2. Colonization
• Portuguese explorers first made contact in the 1500s,
lasting as a colony until 1815
• The first and most important early export was Brazil
wood, and lead to the rise of the Sugarcane industry
• Gold and Silver veins were found, and mined by
native Amerindian slaves and later imported African
slaves
• Jesuits arrived to bring Catholicism to the natives in
1565, taking part in the founding of Rio de Janeiro
3. Colonization
• Tome de Sousa led a fleet to Brazil in 1549 to
establish a central government in the colony
• The colony was divided briefly in 1621 into two
Estados, into Estado do Brasil and Estado do
Maranhao. All Estado were reincorporated in 1775
• Around 1640, Brazilian governors of high ranking
began to use the term Viceroy, although official
Viceroyalty was not established in Brazil until 1763
