Colonial Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to kingdom alongside Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
During the over 300 years of Brazilian colonial history, the economic exploration of the territory was based first on brazilwood extraction (16th century), sugar production (16th–18th centuries), and finally on gold and diamond mining (18th century). Slaves, especially those brought from Africa, provided most of the working force of Brazilian economy.
In contrast to the neighbouring fragmented Spanish possessions, the Portuguese colony, built up by the Portuguese in Latin America, kept its territorial unity and linguistic integrity after the independence, giving rise to the largest country in the region.
Read more about Colonial Brazil: Early Colonial History (1494–1530), Colonization, The Sugarcane Cycle (1530–1700), Inland Expansion: The entradas and bandeiras, The Gold Cycle (18th Century), The Royal Court in Brazil (1808–1821), Territorial Evolution of Colonial Brazil
Famous quotes containing the word colonial:
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)