rebel, and fight against the Dutch.
Their victories of 1648 and 1649 at the Battle of Guararapes in the Recife area of Pernambuco are commemorated today.
However, after nine years of war the scorched-earth tactics have ravaged the region.
The Portuguese begin to import more enslaved African slaves as native resistance, social disintegration, and flight into the interior increases in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
In 1570 there are two thousand to three thousand such slaves in Brazil; by 1587 there are fourteen thousand.
Considering that the European population in 1570 is twenty thousand seven hundred and sixty and in 1585 is twenty-nine thousand four hundred, the growth of enslaved Africans from fourteen percent of the number of whites to forty-seven percent is striking.
Much of the commentary on native slavery holds that the natives were unfit physically to be slaves, when actually it was their strong resistance to slavery and the colonial competition for their labor that led to the African slave trade.
Also, the focus of many historians on Bahia and Pernambuco has left readers with the impression that native slavery gave way to African slavery throughout Brazil by 1600.
This is not the case.
Natives continue to be enslaved in Para, which will cause the depopulation of much of Amazonia by the mid-eighteenth century.
In 1570 there are two thousand to three thousand such slaves in Brazil; by 1587 there are fourteen thousand.
Considering that the European population in 1570 is twenty thousand seven hundred and sixty and in 1585 is twenty-nine thousand four hundred, the growth of enslaved Africans from fourteen percent of the number of whites to forty-seven percent is striking.
Much of the commentary on native slavery holds that the natives were unfit physically to be slaves, when actually it was their strong resistance to slavery and the colonial competition for their labor that led to the African slave trade.
Also, the focus of many historians on Bahia and Pernambuco has left readers with the impression that native slavery gave way to African slavery throughout Brazil by 1600.
This is not the case.
Natives continue to be enslaved in Para, which will cause the depopulation of much of Amazonia by the mid-eighteenth century.
The Portuguese in Brazil have overcome French threats and most indigenous resistance to their command of key ports by 1580.
At this point, a more profound Spanish threat appears with the passing of the crown of Portugal to King Philip II of Spain.
This event has immediate and long-range consequences.
Europe's two greatest empires are now united under a single ruler and can well be joined permanently, save for the determination of the Portuguese to maintain their identity.
The Iberian union gives the Portuguese easier access to the Spanish domains.
For Brazil, however, the most important result is that it makes enemies of Portugal's former business associates, the Dutch.
Portugal's commerce is more open than Spain's and perhaps more practical.
Portugal recognizes its need for shipping and for access to markets, both of which the Dutch provide for Brazilian sugar.
The spirit of cooperation fades with the union of the crowns as the Dutch, long struggling for independence from the Spanish Habsburgs, are shut out officially from the Portuguese domains.
This exclusion leads to the formation of the Dutch West India Company in 1621 and the seizure of Brazilian sugar lands.
After being unsuccessful in holding Salvador in 1624-25, the Dutch capture Pernambuco in 1630 and eventually extend their sway from the Rio São Francisco to São Luis do Maranhão until finally being forced out in 1654.
At this point, a more profound Spanish threat appears with the passing of the crown of Portugal to King Philip II of Spain.
This event has immediate and long-range consequences.
Europe's two greatest empires are now united under a single ruler and can well be joined permanently, save for the determination of the Portuguese to maintain their identity.
The Iberian union gives the Portuguese easier access to the Spanish domains.
For Brazil, however, the most important result is that it makes enemies of Portugal's former business associates, the Dutch.
Portugal's commerce is more open than Spain's and perhaps more practical.
Portugal recognizes its need for shipping and for access to markets, both of which the Dutch provide for Brazilian sugar.
The spirit of cooperation fades with the union of the crowns as the Dutch, long struggling for independence from the Spanish Habsburgs, are shut out officially from the Portuguese domains.
This exclusion leads to the formation of the Dutch West India Company in 1621 and the seizure of Brazilian sugar lands.
