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Portuguese colonization of the Americas (Portuguese:Colonização portuguesa da América) constituted territories in the Americas belonging to theKingdom of Portugal. Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. TheTreaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided theEarth outside Europe intoCastilian andPortuguese global territorialhemispheres for exclusive conquest andcolonization. Portugal colonized parts ofSouth America (Brazil,Uruguay), but also made some unsuccessful attempts to colonizeNorth America (Newfoundland and Labrador andNova Scotia inCanada).
Based on the terms defined in theTreaty of Tordesillas, thePortuguese Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by the explorerJohn Cabot in 1497 and 1498 on behalf of theCrown of England.[1] To that end, in 1499 and 1500, the Portuguese marinerJoão Fernandes Lavrador visited the northeast Atlantic coast andGreenland, which accounts for the appearance of "Labrador" on topographical maps of the period.[2] Subsequently, in 1501 and 1502, theCorte-Real brothers explored and charted Greenland and what is today the Canadian province ofNewfoundland and Labrador, claiming these lands as part of thePortuguese Empire. Fragmentary evidence also suggests a previous expedition in 1473 byJoão Vaz Corte-Real, their father, with other Europeans, toTerra Nova do Bacalhau (New Land of the Codfish) in North America.[2][3] The possible voyage of 1473 and several other possible pre-Columbian expeditions to North America in the 15th century, mostly from the Azores in the case of the Portuguese (included in donation royal letters), remain matters of great controversy for scholars. Their existence is based on brief or fragmentary historical documents that are unclear concerning the destinations of voyages.
In 1506, KingManuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters.[citation needed]João Álvares Fagundes andPero de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland andNova Scotia around 1521. These were later abandoned, however, when Portuguese colonizers began to focus their efforts mainly on South America. Nonetheless, the Portuguese-founded towns ofPortugal Cove-St. Philip's,St. Peter's,St. John's,Conception Bay and surrounding areas of eastCanada remain important as a cultural region, even today.[4]
In April 1500, thesecond Portuguese India Armada, headed byPedro Álvares Cabral, with a crew of expert captains, including Bartolomeu Dias andNicolau Coelho, encountered the Brazilian coast as it swung westward in the Atlantic while performing a large "volta do mar" to avoid becalming in theGulf of Guinea. On 21 April 1500, a mountain was seen that was namedMonte Pascoal, and on 22 April, Cabral landed on the coast, inPorto Seguro. Believing the land to be an island, he named itIlha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross).[5] The previous expedition ofVasco da Gama to India already recorded several signs of land near its western open Atlantic Ocean route, in 1497. It has also been suggested thatDuarte Pacheco Pereira may have discovered the coasts of Brazil in 1498, possible its northeast, but the exact area of the expedition and the explored regions remain unclear. On the other hand, some historians have suggested that the Portuguese may have encountered the South American bulge earlier while sailing the "volta do mar" (in the Southwest Atlantic), hence the insistence of KingJohn II in moving the line west of the line agreed upon in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.[6] From the east coast, the fleet then turned eastward to resume the journey to the southern tip of Africa and India. Landing in the New World and reaching Asia, the expedition connected four continents for the first time in history.[7]
In 1501–1502, an expedition led byGonçalo Coelho (orAndré Gonçalves and/orGaspar de Lemos), sailed south along the coast of South America to the bay of present-dayRio de Janeiro. Among his crew was theFlorentineAmerigo Vespucci. According to Vespucci, the expedition reached the latitude "South Pole elevation 52° S" in the "cold" latitudes of what is nowPatagonia, near the Strait of Magellan, before turning back. Vespucci wrote that they headed toward the southwest-south, following "a long, unbending coastline". This seems controversial, since he changed part of his description in the subsequent letter (stating that around 32° S, they made a shift to open sea, to south-southeast), maintaining, however, that they reached a similar 50° S latitude.[8][9]
Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer in four Spanish and Portuguese exploratory voyages. The expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him, published between 1502 and 1504. His last two voyages to the east and southern east coasts of South America, by Portugal, especially the expedition of 1501–1502 to Brazil and beyond, and its meeting with Cabral's ships and men (who had touched the South American, African and Asian continents) on the African coast, at Bezeguiche (the bay ofDakar, Senegal), listening the accounts of its sailors (then returning to Portugal), were the most decisive for his "New World" hypothesis. Vespucci suggested that the newly discovered lands (especially what is today South America/Brazil) were not the Indies but a "New World",[10] theMundus novus, Latin title of a contemporary document based on Vespucci letters toLorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, which had become widely popular in Europe.[11]
Around 1508 or 1511–1512, Portuguese captains reached and explored theRiver Plate estuary in the present-dayUruguay andArgentina, and went as far south as the present-dayGulf of San Matias at 42°S (recorded in theNewen Zeytung auss Pressilandt meaning "New Tidings from the Land of Brazil").[12][13]Some historians have attributed this voyage to Coelho and Vespucci years before, but a good part of historians and researchers, through the sparse and comparative documentation, identify the captains and the experienced pilot of theIndia run ("the best Pilot of Portugal" and a "best friend" of the Fugger's Agent), with Diogo Ribeiro, Estevão Frois and the pilotJoão de Lisboa. The explorers also reported that after going by the 40th parallel to south, along the coast, they found a "land" or "point extending into the sea", and further south, a Gulf.[14][15]
This and the following expeditions ofCristóvão Jacques to the River Plate and into theParana River in 1521; and ofMartim Afonso de Sousa and his brother Pero Lopes de Sousa, in 1530–1532, from theAmazon River, toLagoa dos Patos and to the rivers Plate and Paraná, reinforced and demonstrated Portuguese interest in the River Plate.
