Brazil, 1500-1630: from Portuguese contact to Dutch conquest

• 3 themes in Brazilian history

  • expansion and conquest
  • fusion of cultures -- the multiracial past
  • economic dependency

• Geographical determinism of settlement patterns

  • Indian: rainforest, coast, highlands
  • Portuguese: cling to the coast

• 16th Brazil, slow pace of colonization

  • brazilwood trade, degregados (exiled criminals)
  • failure of captaincy generals

• Sugar: sweet for Portuguese, bitter for Indian and African slaves

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