Past Influences that Marked Brazils Contemporary Society

Even after the independence of Brazil in 1922, the difficulties of the African Brazilian population faced did not change much. The large plantations and export crops remained at the heart of the Brazilian economy. (The Colonial and Imperial Past, 7) As the sugar market died out, a new market surged- coffee. Black slaves were deemed unsuitable to work on coffee plantations as an influx of European immigrants came to work on the coffee plantations. This influx of European immigrants is known as the “Whitening of Brazil” It is not by convenience that the two events parallel each other. At the very core, this issue on slaves no longer becoming suitable for work had nothing to do with ability but had everything to do with racism. Brazilian elites thought anyone considered African Brazilian were inferior and unable to “meet the demands of coffee cultivations and export.” (The Colonial and Imperial Past, 7)

Much like the U.S., Brazilian culture is extremely diverse. Brazil’s current population of 190 million represents various nationalities from European to African (Country Facts). Brazil has an extremely diverse culture with some common pervasive threads that grouped together give Brazil a national identity.

In order to completely grasp the colonization of Brazil, one must first take a look at the different global forces that shaped the settlement and growth of Brazil. Beginning with the first inhabitants of Brazil in order to fully understand how it all began, then moving on to when the Portuguese arrived in 1500, and finally understanding how Brazil gained its independence will successfully explain how different global forces shaped the settlement and growth of Brazil. Factors that are still apart of Brazil today due to European colonization is the huge population of indigenous people living in the jungles of Brazil and the extremely intermingled population. Without the European explorers sailing to Brazil the population might of never, or at least to the intensity of it today, be intermixed. The indigenous people may still life on the outskirts of Brazil, instead of never being forced inward into the jungle.

The Portuguese left a legacy in Brazil in terms of demography mainly through the extermination of much of the indigenous population, the bringing in of the African slaves and the miscegenation that is a quintessential feature of Brazil. As mentioned earlier, the Portuguese tried to enslave the indigenous natives, but approximately 90% of the 11 million native Brazilians had perished by 1600 (Brazilian Indians). The native indigenous population is substantially lower in present-day Brazil, with approximately 900,000 claiming an indigenous native identity. These people comprise about only 0.4 of the country’s total population. The Portuguese maltreatment of the indigenous peoples has carried on through the course of Brazilian history, as

In this engaging book, Katia M. de Quierós Mattoso, one of Brazil’s most well-known social historians gives the general reader with an overall summary of slavery in Brazil, from the beginning of captivity until the end of a slave’s life. The notable difference between this book and others on Brazilian slavery is the viewpoint the author gives from the eyes of a slave, humanizing a topic that is usually referred to as an though it were business rather than an oppressed mass of human beings. Originally the book was written in French, only after to be written in Portuguese and then English (translated by Arthur Goldhammer). Mattoso spends this book exploring the ideas and concerns of the Brazilian slaves along with sympathizing their feelings and emotions.

Starting in 1501, white Portuguese men enslaved over five million Africans and brought them back to Brazil to work on sugar plantations, creating a power dynamic that has lasted for centuries. After nearly four hundred years of slavery, freed black men and women were left with no education, place to live, or family, placing them at an economic disadvantage from the beginning. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, following emancipation, white men began to procreate with indigenous and African women, creating a mixed or mulatto race, which led to the false identification of Brazil as a country with a “racial democracy.” However, darker-skinned individuals still remained at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, facing systems of social, economic, and educational discrimination. The racial inequalities, products of historical legacy, have resulted in a society that has severe racial stratifications and continues to subject Afro-Brazilians to prejudice, poverty, and police brutality. Although racial discrimination in contemporary Brazilian society is pervasive, particularly noticeable in the lack of economic and social mobility, discrimination is not a new phenomenon in Brazil, but rather the culmination of 500 years of historical inequities rooted in slavery, eugenics, immigration policy, the process of miscegenation, and the myth of racial “democracy”.

