The history of Brazil - from the indigenous people to independence

Those who explore Brazil on a trip, are usually impressed by the diversity of the country. The different regions, ecosystems and vegetation zones, cultures and people form a colorful, diverse picture. For a better understanding and classification of the impressions, it is worthwhile to have a look at the interesting history of the country, its geography and especially the history of its people. During a Brazil trip, pay attention to place names, street names, historical places and visit traditional festivals and cultural events. Brazil's history becomes omnipresent and within reach during a trip.

The exciting question of the colonization of South America and Brazil by indigenous people is still the focus of science today and leaves many questions unanswered. Archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, biologists and geoscientists are trying to complete the story of the migrations. While in Brazil's neighboring countries and Central America the advanced civilizations of the Aztecs, Mayas and Incas left behind monuments and inscriptions, in Brazil comparatively few testimonies of the inhabitants before the arrival of the Europeans have been preserved.
But there are some archaeological findings and even impressive rock paintings. The most famous archaeological site in this context is located in the state of Piauí in northeastern Brazil. Here, in the Serra da Capivara National Park, visitors can marvel at numerous cave paintings made by the indigenous people. The fireplaces at the excavations have been dated to a period of up to 32,000 years before Christ. This would make them the oldest evidence of human settlements on the American continent, and comparison with prevailing theories on the settlement of the Americas via Alaska shows, that this period cannot be reconciled with the finds. Furthermore, human remains have been found in the state of Minas Gerais, whose skeletal structure indicates a relationship with Polynesian aborigines. The research work on the history of the origins of the indigenous people of Brazil is therefore far from over.

It is estimated, that over 2,000 different tribes lived in the area of present-day Brazil until the arrival of the Europeans. Records and information about them mostly refer only to stories, oral traditions or the reports of the first Europeans and missionaries. Unlike the advanced civilizations of the Incas and Aztecs, the people lived as semi-nomads, hunters and gatherers from fishing, hunting, the products of the forest and cassava cultivation. However, the British officer and surveyor Percy Fawcett believed in an unknown and sunken city in Brazil and embarked on adventurous expeditions into the jungle, where he disappeared in 1925 in the area of the upper reaches of the Rio Xingu, in what is now the state of Mato Grosso.
The largest indigenous group at that time, numbering about 1 million people, were the Tupi. Their language was considered a colloquial language even among Europeans in the northeast until the end of the 18th century and survives until today in the names of towns, rivers and landscape features. Many place names in Brazil, for example, begin with "Ita-," which means stone or rock, as the popular coastal town of Itacaré.
After 1500, the indigenous people of Brazil were massively decimated by the Europeans, fought and succumbed to introduced diseases. Today, only isolated family groups of the Tupi live in their ancestral territories along the coastal strip in the Mata Atlântica Rainforest in the northeast of the country.
One of the most famous tribes of Central Brazil are the Xavante, who are considered good and particularly proud warriors and who were enslaved on the fazendas during the colonial period because of their physical strength. They were once the inhabitants of the Cerrado and the Pantanal in Mato Grosso and today still number about 15,500 members, distributed in ten reservations.
The Guaraní, who once populated all of central and southern Brazil, live only in isolated reservations and must continue to defend themselves against land theft and the encroachment of agriculture, especially cattle farming.
A total of 225 different tribes are currently counted, and an estimated 70 more have been living in isolation and without contact with the outside world in the Amazon region. Brazil's indigenous population is approximately 820,000, which represents only 0.4 percent of the total population in 2020.

Probably the most drastic event in the known history of Brazil is the arrival of Europeans in 1499 at the mouth of the Amazon River. A year later, on April 22, 1500, the Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral reached the coast near the city of Porto Seguro in what is now the state of Bahia and took possession of the land.
During the next 100 years, more and more Europeans arrived in the country and founded, among others, the now-famous cities of Salvador (1549), São Paulo (1554), and Rio de Janeiro (1565). Visitors can still admire the colorful colonial architecture, magnificent churches and historic squares in many places today.
By the way, the export of Brazil wood gave Brazil its name in this era. The trees were largely cut down and used to dye fabrics. Today they are under strict protection and can be admired in the Pau Brasil National Park in Bahia on a Brazil trip.
Probably the greatest impact of colonization on Brazil, however, was the beginning of the plantation economy and mining. It opens one of the darkest chapters in Brazil's history, as an estimated 5 million people were shipped from Africa starting in 1538 and enslaved on the sugar cane plantations, fazendas and in the gold or diamond mines. Only as the last country in the Western Hemisphere Brazil would finally banish slavery by law in 1888.
This part of Brazil's history is omnipresent in Salvador da Bahia. The Pelourinho, the former pillory and slave market in the middle of the old town, is one of the most famous tourist destinations and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides, African origins and culture live on in art, dance, typical foods such as acarajé, beliefs in the orixas and music, making them ever-present in the daily lives of many Brazilians.

Already at the end of the 18th century, there were several rebellions against Portuguese domination, so that the relationship with the monarchy continued to deteriorate. Answering the call of the people, Prince Dom Pedro took the lead in the independence movement on September 7, 1822. Brazil was then declared an empire, and he thus led to the breakaway from the Portuguese colonial power. September 7 is therefore still celebrated as a national holiday throughout the country.
The ban on slavery in 1888 laid another foundation stone for Brazil's independence from the Portuguese crown, because the large landowners were not pleased with this decision. The owners of the mines also wanted to earn directly from the country's wealth and no longer leave the mineral resources to Portuguese rule. In the following year, 1889, a coup finally took place, Emperor Pedro II was overthrown and Manuel Rodeo da Fonseca proclaimed the Republic of the United States of Brazil.
The young democracy, however, did not come to rest. Oligarchic systems of political leaders formed and were accused of manipulation and electoral fraud. Discontent culminated in another uprising in 1930 led by Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, who subsequently became president of Brazil. The Vargas era ushered in a new, authoritarian form of government, which meant economic growth, industrialization and new workers' rights, but also strict rules, that did not allow opposition groups. When the military finally forced Vargas` resignation in 1954 and he was removed from office, he committed suicide. To put an end to the political unrest of the following years, the military staged a coup in 1964 and installed a military government, that increasingly further strengthened the power of the military. Protests, student unrest and strikes were quashed, leading to political purges, censorship and the suspension of people's basic and civil rights. To this day, state killings, torture and disappearances during this period have not been fully addressed. The military dictatorship ended in 1985, when, during the economic crisis, the military government was weakened and free elections were allowed for the first time.

After almost three legislative periods of the Workers' Party PT since 2003, corruption scandals accumulated during the economic crisis around 2010, reaching into the highest offices. In the wake of the investigations surrounding the stately Petrobras oil company, impeachment proceedings were initiated in 2016 against President Dilma Rousseff, whose governing coalition dissolved at the same time. She was subsequently deposed for lack of support. Since to this day she has not been proven to have committed any misdemeanors in her handling of the state finances, supporters of the PT and large sections of the Brazilian population speak of a coup d'état. After an interim government under President Michel Temer, new elections were held in 2018. Since then, the previously unknown, conservative right-wing Jair Bolsonaro has ruled as Brazil's 38th president.

Brazil today is a colorful, multiracial state of descendants of Europeans, African slaves, indigenous natives and settlers from various waves of immigration such as Italians, Germans, Poles, Lebanese and Japanese. The country's main source of income continues to be the export of raw materials from agriculture and mining. However, tourism is also growing every year and travelers from all over the world come to discover the beauties of nature and the diverse culture during a Brazil vacation.

Sources: www.fumdham.org.br, www.funai.gov.br