Indigenous People of Brazil
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the territory now called Brazil in 1500, the land was occupied by many groups of indigenous people who had been there for centuries. They most likely reached Brazil by crossing the Bering Strait on foot from Asia, and migrating down through the Americas, or by sea routes along the Pacific.
There is some archaeological evidence that exists about the pre-history of Brazil, but it all dates to the period after the Asian migratory waves. Because Brazilian natives did not keep written records or erect monuments, and the humid climate and acidic soil have destroyed most material artifacts, it is difficult to reconstruct the region’s history before the arrival of the Europeans in 1500. What have been found are large mounds of discarded shellfish and large settlements of tens of thousands of homes that reveal that the natives must have had a complex social and economical structure.
In April of 1500, the Portuguese were surprised to find the coast of Brazil widely inhabited, and delighted to discover a paradise of natural riches. In 1500, current day Brazil was home to as many as 2,000 different nations and tribes. Most of them were semi-nomadic tribes who used the forests to meet their needs. They lived mainly on the coast and along the banks of major rivers.
The diseases unknowingly carried with the Portuguese explorers, like measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, and influenza spread quickly among the natives and killed tens of thousands.
The good relationship between the Portuguese and the Brazilian natives was short lived. The new colonists began having children with female natives which created a new generation of mixed-race peoples who spoke the native Indian languages. The children began to form the majority of the populations.
The Portuguese intended to profit from the sugar trade, and so planted sugar cane in Brazil and endeavored to used the indigenous population as a slave force. However, because the natives had no natural immunity against European diseases and were hard to capture, they began dying in great numbers. At the same timed, the prospects of the African slave trade suggested increased profits, so the Portuguese settlers began to import laves from Africa. In 1570, King Sebastian I ordered that indigenous Brazilian Indians should no longer be used for slaves and ordered the release of any of those held in captivity, but it was only in 1755 that the slavery of Indians was completely abolished.
Traces of these indigenous tribes can still be seen through out Brazil today. The natives retained many of their beliefs and customs, even as they were forced to assimilate to European culture. When it became mandatory that all natives practiced Roman Catholicism and pay taxes to the Catholic Church, they maintained their indigenous religious beliefs as well, creating a new breed of religion. Today, religion in Brazil is a combination of many different practices and beliefs, and many citizens attend both Catholic Church and pray to native gods. Indigenous culture is fully ingrained in the Brazilian people.