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Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library’s Archive of Early American Images.
The huge size of Brazil left many early colonial Brazilians with the immense task of exploring the hinterlands. Many Portuguese explorers were sent into the interior of the country to learn about their new habitat, but also to round up many of the native people living there and force them into labor. Many of these explorers, or bandeirantes as they are frequently deemed, met native women and had children with them, known as mamelucos, or mixed-blood children. This inter-relationship appears to be only the first of the many challenges that have faced Brazilians in their efforts to define and establish their racial and ethnic identity.