History

Brazil's history is an epic tale of conquest, slavery, revolution, and resilience — a country that has continually reinvented itself.

Indigenous Peoples (before 1500)

Before the European arrival, an estimated 5–8 million Indigenous people lived in over 1,000 different tribes in what is now Brazil. The Tupinambá on the coast, the Guaraní in the south, the Yanomami in the Amazon — each tribe with its own language, culture, and cosmology. Most lived as hunters and gatherers or practiced slash-and-burn agriculture. Much of their rich culture has flowed into Brazilian identity: the hammock (rede), manioc (mandioca), corn, the love of nature.

Portuguese Colony (1500–1822)

Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on April 22, 1500, on the coast of Bahia and claimed the land for Portugal. The name "Brazil" comes from the Brazilwood (Pau-Brasil) — a red hardwood that the colonizers felled en masse and shipped to Europe.

The colonial history of Brazil is inextricably linked with slavery: Over 350 years, almost 5 million Africans were forcibly brought to Brazil — more than to any other country in the New World. They worked on sugar and coffee plantations, in gold mines, and in cities. Afro-Brazilian culture — Samba, Capoeira, Candomblé, the cuisine of Bahia — is the direct legacy of this painful history.

Brazil was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery: only on May 13, 1888, through the "Lei Áurea" (Golden Law).

Empire (1822–1889)

In 1822, Pedro I., son of the Portuguese king, declared Brazil's independence with the famous cry "Independência ou Morte!" (Independence or Death!) on the banks of the Ipiranga in São Paulo. Brazil became an empire — the only one in all of America. Under Pedro II. (1840–1889), the country experienced a phase of modernization, but also the Paraguayan War (1864–1870), the bloodiest war in South America.

Republic & Military Dictatorship

In 1889, the monarchy was overthrown by a military coup, and the republic was proclaimed. Turbulent decades followed: the coffee oligarchy, industrialization under Getúlio Vargas (1930–1945, 1951–1954), the construction of the futuristic capital Brasília under Juscelino Kubitschek (1960) — and finally the military dictatorship (1964–1985): 21 years of authoritarian rule with censorship, torture, and political persecution, but also with the "economic miracle" of the 1970s.

Modern Democracy (1985–present)

Since 1985, Brazil has been a democracy. The key milestones: the Constitution of 1988 (one of the most progressive in the world regarding social rights), the economic reforms under Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Real Plan, 1994), the social programs under Lula (2003–2010, which lifted 40 million people out of poverty), the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics in Rio — and the political turbulence of recent years.