16th Brazil, slow pace of colonization
Chance and the Portuguese in Brazil
- Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494: Portuguese to 370 leagues west of Cape Verdes; Spanish beyond...
- Pedro Cabral, 1500: “Isle of the True Cross”
- Immense expanse, little of commercial value
Slow settlement by Portuguese
- Asian and African trading forts were more valuable
- Brazilwood trade: harvested by natives for trinkets
- degregados (exiled criminals)
Defend against European interlopers
- 1516: fort at Pernambuco
- 1530s: 12 captaincy-generals established; 10 failed.