The “discovery of Brazil” took place on April 22, 1500 , with the arrival of the Portuguese in our country.
Pedro Álvares Cabral , the brave Portuguese explorer, came with an expedition made up of 13 vessels:10 ships and 3 caravels.
With him were about 1,500 sailors and the experienced navigator Bartolomeu Dias .
Arrival in the New Lands
Pedro Álvares de Cabral's squadron left Lisbon on March 9, 1522 and followed the coast of Africa. At one point, they headed west and began to see signs of nearby land.
When the Portuguese saw the land, one of them shouted:"Land in sight!"
The first land they saw was in the current state of Bahia, in what is now the city of Porto Seguro. This place was called Land of Vera Cruz . But as they saw a mountain, they ended up calling the land Monte Pascoal . But do you know why Pascoal? Because it was Easter time.
Our country was named Brazil because of a special wood that was found here:pau-brasil.
The big question we can ask is:what did the Portuguese want here in Brazil? Why did they go so far away?
A question that makes us think:how was this meeting between the Portuguese and the native inhabitants?
Ready to know everything about it? Let's go then!
The Encounter with the Indians
When the Portuguese landed here, they found the inhabitants of the land and called them Indians . Can you imagine what that meeting was like? The people who lived here had very different ways of life , from clothes, food and of course the language.
It was all very complicated in the beginning, both for the Indians and for the Portuguese. Imagine that they found each other very strange and both groups were apprehensive. From then on, the life of the natives and the Portuguese would never be the same.
A person who came with the squad was in charge of telling everything as he saw it. That person was the clerk, called Pero Vaz de Caminha , who described what he saw as nature, animals, fruits. For him, everything was very far from the reality of Portugal.
Curiosity
Did you know that the term "Indian " was created by the browser Christopher Columbus ? That's because the original idea was to reach the Indies, on the other side of the ocean.
Columbus always believed that he had reached the Indies and that is why he called the natives of the American continent Indians.
Returning to Brazil. Did you know that several people believe that the fleet was lost and that's why they got here?
Others, on the contrary, think that they already knew about the existence of new lands. It's something to think about right?
First Mass in Brazil
It is worth remembering that the Portuguese were Catholics and one of the things they did, on April 26, 1500, was to say a mass, as a way of thanking them for having arrived on dry land.
The Fr Henrique Coimbra he was the one who said the first mass in the new discovered lands.
Note that the Indians did not have the same religion as the Portuguese. Can you imagine how strange they found that?
After all, what was the motivation of the Portuguese?
An important question is to know that the Portuguese had the objective of exploring the new lands, as they wanted to conquer more territories , seek gold and spices (cloves, pepper, cinnamon, etc.) and even convert people to the Catholic religion.
Did you know that before coming to Brazil, the Portuguese had already occupied some ports in Africa and the islands of the Azores and Madeira, in the Atlantic Ocean?
See the map below on the route of Portuguese navigators and explorers to better understand this issue:
Chronology of Portuguese Navigations
The Portuguese were the first to set out to sea to explore new lands. With each adventure, they made new maps, confirmed information, and tried to go further.
- First, they occupied ports in Africa, such as Ceuta;
- Later, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores archipelagos and Madeira Island;
- They skirted the coast of Africa crossing Cape Bojador and built forts on the coast;
- They also settled in Cape Verde;
- They managed to cross the dreaded Cabo das Tormentas, in 1488, with Bartolomeu Dias. This trip was so important that from that moment on, the cape changed its name and became the Cape of Good Hope.
- Vasco da Gama was the first to reach the Indies and brought the much-loved spices there.
Did you know?
A curiosity is to know that Spain, Portugal's neighboring country, tried to do the same, that is, to go to sea to conquer new lands and get rich.
That's because, years before, Christopher Columbus arrived in America, in 1492 . This was a super important step for them to make sure there was more land on this side to conquer.
Treaty of Tordesillas
So Portugal and Spain were always fighting to be the greatest explorers of the time.
Thus, in order not to come into conflict with the kings of Spain again, the Portuguese signed the Treaty of Tordesillas , in 1494.
This agreement was very important because it established that the lands found to the west would belong to the Spaniards, and those to the east, to the Portuguese.
Check out the map below to better understand the division that was made so that no one would be dissatisfied:
Even with the establishment of this treaty, both still continued to fight and not respect the division.
But that's another story that we'll tell you soon!
Activities about the Discovery of Brazil
Check out the activities below and test your knowledge about this story you just read and get to know better. Happy studying!
Activities to Paint the Discovery of Brazil
Shall we color the images below? Use your imagination and color these designs however you like.
