Human Rights In Brazil Essay

The Portuguese failed to see Brazil’s value until they discovered brazilwood, which provided them with dye, and ultimately the greatest discovery, sugar (Portuguese colonization of Brazil). The history of Brazil soon went along a path familiar to the U.S., where the first appointed governor emphasized the need for slavery. This governor, Tomé de Sousa, also insisted on everyone being Christian, and those who celebrated any other religion were enslaved (Portuguese colonization of Brazil). Soon diseases were spread and years of famine began, which helped control population but also made the need for slaves much greater. Brazil decided to have European settlers import African slaves and, without them knowing, started the African heritage in Brazil (Portuguese colonization of Brazil). Brazil’s central government was difficult to form due to the large amount of landmass, but nonetheless, the first capital was established in today’s city of Salvador (A Brief History of Brazil). In 1763, Rio de Janeiro was named the new capital and there was an uprising of exported goods. Dom João VI’s arrival in Brazil was crucial due to the fact that only after his arrival were banks created, and universities and other buildings were built (A Brief History of Brazil). Years went by and Brazil’s

Brazil was colonized in 1500 where among other adventurers, Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral landed with his fleet in Porto Seguro. The colonizers met Tupinamba Indians, one of the many native groups in the continent. The main goal of the Portuguese was to monopolize the trade of pau-brasil, which is the red wood made for making dye and gave the country its name. The other goal was establishing settlements in the country. The Portuguese first collaborated in harvesting the trees but later tried to enslave the natives, and many fled the country or died because of exploitation and disease. Over three million people fled after Cabral’s arrival and then the Portuguese turned to Indian and African slaves.

Brazil was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery in 1888, with a legacy that was built on the backs of African slaves. For over five-hundred years, the Portuguese engaged in the Transatlantic Slave Trade with Brazil as the main recipient, where, between 1502 and 1867, almost half of Africans being imported to the Americas were sent to Brazil. (“Brazil: A Racial Paradise”, Black In Latin America, 2011, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service, Web) The unfortunate reality of the slave trade to Brazil has led to a prevalent issue in modern-day society there: the influx of Africans during that time period has led to a large population of modern Afro-Brazilians who are disproportionately recognized by the government and society as a whole. Politically, Afro-Brazilians have little control over

The average Brazilian has a fascinating family tree which may include a Portuguese great-grandfather, a native Indian grandmother, a slave grandfather, a German father, and so on. Family ties are strong in Brazil. Three generations, including grandparents and young married couples, often live together in one house. Poorer families are frequently large, with five or six children, and grandparents look after the very young while the rest of the family work. There is a wide gap between rich and poor.

Afro Brazilians have had to deal with centuries of oppression. During these times, Afro-Brazilians have had to deal with various methods, and strategies designed to keep entire communities oppressed. Many of these methods have had effects so profound, they are still affecting many Brazilians till this day. Political oppression is one of the oldest methods known to man, along with unleashing a forceful police force mimicking military forces. Authoritarian rule also played a major role in the shaping of the country. Furthermore, an inept biased justice system will fail those who need protections, and justice the most. These four key modes will be objectively examined, as well as the efficacy of each of these repressive strategies, and the impact that they have had or still have in the Afro-Brazilian communities.

Former slaves discovered a deep feeling of insecurity after the downfall of the monarchy. Since Brazil had always been a paternalistic culture (an Emperor and an autocrat of a patriarchal house to protect them), it even led to some men and women becoming nostalgic of their former ‘big houses’, as they were known, and were desperate for the patriarchal assistance they once had in abundance. Yet, the popular president Getulio Vargas finally understood the sociological and psychological situation of the former slaves and gave a large part of the Brazilian labour population protection against exploitation from commercial

After conquering Brazil, the Portuguese did not know what to do. They were good at conquering, but unlike Spain, they had no intention of colonization. This act made Brazil akin to a broken land, with no governmental power67. Even though they only stayed in Brazil for ten days, Cabral and his men, along with Da Gama later, made significant changes (most were not good) to the native life. The people of Brazil did not need the European intervention.