After being unsuccessful in holding Salvador in 1624-25, the Dutch capture Pernambuco in 1630 and eventually extend their sway from the Rio São Francisco to São Luis do Maranhão until finally being forced out in 1654.
Evangelization begins in Brazil in 1549 with the arrival of six Jesuits from Portugal led by Father Manuel da Nóbrega, who accompanies Thomé de Sousa, the first governor general.
They build a church at São Salvador da Bahía, as well as schools at Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
They also evangelize northern and southern Brazil.
In the south, Father Jose Anchieta opens a school for natives, and authors the first grammar in a native language, Tupfí-Guaraní.
The Jesuits build churches, schools, and seminaries.
They settle the indigenous inhabitants in villages and defend them against attempts to enslave them.
To carry out the pacification and conversion of the Brazilian natives, the crown chooses the new Jesuit order of the Society of Jesus, which is international in membership and military in structure and which has the task of defending and spreading the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
The Jesuits have a major impact on Brazil, despite their small numbers—one hundred and twenty-eight by 1598.
The natives respond to the Jesuits with initial acceptance, then regression, evasion, and enmity.
The objective of the Jesuits is to Europeanize the natives by resettling them in native villages (aldeias).
In a recurring pattern, the first aldeia near Bahia (1552) soon disintegrates as the natives who survive the European-born diseases fade into the interior beyond the Jesuits' reach.
Europeanization is overcome by a sort of Brazilianization, as the Jesuits blend native songs, dances, and language into the liturgy and as the colonists adopt native foods, women, language, and customs.
However, the first bishop of Brazil (1551), Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha, objects to the Jesuit accommodation with indigenous culture.
He throws the weight of his authority behind subjugation and enslavement.
At issue is the nature of the future of Brazilian society.
The bishop, who has served in Goa and ironically had taught Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, insists that Europeanization must precede baptism.
He believes Brazil, like India, should have a dual society made up of heathen natives ruled by a small number of Portuguese.
The conflict between the Jesuits and the bishop has far-reaching significance for Brazil's future.
The Jesuits have a major impact on Brazil, despite their small numbers—one hundred and twenty-eight by 1598.
The natives respond to the Jesuits with initial acceptance, then regression, evasion, and enmity.
The objective of the Jesuits is to Europeanize the natives by resettling them in native villages (aldeias).
In a recurring pattern, the first aldeia near Bahia (1552) soon disintegrates as the natives who survive the European-born diseases fade into the interior beyond the Jesuits' reach.
Europeanization is overcome by a sort of Brazilianization, as the Jesuits blend native songs, dances, and language into the liturgy and as the colonists adopt native foods, women, language, and customs.
However, the first bishop of Brazil (1551), Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha, objects to the Jesuit accommodation with indigenous culture.
He throws the weight of his authority behind subjugation and enslavement.
At issue is the nature of the future of Brazilian society.
The bishop, who has served in Goa and ironically had taught Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, insists that Europeanization must precede baptism.
He believes Brazil, like India, should have a dual society made up of heathen natives ruled by a small number of Portuguese.
The conflict between the Jesuits and the bishop has far-reaching significance for Brazil's future.
The Jesuits in Brazil, to get away from Bishop Sardinha's direct grasp, shift their attention to the south, where they form, in 1554, the aldeia of São Paulo de Piratininga on the plateau at the headwaters of the Rio Tiete high above São Vicente.
Father Jose de Anchieta's mission village later becomes known as the city of São Paulo.
The crown seemingly favors the Jesuit approach because it recalls Bishop Sardinha.
En route back, Sardinha is shipwrecked, then killed and reportedly eaten by Caeté people.
Father Jose de Anchieta's mission village later becomes known as the city of São Paulo.
The crown seemingly favors the Jesuit approach because it recalls Bishop Sardinha.
En route back, Sardinha is shipwrecked, then killed and reportedly eaten by Caeté people.
