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The Union of Spain and Portugal (1580-1640) |
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The moist and fertile seaboard of what is now the State of Pernambuco was very suitable for growing sugar and also conveniently located as a port of call for sailing ships traveling from Portugal to West Africa and the Orient. The sugar plant and the technique of its cultivation had reached Brazil from Madeira.
A flourishing triangular trade soon developed, based on the importation of slave labour from West Africa to work on sugar plantations. The sugar was exported to markets in Europe where rising demand was beginning to outrun supplies from traditional sources.
This development was interrupted by events in Europe. When King Sebastian of Portugal died in 1578, Philip II of Spain succeeded in his claim to the vacant throne in Lisbon. From 1580 to 1640, the two Peninsular kingdoms were linked together under the Spanish crown. Thus, by the union of the two countries, South America became, for this time span, in its entirety a Hispanic world. Paradoxically, Portugal's 60 years of union with Spain were to confer unexpected advantages on her transatlantic colony. In the absence of boundaries, both the Portuguese and the Brazilians started penetrating deeper into the vast hinterlands.
The main starting point for this exploration was the captaincy of São Vicente, and it was from their base in São Paulo that the pioneers pushed the frontier forward from the seaboard into the interior Expeditions (known as Bandeiras) in search of Indian slaves cut their way through forest, climbed the difficult escarpments, and marched across the inland plateau. The expeditionaries (Bandeirantes) are known to have brought back with them Indians captured from Jesuit missions scattered in the interior of the country. Thus, without their realizing it, the Bandeirantes expanded the boundaries of the future independent Brazil.
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