Permanent habitation in Brazil did not begin untilSão Vicente was founded in 1532 by Martim Afonso de Sousa, although temporary trading posts were established earlier to collectbrazilwood, used as adye. São Vicente, by itsdemocratic municipal prerogatives (in the tradition of Portuguese municipalism since the Middle Ages) and by the general elections to its firstCâmara (City Council) on August 22, 1532, is symbolically considered the birthplace ofdemocracy in theAmericas.
From 1534 to 1536,15 Captaincy colonies were created in Portuguese America. The captaincies were autonomous, and mostly private, colonies of thePortuguese Empire, each owned and run by aCaptain-major.
In 1549, due to their failure and limited success, theCaptaincy Colonies of Brazil were united into theGovernorate General of Brazil. The captaincy colonies were reorganized as provincial districts to the Governorate. The captaincies continued to be ruled by their hereditarycaptain-majors but they now reported to the Governor-General of Brazil. The new system was implemented so that Portuguese America could be managed correctly and provide a steady and wealthy income for thePortuguese Empire. The capital of the new governorate established its capital atSão Salvador and the firstJesuits arrived the same year.
With permanent settlement came the establishment of thesugar caneindustry and its intensivelabor demands which were met withNative and laterAfricanslaves.
From 1565 through 1567,Mem de Sá, the third Governor General of Brazil, successfully destroyed a ten-year-oldFrench colony calledFrance Antarctique, atGuanabara Bay. He and his nephew,Estácio de Sá, then founded the city ofRio de Janeiro in March 1567.
In 1621,Philip II of Portugal divided theGovernorate General of Brazil into two separate and autonomous colonies, theState of Maranhão and theState of Brazil. Regarding this period it is preferable to refer to "Portuguese America" rather than "Portuguese Brazil" or "Colonial Brazil", as the states were two separate colonies, each with their own governor general and government.
Between 1630 and 1654, theNetherlands came to controlpart of Brazil's Northeast region, with their capital inRecife. The Portuguese won a significant victory in theSecond Battle of Guararapes in 1649. By 1654, the Netherlands had surrendered and returned control of all Brazilian land to the Portuguese.
In 1751, theState of Maranhão was restructured into theState of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, with a new capital and government.
In 1772, theState of Grão-Pará and Maranhão was split into two new states, theState of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and theState of Maranhão and Piauí. The new states would fare poorly and only last 3 years.
In 1775, the three colonies of Portuguese America (theState of Brazil, theState of Maranhão and Piauí; and theState of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro) were united into a singular colony, under theState of Brazil. This arrangement would last until the end ofColonial Brazil. As a result, Brazil did not split into several countries, as happened to its Spanish-speaking neighbors.
Portuguese merchants have been trading in the West Indies. To such an extent, that, for instance, for the Portuguese town ofPóvoa de Varzim, most of its seafarers dying abroad, most of the deaths occurred in the Route of the Antilles, in the West Indies. At the turn of the 17th century, with the union with Castile, the Spanish kings favored the free movement of the people, and other lands of the New World, such as Peru and the Gulf of Mexico, were open to the Portuguese merchants.[16]
The Portuguese founded the first Uruguayan city,Colónia do Sacramento.[17]
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