Portugal’s Colonial America

In the 15th century, Portugal was the first European country to begin exploration of the world.  In 1494, The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the non-European lands into territories.  It gave out the territories to different countries so they would be able to explore without interfering with each other.  Portugal was allowed to colonize the Americas and most of Portugal’s outposts were in South America.

In 1500, the explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral arrived in what is today Porto Seguro, Brazil.  Temporary trading villages were set up to collect Brazil wood.  Brazil wood was important for dyeing.  São Vicente was later founded by Portugal in 1532.  This was followed by the start of sugar cane farming.  Sugar cane farming was very labor intensive and required slave labor.  First, the native South Americans were used as slaves.  Later, the slaves were imported from Africa to work the sugar cane farms.

In 1549, the first of the Jesuits arrived.  The capital of the colony was created the same year at the Bay of All Saints.  The capital was named Salvador. The third Governor General of Brazil and his uncle Mem de Sá founded the city of Rio de Janiero in 1567. The Netherlands took over part of the northeast area between 1630 and 1654.  In the 1649 Second Battle of Guararapes , Portugal won back most of the land.  By 1654, the Netherlands returned the rest of Brazil to Portuguese control.

Portugal’s foreign policy was very different from Spain’s.  Portugal preferred to keep a central government in Salvador.  Local captaincies reported to Salvador.  Salvador reported directly to the Crown in Lisbon, Portugal. Because Portugal did not divide their colony into many small states, it was still one country when it was freed in 1822.  The first sixty years of Brazil’s self-rule were controlled by a monarchy.  This helped to prevent it breaking into smaller countries.

In addition to the colonies in Brazil, there were also failed attempts further North.  The Corte-Real brothers explored Newfoundland and Labrador Canada in 1502.  They claimed these lands for the Portuguese crown.  However, these colonies were less successful. These colonies were not welcomed by the locals and eventually were doomed to fail.  By 1506, King Manuel began taxing the cod fishing in the Newfoundland bays.  It was only a short time later that the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia colonies were abandoned. This was the beginning of Portuguese colonization throughout the new world.