X.
THE PORTUGUESE IN BRAZIL.
THE history of the Portuguese in South America differs greatly from the story of the growth of their power in Asia; in America they found no wealthy cities and civilized peoples, only poor natives, and it was no wonder that their chief efforts in the sixteenth century were devoted to the development of the lucrative Eastern trade and to Asiatic exploration. Had any one told King Emmanuel that the country which Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered by a mere chance on his way to Asia, would prove of more enduring value to Portugal than the settlements in India, that monarch would not have believed him. Yet such has been the case. Whereas at the present time the Portuguese possessions in Asia have dwindled down to the settlements of Goa, Daman, and Diu in India, and the island of Macao, which are of very little value to the mother country, the great republic of Brazil has expanded into an independent state containing fourteen millions of inhabitants, or more than three times the population of Portugal.[18] It is true that the governments of Portugal and her flourishing daughter across the Atlantic are separated, and that they are politically independent of each other, yet Brazil still continues in close alliance with Portugal, and receives from the mother country the crowds of sturdy immigrants, who are steadily expanding the resources of the greatest country in South America. Brazilians are as proud of the great deeds of their European ancestors as the Portuguese themselves, and even surpass the inhabitants of the mother country in their admiration for Camoens, and the assiduous study of his works. The story of the settlement and gradual colonization of Brazil cannot rival in romantic interest that of the Portuguese exploits in Asia, but it is nevertheless instructive to study the slow growth of the colony which has now become a mighty empire.
It was upon April 24, 1500, that Pedro Alvares Cabral, the admiral commanding the fleet which King Emmanuel had ordered to India, on receiving the news of the successful voyage of Vasco da Gama, caught sight of an unknown country towards the west He had stood out to sea after passing the Cape Verde Islands, or, according to some authorities, had been driven out to sea by a storm and had not expected to see land at all, so that the discovery, which proved of the greatest value to Portugal, was the result of chance, and not of deliberate exploration. He was unable to land at first on account of the surf, and it was not until he reached 15° north latitude, that he was able to find a harbour, to which he gave the name of Porto Seguro or Safe Port. He landed and took possession of the new country in the name of the King of Portugal, and after erecting a cross gave it the name of Santa Cruz, which remained its official name for many years, before the popular name of Brazil, which was given to it from the quantity of brazil-trees it contained, was adopted. Cabral found the country to be fertile and well watered, and inhabited by a mild and inoffensive people, who allowed him to explore a little, and to take on board fruit and water. He at once perceived the value of his discovery, and sent off one of his ships to Lisbon with information of it, and with one of the inhabitants on board to be taught the Portuguese language. He also left two of his own men in the country to learn the language of the natives and to explore, and then proceeded on his way to India.
King Emmanuel sent various expeditions to explore this new country, notably two under Amerigo Vespucci in 1501 and 1503, and the greater part of the coast line down to the River Plate was visited and mapped out by this industrious explorer. But neither Vespucci, nor the first colonists despatched from Portugal, reported the existence of more than a fertile country, and the Portuguese people being at that time in the full excitement of their first conquests in Asia, and the rich trade to be opened up there, paid but little attention to the new possession across the Atlantic. It was soon discovered that there were no wealthy cities or powerful dynasties among the inhabitants of Brazil, such as Cortez met with in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru, and there seemed to be little prospect of a lucrative trade. So little was known, indeed, of the natural wealth of Brazil, that Spain, though by the Bull of Alexander VI. it had a right to all discoveries in that quarter of the globe, consented to give up to Portugal undisputed possession of the whole coast line of Brazil from the River Maranham to the River Plate.