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Brazil
During the 16th century the Portuguese conquered Brazil. The first time that the Potuguese set foot on the South American coast was in 1500 on the Brazilian shore on an expedition to India led by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. They payed little attention to the land except to take dyewood to trade, but when France expressed and interest in the land hoping to take the dyewood, the Portuguese took military action. The first Portuguese settlement was established in 1532.
Brazil soon emerged as a major force in global trade. This was due to the establishment of sugar plantations. As a result, Brazil became the world's leading sugar producer. This was not easy to accomplish. The harvest of sugar is very complex and includes strenuous work. The Brazilian Portuguese officials began to import slaves from Africa once the new demand proved to be too much for the native populations to handle. By the 17th Century, Brazil was importing 7,000 slaves a year. By the end of the century, half of the population was made up of slaves.
As a result of this change in population, there was a new social hierarchy enforced. The social structure was much like the organization of the plantations. The white plantation owners became aristocracy by marrying into Portuguese noble families and then the slaves were at the bottom. Inbetween those two structures were new breeds of people, called castas. There were mulattos, mestizos, as well as the higher ranked peninsulares and creoles.
Soon, a new resource was discovered in Brazil: gold. This caused a new boom in migration to Brazil. Around 5,000 immigrants from Portugal came a year. The gold rush was so fruitful that at it's peak it produced 3 tons of a gold a year. This helped to make Brazil the world's leading producer of gold. Later, diamonds were discovered. This helped to open up the interior of the country for exploration and settlement. However, these treasures were not to stay in the pocket of the Portuguese. They had become dependent on England for all manufactured goods and therefore traded away their gold to the English to pay for the wares.
By 1760, the boom of the gold rush had worn off and Brazil became subject to the reforms of Marquis of Pombal.
By the end of the 18th century Brazil had grown in population and economic importance. The growth of European demand for colonial products contributed to the growth and increased the slave imports to the colony. Brazilian planters, merchants, and miners sometimes longed for more open trade and fewer taxes, but they feared that any upsetting of the political system would lead to a social revolution. As a partial concession to England and to colonial interests, the ports of Brazil were opened to world commerce, which satisfied one of the main desires of the brazilian elites.
In Brazil the transfer of the court brought royal government closer and reinforced the colonial relationship.
3mcleanm |
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| 3pereza | beautiful page | 0 | Feb 8 2008, 2:50 PM EST by 3pereza | ||
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Such a beautiful page! YAY!
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