The Geographical Landscape Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Plain Essay

To start, in Brazil the Portuguese become convinced that full-scale exploitation of the land was imperative for the safety of their entire overseas empire. Sugar cultivation was the ideal crop to guarantee the existence of a profitable colony. As a result, the Portuguese dominated the Atlantic slave trade. Various slaves from different parts of Africa were brought to Brazil and experienced difficult working and in living

Both countries have transplanted cultures: Portugal for Brazil and Great Britain for USA, but the process of colonization that started in Brazil differs from the process of colonization of the USA, for example. Europeans didn’t go to Brazil to live and develop the territory for their own benefit. Actually, they went there to explore its rich natural recourses and came back home with lots of money.

From 1450 to 1750, slavery continued to be an important system of labor. The institution of slavery expanded dramatically across the Atlantic Ocean as enslaved Africans were brought over to the New World.Slavery existed in many parts of the world, such as Africa,the Middle East, and other areas of the world throughout this period. In many places of the world, people would trade enslaved people through out the world. Because Europeans were looking for a large labor supply,they started a transatlantic slave trade. The enslaved men and women grew sugarcane and cash crops on plantations.Because of slavery, after a while, slavery became "the norm". Ever since then, slavery had a whole new meaning to it. When the Spanish and the Portuguese came to

A social hierarchy developed, with peninsulares at the top, then creoles, and mestizos, mulattoes, zambos, then finally Africans. As time passed and the slave trade progressed, Africans were treated less and less like human beings. They were seen as property, and they were always replaceable because there was always a new shipment of slaves. Work on a sugar plantation was hard, and those who worked there did not have a long life expectancy. “Sugar production was hard, year-round work and sometimes around-the-clock work. While it was capital intensive in terms of mechanical and human machines, it required large amounts of carefully coordinated work under miserable conditions….”(Document 4). Slaves are needed in the social system because they are the ones doing all the dangerous work. Nobody from the upper classes wants to do what they

Brazil borders every nation except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil is divided into Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the South American River Basin in the North. Brazil has rainforests, rivers, grasslands, and beaches. Brazil has more people and land than any other place in South America. Over a third of Brazil is covered by the Amazon and it’s over 200 tributaries. There are many rivers in Brazil. One major river is the Amazon River and it’s actually the second largest river in the world. The Amazon River is anywhere between 6,259 km / 3,903 mi and 6,712 km/ 4,195 mi long. The Amazon River supplies 20 percent of all the water that the world’s rivers pour into the ocean. Brazil also has rainforests. The largest rainforest is located in Brazil itself and that is the Amazon Rainforest. It has more than 1.2 billion acres in size. In matter of fact the rainforest is located

Sugar was one of the first global product, this and many other products were part of the trade system the triangle of trade. During the sugar trade, the Africans were treated unfairly however, the Europeans benefited, the economic system grew and sugar became more popular. When the African slaves were in America the slaves underwent brutal working conditions. Two sources corroborate this claim. According to document Henry Coor, “Even though I have to kill 30-40 negroes more per year, the higher production of sugar more than justifies the loss in life.”

Slavery became an established activity in America by 1600’s. The slaves were mostly to provide free and cheap labor. Apart from America, slavery was practiced in other parts of the world throughout history, and in fact it can be traced back to the time of the ancient civilization. With industrial revolution especially with the rise of sugar plantations, the slaves were used to grow sugar in the periods from 1100. This intensified between 1400 and 1500 when Portugal and Spain ventured into sugar growing in the eastern Atlantic regions. The growth of the plantations required labor, hence African slaves were bought from Africa, to provide labor.

