Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library’s Archive of Early American Images
In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral disembarked in Brazil with 1,200 Portuguese adventurers after badly missing his destination in Southern Africa. Immediately, the colony became a Portuguese claim and quickly earned a unique identity.
From a commercial standpoint, the Portuguese colonizers realized their lucrative find, introducing the industrial production of Brazilwood and establishing feitorias and engehnos for sugar production. Naturally, these recourses necessitated labor to facilitate processes of exportation, and slavery became the lynchpin which held this colonial economic system together. Slavery became even significant with the later discovery of gold in Minas Gerais and also played a role in later political uprisings against the Portuguese.