The crown sends out a new bishop and a new governor to consolidate royal control and to bring organization to the far-flung settlements on the verge of collapse.
The new crown representatives support Jesuit methods and return the Jesuits to Bahia.
By protecting the natives who live in aldeias from enslavement, the crown representatives make the Jesuit towns more attractive.
The pool of slaves available to the colonists dwindles, causing such protests that Mem de Sa (governor, 1558-72) approves a 'just war" against the Caetá to punish them for killing Brazil's first bishop.
However, the "just war" soon gets out of hand as the closer and undefended aldeias are raided for slaves.
The conflict damages native trust in the missions, and the epidemics of influenza, smallpox, and measles in 1562 and 1563 decimate the native population and increase colonist competition for laborers.
The famine that follows the waves of disease prompts starving natives to sell themselves or their relatives in order to survive.
This situation leads to a policy under which the natives are considered free but can be enslaved in a sanctioned "just war," or for cannibalism, or if rescued from being eaten or enslaved by other natives.
Government-sponsored expeditions (entradas) into the interior, sometimes ironically called rescues (resgates), become slave hunts under the guise of 'just war."
The Paulista expeditions (bandeiras), one of the major themes of Brazilian history in the 1600s and 1700s, develop out of this practice.
The eventual exploitation of the interior and the development of gold and gem mining in Minas Gerais, Goias, and Mato Grosso have roots in the voracious appetite of coastal plantations for slave labor.
The new crown representatives support Jesuit methods and return the Jesuits to Bahia.
By protecting the natives who live in aldeias from enslavement, the crown representatives make the Jesuit towns more attractive.
The pool of slaves available to the colonists dwindles, causing such protests that Mem de Sa (governor, 1558-72) approves a 'just war" against the Caetá to punish them for killing Brazil's first bishop.
However, the "just war" soon gets out of hand as the closer and undefended aldeias are raided for slaves.
The conflict damages native trust in the missions, and the epidemics of influenza, smallpox, and measles in 1562 and 1563 decimate the native population and increase colonist competition for laborers.
The famine that follows the waves of disease prompts starving natives to sell themselves or their relatives in order to survive.
This situation leads to a policy under which the natives are considered free but can be enslaved in a sanctioned "just war," or for cannibalism, or if rescued from being eaten or enslaved by other natives.
Government-sponsored expeditions (entradas) into the interior, sometimes ironically called rescues (resgates), become slave hunts under the guise of 'just war."
The Paulista expeditions (bandeiras), one of the major themes of Brazilian history in the 1600s and 1700s, develop out of this practice.
The eventual exploitation of the interior and the development of gold and gem mining in Minas Gerais, Goias, and Mato Grosso have roots in the voracious appetite of coastal plantations for slave labor.
Ilheus, Espirito Santo, São Tome, Santo Amaro, and Santa Anna also fail because of poor management and hostile relations with the natives.
The coast is now exposed to French incursions.
Such an outcome is not what the crown had in mind, and it decides wisely to listen to warnings.
The king, rather than replace inept donatário with others, establishes direct royal control, except over Pernambuco and São Vicente.
The crown may have acted at this juncture for several reasons: the Spanish discovery of the famed silver mountain at Potosí (1545), the decline of the Asian spice trade, and the crown's practice of reclaiming royal control after some years of leasing its rights.
The enhancement of royal power is part of the general Iberian pattern of establishing royal control over the sprawling colonial ventures.
In a larger sense, renewed royal control appears to have been linked to a new conservatism in Catholic Europe.
The Council of Trent (1545-63) defines church dogma and practice, religious tolerance fades, and the Inquisition is emplaced in Portugal in 1547.
The king names Thomé de Sousa the first governor general of Brazil (1549-53).
He orders Sousa to create a capital city, Salvador, on the Bahia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) and to spread the royal mantle over the captaincies, defending the weaker ones and reestablishing the failed ones.
