Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 1 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

It was not until the lapse of half a century after the discovery of Brazil that the Portuguese possessions in that region came to be looked upon as being of real importance to the mother country. It then began to be perceived that the system of having so many captaincies or separate governments, under no supreme authority nearer than Lisbon, was one likely to be productive of considerable inconvenience and confusion. The lives and property of the colonists were at the mercy of the several governors, and serious complaints of this state of things reached the king of Portugal. It was resolved, therefore, to revoke the powers of the captains, whilst leaving them their grants, and to appoint over them a governor-general. The person chosen for this high office was De Sousa, who was instructed to establish himself at Bahia, which place he was to put into a state of defence against all enemies. He took with him the great Nobrega and some other Jesuit Fathers, the first of their order who proceeded to South America. A new town was now built at Bahia. A hundred houses arose within four months, and De Sousa’s fleet was followed at no great distance of time by another, bearing a number of maidens of noble family, who were to be given in marriage to the officers and to receive dowries from the royal property. Young orphans were likewise sent out year by year to be educated by the Jesuits, who at once began the system of beneficence towards the natives from which they never deviated; but they could not here, as they had done elsewhere, engraft the principles of Christianity upon the existing religion and manners of the country. It was impossible to come to any compromise with cannibalism, and almost impossible to wean the natives from this custom. The Jesuits, however, persevered in the face of all difficulties; they built churches; they established schools for children; they taught these to read and to write; and they made themselves acquainted with the native tongues, into which they translated the prayers of the Church. They had considerable difficulties, however, to encounter in reconciling their teaching with the practice of their fellow-countrymen; for it must be remembered that, during the half century that elapsed between the discovery of Brazil and the arrival of the Fathers, the colonists had been without religious guides. In one respect the Jesuits’ work was easy. The youthful Brazilians showed themselves passionately fond of music, and were in this branch of education eager and apt pupils.

1552.

The number of Jesuits soon increased, and in the year 1552 Nobrega received the title of Vice-Provincial of Brazil. Two years later that government became the seat of a bishop, to whose arrival Nobrega anxiously looked forward for support against the easy-going priests, who, far from being imbued with the zeal of the Jesuits, connived at their countrymen enslaving the Brazilians and making their women their concubines. A Jesuit College was established in the plains of Riatininga, about thirteen leagues from S. Vicente, to which thirteen of the company were sent, and which received the name of S. Paulo, a name shared by the town which arose adjoining it. The chief of this establishment, the celebrated Anchieta, devoted himself by day and by night to the instruction of the numerous pupils who came to him from the neighbouring settlements, whilst at the same time he did his best to acquaint them with the arts of civilization.

1558.

From the time of the discovery of Brazil the French had occasionally visited that coast, and about the year 1558 they attempted to establish themselves at Rio de Janeiro under Villegagnon, the same who had conveyed Mary Queen of Scots from Scotland to Brittany, eluding the vigilance of the English. He had obtained the permission of his sovereign to undertake an expedition to America, having given his assurances to Coligny that he would protect Protestants in the new colony. He received two large vessels and a store-ship, together with all that was necessary for the furtherance of his project. Being well received by the natives at Rio de Janeiro, who were hostile to the Portuguese, he took up his position on an island in the noble bay, not far from the entrance. Here he erected a small fortification, to which he gave the name of Coligny; in choosing a spot for a settlement, however, he had overlooked one great disadvantage, the absence of water. His expedition had been badly provided with stores; in consequence, his men were immediately on their arrival made to subsist upon the food of the country, and the result was a conspiracy against him. It was, however, thwarted by the fidelity of three Scotchmen whom Villegagnon reserved as his guard. Coligny was indefatigable in supplying the wants of the colony, but he had been deceived by Villegagnon’s protestations of zeal for the reformed religion, which had been feigned for the purpose of gaining the admiral’s influence. In Brazil he threw off the mask, and those who had joined his settlement for the sake of liberty of conscience found themselves even worse off than they had been in France.

The Portuguese permitted the French colony to remain for four years unmolested, and had it not been for the treachery and double-dealing of Villegagnon, Rio de Janeiro might have remained a permanent French settlement. Some ten thousand Huguenots were ready to emigrate, with their arts, had they been sure of meeting with toleration; but the governor’s arbitrary proceedings ruined the project. The court of Lisbon was at length aroused by Nobrega to the dangerous rivalry of the French, and orders were issued to destroy their fortifications at Rio de Janeiro, two ships of war and a number of merchantmen being fitted out for the purpose. Two days and nights were expended in battering the fortresses. The Portuguese, after much waste of their resources, at length succeeded in carrying the largest of the outworks, and likewise the rock on which the magazine was situated. During the ensuing night the French and their native allies fled, either to the ships or to the mainland. The Portuguese, not being in sufficient strength to enable them to retain the island, demolished the works, and sailed for Santos, carrying off the artillery and stores. The credit of this successful expedition is entirely due to the indefatigable Nobrega.

During this decisive affair Villegagnon was absent in France, where he proposed to raise a fleet for the purpose of destroying the Portuguese settlements in Brazil; but his previous treachery stood in the way of his effecting his purpose.

The history of the early Portuguese in Brazil is in some respects far more satisfactory, if it be less exciting, than that of the Spaniards in Peru. They were there for the legitimate purpose of colonizing and cultivating a portion of a vast region where there was ample room at the same time for them and for the tribes in their neighbourhood; and if the colonists, on the one hand, were ever ready to enslave the natives, the Churchmen who followed in their wake were, on the other hand, as ready to denounce the practice, and to sow the seeds of real Christianity amongst the savages. The foremost name in the records of this good work is that of Nobrega, than whom a more sincere, self-denying, and enlightened missionary was never sent forth by any branch of the Christian Church.

The Jesuits in Brazil began their efforts where all missionary efforts that are to succeed must begin, with children. Their unprejudiced minds were open to teaching, and they were at an age to acquire the Portuguese language, and thus to become interpreters for the Fathers. The sick were visited, and the death-bed was soothed. Nobrega and his companions commenced their work with the tribes near San Salvador or Bahia. These they tried their best to persuade to live in peace and to be reconciled to their enemies. It may seem to us somewhat strange that while the Fathers are recorded to have succeeded in inducing their converts to abstain from excessive drinking, and to take to one wife alone, they should still have found it impossible to induce them to abandon the supreme luxury of feeding on the flesh of their enemies. In one instance a missionary is said to have succeeded where others failed, by flagellating himself before the doors of the cannibals until he was covered with blood, telling them that he thus punished himself to avert the punishment of God upon them for their sins.

Being aided by a zealous governor in the person of Mem de Sa, the Jesuits carried on their labours with considerable success, forming a number of settlements of converted natives. But the character of their progress was not unvaried. They had to contend with hostilities, which, though originating in the proceedings of their countrymen, and in nowise in their own conduct, still recoiled upon them. The small-pox, too, which spread from island to coast, is said, though perhaps with some exaggeration, to have carried off thirty thousand of the Indians who had been their converts.