The Animated History of Brazil

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Use the offer code SWEENEY to get 10% off your brand new website. In 1493, Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus returned to Spain with news of undiscovered islands, later recognized to be the new world. Five years later, Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama successfully rounded the Cape of Good Hope and found a southern route to India. The age of exploration had begun. The two rival kingdoms met together and drew two lines on the globe dividing the world into two spheres, with monopolies granted to a Portuguese half and a Spanish half. While the Spanish set about conquering the new world and the Portuguese established a trade empire in the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, neither side were aware of the small piece of the American continent which lay in Portugal's half of the globe. Before European discovery, South America was inhabited by numerous Native Americans who had we aren't entirely sure. These early migrants lived in harsh conditions in the most diverse bio-ecosystem in the world. These native groups subsisted mostly on agriculture, but there were some hunter-gatherer communities as well. And before you ask in the comments, yes, there were some cannibals. Most of these tribes lived on the coast and were broadly categorized into Tupi and Tapuia, although the diversity did not make too much of an impression on the Europeans. Here to help me out with early Brazil is Joe from the channel Jabzy. Upon Vasco de Gama's successful return from rounding the African continent in 1499, the Portuguese decided to begin trade in the Indian Ocean. Pedro Alvarez Cabral left the following year for India. Getting blown wildly off course during his southward voyage, he sighted land on the 22nd of April 1500, and a few days later landed at Porto Seguro. They named the Brazil's population was just short of Portugal's at just under 3 million. This land was east of the Tordesillas line, and so was declared for Portugal. The locals traded with the Portuguese for pau-brasil, a wood with a red dye used in Europe, but the trade post was seen as largely inferior to the colonies in Africa and India. However, when the French began importing Brazil wood themselves, Portugal made a more concerted effort to settle in the area. And for the second part of this collaboration, visit my channel at Jabzy with the link on screen or in the description box below. Early Brazil was divided into 15 colonies and granted to wealthy Portuguese elites. The only successful one, however, was Salvincente Island, which made a moderate profit buying native slaves. So the failing colonies were returned to the Portuguese crown in 1549 and a governor was appointed. Merchants and missionaries were the first to settle. They built a capital city, Salvador, and began trading in the Todos os Santos Bay, mostly in the new cash crop, sugar. To help promote the economy, a group called Bandeirantes were sent to explore the land for minerals and slaves, which increased settlement for the export economy. Slaves became more valuable as natives died from European diseases in large numbers. Missionaries were also very active at this time, mostly Catholic Jesuits who founded the city of Sao Paulo as a missionary school just a few kilometers inland from Salvincente. Another bay, Port January, was established as a French colony called Vilcão Island before the Portuguese kicked them out and renamed it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. When Portugal got busy during a succession crisis in Europe, the newly independent Dutch Republic very briefly swooped in and took over large parts of the colony. It didn't last long but it did inspire them to put more resources into settling Dutch Guiana. The Atlantic slave trade was kicked off by the Portuguese, buying them on the coast of Africa and importing them to Brazil where they were sold to plantation owners. More than 40% of all African slaves were imported to Brazil. For comparison, just under 5% were imported to the United States. Brazil grew rapidly during the 1600s, creating new export markets for native plants as well as new plantation commodities like tobacco. The system was held together by the Royal Fifth when 20% of all minerals, crops and other products went directly to the Portuguese Crown, accelerating the establishing of public offices like tax collectors, accountants and governors. When gold was discovered in the 1700s, the slavery economy boomed and exploration of the interior was accelerated to look for new minerals. They opened up new markets to trade with the Spanish Empire and the Rio de la Plata but when this area became overrun with pirates and smugglers, the Spanish and the Portuguese met to establish a shared border control in 1750. Brazilian culture was becoming increasingly more diverse. Europeans, Indians and slaves met to form mixed race groups called partos such as the mulatos, cafuzos and mestizos with countless numbers of creoles and ethnic identities. Brazil was to become much more important to the Portuguese Crown in the 1800s thanks in large part to Napoleon. When the Iberian Peninsula was invaded and occupied, the royal family legged it to Rio where they set up the government during the war. After returning to Lisbon, the king's son, Prince Regent João, declared Brazil independent and crowned himself emperor. A brief independence war ensued where the Portuguese found themselves battling not only the Brazilian army but also thousands of civilian militia. Sounding familiar? The Empire of Brazil, however, failed to enact the changes that the wealthy landowners and the liberal elites had overthrown the Portuguese for in the first place and so the nation was plagued by socialist insurgencies, slave rebellions and even a republican movement in the Rio Grande do supported by the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi. They spent thousands on wars with the newly independent South American nations as well. Investment in Brazil showed no signs of slowing down. Coffee, which grew extremely well in the Brazilian climate, became the new cash crop as well as markets in timber and rubber. Eventually, the rate of immigration to Brazil was so high that it obviated the need for slaves and the practice was ended in 1888. The empire came to an end inspired by the ideals of republicanism and the enlightenment and soon a military coup placed Teodoro de Fonseca as the country's first president. The United States of Brazil. Jebzy, whom I collaborated with on this project, covered over on his channel the Vargas era as well as the military dictatorship that followed which led Brazil into the 21st century. So check that out when you're done here. Brazil is not a simple nation. It is full of social struggles, an amazing triumph of nationalism, a complex political structure, and a nation at the top of the ladder of the world's most popular game, football. Your website need not be complicated. Squarespace makes building a website immensely easy with easy to use tools, simple design layouts, and creative domains. How about a website for your wedding in Rio at ourrio.wedding or document your vacation at mybrazil.holiday. There are so many possibilities. You can build your website in less than a day and if you visit squarespace.com slash Sweeney and use the offer code Sweeney at checkout, you can save 10% on your website and show your support for the channel while doing so. Squarespace also offers other great services such as integrated online stores for your business, personal blogs, and custom email servers all at the click of a button. That's squarespace.com slash Sweeney to get building today. Vote for the next country over at Patreon. Check out Jebzy's video and if you'd like to watch more, check out the playlist on my channel for all the episodes. Until next time.