Because native attacks are blamed for the failures, Sousa's orders amount to a declaration of war on the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
If they can be defeated, the French will have no allies and so will be less of a threat.
In addition, Sousa is to increase royal revenues.
The twin objectives of control and revenue are characteristic of royal policy for the rest of the colonial era.
Bahia, as the city and province will be known, is selected for its central location and its fine bay, and because the crown has purchased it from the heirs of the donatário.
Sousa builds fortifications, a town, and sugar mills.
His knottiest task is forming a policy on the natives, whose status remains unclear.
Although he has treasury and coast guard officials with him, their roles are oriented toward Portuguese colonists and European interlopers.
The crown had placed the natives under its "protection" as early as 1511, and it orders Sousa to treat them well, as long as they are peaceful, so that they can be converted.
Conversion is essential because Portugal's legal claims to Brazil are based on papal bulls requiring Christianization of the natives.
However, those who resist conversion are likened to Muslims and can be enslaved.
In fact, as historian Sergio Buarque de Holanda has shown, by identifying Brazil as a destination of the wandering Apostle St. Thomas the Portuguese settlers are able to argue that all natives had had their chance to convert and had rejected it, so they can be conquered and taken captive legitimately.
Thus, a distinction is made between peaceful, pliable natives who as wards deserve crown protection and those resisters who want to keep their independence and on whom 'just war" can be made and slavery imposed.
The dual mission of the governors is contradictory: how can they stimulate the economy using slave labor while converting the natives?
The coast is now exposed to French incursions.
Such an outcome is not what the crown had in mind, and it decides wisely to listen to warnings.
The king, rather than replace inept donatário with others, establishes direct royal control, except over Pernambuco and São Vicente.
The crown may have acted at this juncture for several reasons: the Spanish discovery of the famed silver mountain at Potosí (1545), the decline of the Asian spice trade, and the crown's practice of reclaiming royal control after some years of leasing its rights.
The enhancement of royal power is part of the general Iberian pattern of establishing royal control over the sprawling colonial ventures.
In a larger sense, renewed royal control appears to have been linked to a new conservatism in Catholic Europe.
The Council of Trent (1545-63) defines church dogma and practice, religious tolerance fades, and the Inquisition is emplaced in Portugal in 1547.
The king names Thomé de Sousa the first governor general of Brazil (1549-53).
He orders Sousa to create a capital city, Salvador, on the Bahia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) and to spread the royal mantle over the captaincies, defending the weaker ones and reestablishing the failed ones.
Because native attacks are blamed for the failures, Sousa's orders amount to a declaration of war on the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
If they can be defeated, the French will have no allies and so will be less of a threat.
In addition, Sousa is to increase royal revenues.
The twin objectives of control and revenue are characteristic of royal policy for the rest of the colonial era.
Bahia, as the city and province will be known, is selected for its central location and its fine bay, and because the crown has purchased it from the heirs of the donatário.
Sousa builds fortifications, a town, and sugar mills.
His knottiest task is forming a policy on the natives, whose status remains unclear.
Although he has treasury and coast guard officials with him, their roles are oriented toward Portuguese colonists and European interlopers.
The crown had placed the natives under its "protection" as early as 1511, and it orders Sousa to treat them well, as long as they are peaceful, so that they can be converted.
Conversion is essential because Portugal's legal claims to Brazil are based on papal bulls requiring Christianization of the natives.
However, those who resist conversion are likened to Muslims and can be enslaved.
In fact, as historian Sergio Buarque de Holanda has shown, by identifying Brazil as a destination of the wandering Apostle St. Thomas the Portuguese settlers are able to argue that all natives had had their chance to convert and had rejected it, so they can be conquered and taken captive legitimately.
Thus, a distinction is made between peaceful, pliable natives who as wards deserve crown protection and those resisters who want to keep their independence and on whom 'just war" can be made and slavery imposed.
The dual mission of the governors is contradictory: how can they stimulate the economy using slave labor while converting the natives?
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