Rio: Baía de Guanabara

Rio: Baía de Guanabara

Monday, June 13, 2011

When the first Portuguese arrived


Disembarkation of Cabral by Oscar Pereira da Silva, 1922

The arrival of the Portuguese in the land that came to be called Brazil is directly related to the European commercial expansion which began in the XVth c.
In the search for gold and for an alternative route to Asia circumnavigating Africa, the Portuguese princes had a chance to prove their military skills, to the glory of the Avis dynasty, and to rescue souls, to the glory of the Christian Church.
 With the sponsorship of Genovese bankers, they went beyond, and shaped an Oversee Empire, provider of colonial goods to the European market, in parts of Africa, Asia and South America.

They arrived in India in 1498, but they missed the privilege to be the first ones to arrive where became known as America, done by Colombo sponsored by the Spanish kings. But for all the service already delivered, they could negotiate with Spain and get a hold of possibilities in the newfound land.

With the blessings of the Pope, the Treaty of Tordesilhas, from 1494, established a meridian to divide the Earth in two exploiting domains - any land “found or to be find” to the East of this meridian belonged to the Portuguese, and to the West, to Spain.

In 1494, Portugal was granted  only a part of Brazil

In 1500, a second Portuguese fleet was sent to India. 
Under the command of  Pedro Álvares Cabral, they deviated from the route along the African coast and arrived in the region today known as Porto Seguro in April.

The route travelled by Cabral in 1500.

The date of this first contact, as well as their first impressions upon arrival, are registered in the letter which Pero Vaz de Caminha, the oficial notary, wrote to the king D. Manuel I. This letter is considered by many today as the most accurate descriptions of what Brazil used to look like in 1500. "Arvoredo Tanto, e tamanho, e tão basto, e de tanta folhagem, que não se pode calcular", which roughly translates as "The vastness of the treeline and foliage is incalculable". He also described the natives, for it was not a vacant land.

To the European public though, it was Americo Vespucci, who gave account of the place for his writings were the first printed texts about Brazil – “Mundus Novus" – published around 1503-1504. He says: “And if in this world exists a terrestrial paradise, without doubt cannot be far from these places”.

The ideia that Paradise could exist on Earth abounded in the imaginations of medieval Europeans. 
 But the taste for wonder and mystery, almost inseparable from voyage literature during the Age of Discoveries, occupies singularly, very little space in Portuguese writings about the New World. They had become more practical with the occupation of Africa, as they exorcised the ideias about monsters and demons inhabitting the unknown Seas.  Even the fabulous India became a mere market to profit from in the name and glory of their souverain. 
The ideia of an Eldorado persisted though as the fantastic element to guide them.

In the search for riches and to map the territory, Portugal sent the first expedition in 1501, with Gaspar Lemos in command and other experienced navigators, and cartographers like Americo Vespucci, who verified an abundance of trees called PAU-BRASIL (literally ember stick). A similar species was formerly brought from Asia, cherished by medieval Europe for the red tint it produces. Thus, with the inexistence of gold at first glimpse, Brazilwood became the first lucrative colonial product. And is in the origin of the name given to the country.

Established as a crown-granted Portuguese monopoly, trading posts where created along the coast where the natives could stack the logs in exchange for trinkets, like mirrors and knives. Other nations tried to harvest and smuggle the logs to Europe, and corsairs began the attacks on Portuguese ships.


Woodcut from Andre Thevet's Cosmographie universelle, 1555
  
In hundred years, these trees were almost extinct, as well as the native population.


In this first expedition, important sites where mapped, like Cabo de São Roque – 16/08/1501; Rio São Francisco – 04/10/1501; Baía de Todos os Santos – 01/11/1501; Cabo de São Tomé – 21/12/1501; Rio de Janeiro – 01/01/1502; Angra dos Reis – 06/01/1502.


Bibliography:
HISTÓRIA DO BRASIL: Boris Fausto
VISÕES DO PARAÍSO: Sérgio Buarque de Holanda
O POVO BRASILEIRO: Darcy Ribeiro