In history, what often occurred was that influential individuals who occupied the middle ground during exploration were forgotten. These third-party individuals are called go-betweens and they helped Europeans connect with different cultural groups. The 16th century brought enormous change by the Portuguese to the indigenous groups who lived in Brazil. The colonization of Brazil owes its success to transactional, representational, and physical/biological go-betweens. The book, Go-betweens and the Colonization of Brazil, written by Alida Metcalf explores the roles of these go-betweens and their impact.

was “work in the cane fields. ” He says that work in these sugar mills was performed by the slaves and the physical demands for the production of sugar was intense and lasted long since the sugar cane growth was yearly around. The day’s labor “began early and ended late, weeding was a dawn to dusk operation and the harvest of cane was done by hand with a knife” (9). Since these indigenous slaves were the first one to work on the plantation of sugar can, as well as other site like the gold and silver. These natives had to fight off diseases they contracted. Sanderson writes that “European diseases such as measles, smallpox and cold viruses began devastating the native population of Bahia in 1562, causing at least 60,000 deaths in two years”

European colonialism changed the economy in Brazil drastically. The country went basically from hunters and gatherers to a major source of goods for exports do largely to the Portuguese. Portugal explored Brazil because of the European commercial expansion of the fifteen and sixteenth centuries. Portugal began in the fifteenth century to search for other routes to the sources of goods valued in European markets. At first the Portuguese did not find mineral riches in their American colony, but did not lose hope. The Portuguese had to defend the Brazil from European intruders, they did this by establishing a pioneer colonial enterprise. They began to produce sugar, and then in 1531 cattle began to arrive in Brazil, and developed quickly as an industry. The cattle developed to the needs of the sugar industry for transportation and food for the workers. (5)

Brazil has five marked ecosystems, which include the tropical rainforest, the Pantanal (tropical wetland), the Cerrado (tropical savannah), Mata Atlantica (Atlantic forest) and the pampas (Fertile plains). Brazil also has a large number of mountains that range from 6,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level. None of these mountains are covered in snow, although snow occasionally falls on certain parts of Brazil. Most rivers have their origins in mountain ranges and that is why mountains are important in the life of Brazil (Hunnicutt, 1949).

Brazilwood was a key product for Portuguese trade. But the focus on timber would soon change. Cash crops in the form of sugar cane production became the focus. Slavery was needed for the growing of sugar cane and replaced the unsuccessful usage of native people for labor. “Regular slave trade between Brazil and Africa was begun in the 1550s as a temporary measure to replace the Indians decimated by war and disease, but it lasted for over 300 years, and the institution of slavery persisted until 1889, Brazil being the last country of the American hemisphere to abolish it.” The agricultural focus of sugar cane changed to coffee bean production in the late 19th century. As coffee began to take off, slavery was abolished. With the influx of Africans halted, foreign immigration was promoted. This would have a profound effect on the societal make-up of the colony. Mass migrations were already occurring as the Portuguese had established their minute South American empire. Between 1884 and 1920 three million immigrants, mainly Italian, entered the country. Portuguese, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Britons, the descendants of African slaves and the products of racial mixtures of Brazilian Indians, Europeans, and Africans would be the kin of those who football would become entrenched within.

Discovered on 1 January 1502 by a Portuguese expedition in Pedro Alavares Cabral's fleet, Rio de Janeiro or "January River" was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakali people. On 1 March 1565, the city Rio de Janeiro was properly founded by the Portuguese. In the early 18th century this city was invaded several times by French pirates and buccaneers. The French and Portuguese fought over Rio until 1567; Portuguese governor Mem de Sa expelled the French over the next 200 years fighting off successive military incursions. By 1769 Rio took over as the Brazilian capital from Salvador, Rio had over 50,000 inhabitants. Portuguese royal family began to move to Rio from Europe in 1808, transforming small colonies into the capital. Prince Pedro declared Brazillian Independence in 1822. Rio was the capital city of the country and remained so when Brazil became a Republic in 1889. In 1960, Rio was surpassed as the biggest city in Brazil by its rival Sao Paulo.

The country of Brazil is located in the South American continent, it has the largest country is South America and is bordered by many countries such as Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest and Bolivia and Peru to the west there is Uruguay to the south and Venezuela to the north. It shares a boarder with every South American country except for Ecuador and the country of Chile. The country is so big that it shares a boarder with Peru and I mention Peru because it is located on the western coast of the continent. Peru’s coastline is the Pacific Ocean and Brazils is the Atlantic that in its self speaks volumes for the shear mass of Brazil. This nation has vast climate changes depending where in the country one is located for example the

As the logging industry was in high demand, another agricultural boom was taking place. Sugarcane became the next major export within Brazil. In 1530, as the Portuguese continued their efforts to control