The South American Republics : History of Brazil

This book presents the History of Brazil, from the discovery to the
establishment of the Republic.

“On the 9th of March, 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Portuguese nobleman of
illustrious birth, but not yet distinguished by any notable feats in war or
seamanship, sailed from Lisbon for the East Indies. This expedition was sent
out to continue the work begun by Vasco da Gama in the first all-sea voyage to
India. It was an advance-guard for the larger armament that two years later
founded the Portuguese empire on the coasts of India. Vasco da Gama himself
wrote Cabral's sailing orders. The latter was instructed, after passing the
Cape Verde Islands in 14° North, to sail directly south, as long as the wind
was favourable. If forced to change his course, he was ordered to keep on the
starboard tack, even though it led him south-west. When he reached the
latitude of the Cape of Good Hope — 34° South — he was to bear away to the
east.These sailing instructions have been the subject of much discussion. Many
believe their sole purpose was to enable Cabral to avoid the Guinea calms, so
annoying to sailing ships near the African coast. Others contend that Da Gama
had seen signs of land to the west on his own voyage, and that its discovery
was a real, though secondary, object of the expedition. In any event the
Brazilian coast is too near the natural route around Africa to have escaped
encounter, and would infallibly have shortly been seen by someone else.Forty-
two days after leaving Lisbon, Cabral's fleet saw unmistakable signs of land,
being then in latitude 17 degrees south and longitude 36 degrees west. From
the Cape Verde Islands, just off the western point of Africa, he had made 2300
miles, and had come 500 miles to the west. The next day a mountain was
sighted, which he called Paschoal, because it was Easter week. This mountain
is in the southern part of the state of Bahia, about four hundred miles north-
east of Rio, and on a coast that to this day is sparsely inhabited and rarely
visited. The following day the whole fleet came to an anchor a mile and a half
from the shore, and just north of the dangerous Abrolhos reefs. This was the
23rd of April, Old Style, which corresponds with the 3rd of May in the
Gregorian calendar. The date is a national holiday in Brazil, and the
anniversary for the annual convening of Congress. Because no quadrupeds or
large rivers were seen, Cabral thought he had discovered an island and named
it the "Island of the True Cross." The name has not survived except in poetry.
He stopped ten days on the coast, took formal possession, and sent expeditions
on shore which entered into communication with the Indians, who were seen in
considerable numbers. It is characteristic that the first question asked of
the Indians was if they knew what gold and silver were. They were peaceable
and friendly, and the old chronicle describes them as of a dark reddish
complexion with good features, and muscular, well-shaped bodies. They wore no
clothes, their lower lips and cheeks were perforated to carry great ornaments
of white bone, and their hair was elaborately dressed and adorned with
feathers.These were fair specimens of the Tupi-Guaranies, the largest of the
four great families into which the Brazilian aborigines have been classified.
The others are the Caribs, the Arawaks, and the Botacudos. There are also
traces of tribes who inhabited the country remote centuries ago. In caves in
Minas Geraes skeletons have been found remarkably like those of the earliest
Europeans. The theory is that these Indians came from Europe by land in that
remote geological epoch when Scandinavia was joined to Greenland. Later came
Mongoloids, probably by way of the Behring Strait, who appear largely to have
exterminated their European predecessors, and to have been the ancestors of
the modern Indians..."