Gertulio Vargas is a very, very important figure in Latin history. He was a manipulating man of many faces who succeeded in gaining not one of two but nine positions of power in Brazilian history. He was state legislator, federal Congressman, Cabinet minister and Governor. He also held the positions of interim president, (revolutionary) chief of state and Senator. Least but not forgotten he was a dictator through and through! This man who became president in Brazil, drew comparisons to America’s Franklin D. Roosevelt in the way that he helped modern his country and was constantly in the media’s eye. In Vargas’ case, he exited office very differently than Roosevelt. Also Vargas’ legacy left a lot let to be desired if the way that he

From the 1500’s to the 1930’s the Brazilian economy relied on the production of primary products for exports. For three centuries Brazil’s economy was heavily curbed because since Portugal discovered Brazil, they subjected it’s economy to an imperial mercantile policy or a strictly enforced colonial pact. Even though Brazil received its independence in 1822, Portugal’s phase of decisions left a lasting, powerful imprint on Brazil’s economy and society. In the late eighteenth century, when wage labor was adopted and slavery was eliminated considerable changes finally began to occur. Only starting in the 1930’s were the first steps taken to convert key structural changes by changing Brazil into a

Initially, in the early 1800’s Brazil was deemed a part of The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The Portuguese court was forced to move its seat to brazil after the start of the Napoleonic wars. As such, it

Brazil was first colonized by the Portuguese in the year 1500. Thanks to the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal laid claim to the Atlantic coasts of the South American continent and subsequently colonized to the South and inward through Amazonian rainforest. Originally, the Portuguese profited from the extraction brazilwood and its red dye. During the colonization process, the Portuguese originally relied on labor from the indigenous peoples. Jesuit missions largely converted the indigenous to the Catholic faith. However, due to the effects of European diseases African slaves began to become the main source of labor. Eventually, the economy was dominated by the export of sugar from the 16th to the 19th centuries. When Napoleon invaded

Brazil does not have a written history because of the Indopeans. The Portuguese conquered Brazil in the 1500’s. French and Dutch people tried to make colonies. Colonization took decades and did not begin until 1560. According to the website CultureGrams, “Brazil has been here for

The Portuguese legacy on Brazil’s demography has both beneficial and negative as it has resulted in one of the most racially mixed and diverse countries in the world, which has subsequently produced a dynamic culture infused with a variety of racial roots. However, this legacy has also been detrimental to society as deeply ingrained racism is very much present in the country today, albeit hidden at times and rarely discussed (Webb). Although there has never been formal segregation, it is clear to see that the favelas, or slums in large cities, are predominated by darker-skinned individuals (Webb). In addition, White Brazilians have the majority of higher-paying jobs and primarily frequent the nation’s universities. The myth of the racial democracy, which states that Brazil does not have racism or race-based problems, is simply untrue, and racism has been present ever since the day the Portuguese colonized Brazil (Hasenbalg, Huntington 136). The Portuguese legacy on the economy has been mostly negative, as it has

According to Geert Hofstede theory, it explores Brazil’s culture through five dimensions and get a good overview of the differences between Brazilian culture and the US culture. These dimensions are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation.

America is an individualistic culture, informal dress code, more direct than the British, results and experience matter more than background or connections, work long hours, address each other very informally, competition is a positive fact, the communication style is energetic and positive, expects hard working individuals with constructive attitude, and value personal space and privacy

Communication. The communication of Brazil is borne out of a close-knit bond for tribe and family ingrained from years ago. The national language of Brazil is Portuguese, or modified “Brazilian Portuguese," of which about 90% of Brazilians speak fluently (Martin & Chaney, 2012). Even though Brazil has come out from under the shadow of Portugal to be the largest Latin American country today, Brazilians are proud of their hard-fought heritage and of the fact that they are the only Latin American country that predominantly speaks Portuguese. Other languages utilized in the business world with educated Brazilians are Spanish (which is not preferred) and English (Martin & Chaney, 2012). To the advantage of the Canadian,