The purpose of this paper is to recognize, study and analyze the race relations in Brazil. Race relations are relations between two groups of different races; it is how these two different races connect to each other in their environment. Since Brazil is racially diverse, this study is focused on how Brazilians relate to each other. Throughout the essay, it will become clear that there exists a conflict between two race groups. Afro-Brazilians and White-Brazilians are not connected and though these two groups converse with each other, discrimination still lies within the society. This discrimination has created inequality within the society for Afro-Brazilians. Thus, this paper will not only focus on racism and discrimination that

In the sixteen century slavery was on the rise in Brazil. Indigenous people were made slaves in earlier stages of slavery and it was them who carried the weight of labor for the Portuguese’s empire. The indigenous slaves faced same abused as the Africans slaves and the indigenous were first one to grow sugar cans in the area of Bahia. Despite this similarity, the historical narratives about indigenous slaves is different than the Africans. There was a rapid increase in Africans enslavement in the late nineteen century. Brazilians slave story is different in that it exemplifies the same self-serving purpose, leading to the exploitation of labor, yet it is very different with the Portuguese have sexual relation with the indigenous women for racialized hierarches. This ultimately led to a legally supported mestiza with natives. Even though the story regarding the natives’ enslavement demonstrated mistreatment at a high degree but

In contrast to the independence movements of Spanish Latin America, Brazilian independence came simply and peacefully. The Portuguese royal family took refuge in Brazil in 1807. This transformed Rio de Janiero into a court city. The prince regent Joao addressed complaints of the locals that were similar to those of the Spanish Creoles. He made Brazil a kingdom in 1815. Soon, Brazil was more prosperous than Portugal. In 1820, a revolution occurred in Portugal and its leaders demanded that Joao's return to Portugal and Brazil's return to colonial status. Joao, who became

Although the blacks fill all the undesirable positions and receive lowest educations in the Brazilian society, the people, as a matter of fact, were not prejudice and unjust to their Afro-descendants as they are seemed to be. Almost all Afro-Brazilians are descendants of liberated slaves who are not provided

Almost one million European immigrants came because of all the coffee being made. The people that came were mostly Italians. Many people who were wealthy came over to sell coffee. There were so many coffee planters that the small government didn’t have control over it. The country basically belonged to the people selling and growing the coffee. After about thirty years, the entire world went into a financial crisis known as the great depression. The need for coffee went down a lot and there wasn’t as big as a coffee demand. For the whole first half of the 19th century, Brazil really had a hard time with an instable government, a small and week military, and a delicate and flimsy economy. In 1989, Brazil had its first election as a democratic country in three decades. The people voted in Collor de Mello. That was a huge mistake. He caused Brazil to become corrupted and he hurt the economy very badly. He was peacefully removed from office. That did help Brazil because it showed that the country could have a stable government structure and a strong political

Brazil was officially discovered in April of 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral, a Portuguese navigator and nobleman. The Portuguese differed from the Spanish however as they did not have a plan for New World colonization. For this reason, the Portuguese leaders had trouble settling their new lands due to a lack of interest from potential settlers. The citizens of Portugal regarded this new land as barren; the wealth of gold and silver in the area would not be discovered for another 200 years. In order to help remedy this problem, the Portuguese government separated the land of Brazil into 15 different hereditary captaincies in which Portuguese ‘donataries’ would introduce sugarcane to the region in order to make a profit. The system was a failure for all but two captaincies who flourished on sugarcane plantations. In 1548, Portugal established a centralized government in Brazil to manage the large territory and wrote a Colonial Pact forcing Brazil to trade only with Portugal and a few other allies. In defiance, Brazil began to refer to the leaders of its government, who were officially called general governors, as vice kings. It was the discovery of gold mines that brought Brazilian nationalism to the forefront of the citizens’ minds. When gold was discovered in 1697, sugarcane value had plummeted because of Dutch competition in Central America, and cities in Brazil began to lose money due to the heavy Portuguese taxes. The Portuguese government was disappointed with the returns from sugar cane trade and took direct control of gold mines in the central area of the Minas Gerais area against the will of the Brazilian people. José Joaquim da Silva Xavier was one of these people who was

The country of Brazil official name is Federative Republic of Brazil, the term for citizens is Brazilian, and its capital is Brasilia. Brazil gained its independence for Portugal September 7, 1822. Brazil shares boundaries with all South American countries except Chile and Ecuador, and is 8,511,996 square

During the colonial period, from 1500 till 1822, the Portuguese did not promoted their own language in Brazil, in contrast to the French and British colonisers. The French were single minded in the prosecution of their language and they were consicious of a ‘civilizing mission’ (Phillipson 111). Whereas the Portuguese main goals were not related to missionary or civilizing mission, they were primarily interested in wealth and resources. At first they were not planning to actually live in Brazil, therefore language policy was not their first concern. However this changed and more white, Portuguese men settled down in Brazil and due to the lack of European women, married the local women. In present Brazil 38.5% of the population is mulatto (CIA World Factbook), which is a mixture of black and white, as a result of these mixed marriages. The new ‘mulatto’ generation mainly learned to speak the language of the Tupinambá tribe, who were living along the Atlantic Coast