The first impressions gained by Europeans on landing in tropical America varied according to the nature of an age when science and mysticism were one and the same thing. The pioneering adventurers were those who at that time were the most knowledgeable from a technological point of view because, in those days, sailing the high seas required a mastery of the mathematical, astronomical and engineering sciences. Ocean-going vessels were built using the very best techniques, equipped with the latest instruments and armed with the most advanced weaponry of the time.
But this was not all that was required for a voyage. The location of the destination depended largely on intuitive calculations, generally based on the reports of travellers. In this matter, fantasy and intuition were just as important as technical knowledge. Above all, each captain had a hypothesis to be tested, rather than a heading to be followed. For example, Christopher Columbus thought he had reached not the Antilles but Cipango (a land that historians later associated with Japan). Therefore, when the new land had been reached, it was necessary not only to calculate its position but also to carry out a comparative study in order to find out whether the physical place corresponded with the data that had produced the initial hypothesis. As the destination was also a place that had its origins in what would nowadays be called fantasy, there was no reason to doubt any of the information that had formed the hypothesis.
Amongst the opportunities offered by the new lands was the possibility that the tropical regions would be the physical site of Paradise, as described in the Bible. Observations made by Columbus on America led him to agree with statements made by certain theologians who debated the possibility of having arrived at the place described in Genesis: a place in the Oriental latitudes, where night and day were of equal length, where nature was exuberant and the people lived free from illness and sin. In one of his letters, Columbus declared with certainty that the region corresponded with this description, only a short walk away from Eden: “I think that by crossing the equinoctial line to reach it, there is the earthly paradise”, he stated.
The Eldorado
Nowadays, we would certainly classify the Portuguese navigators who arrived in Brazil as being much more realistic in attitude than Columbus, who believed he had discovered the Garden of Eden. The first document dealing with Brazil, written by the scribe Pero Vaz de Caminha, does not go much further than his eyes could see, although here and there were indications of scenes from Paradise: “Amongst them were three or four young girls, gentle virgins, with very long, dark hair falling down their backs, and their private parts exposed to view and uncovered by hair, yet however much we looked at them they showed no modesty whatsoever”. This absence of original sin recurs in other parts of his letter: “The innocence of that people is such that Adam could not have shown less shame”.
With the passing of time and experience, the hypothesis of the physical existence of paradise has come to occupy the intellect of an increasing number of travellers. Soon the objective was delimited: a great lake from which four rivers flowed, in the middle of what would be Eldorado. Repeated contact with the natives made this possibility more credible. The location appeared to be the centre of the South American continent and as such, the lake of Eldorado appeared on countless maps until the seventeenth century.
The certainty of Paradise was such that in a short time, “schools of thought” emerged in order to define the objectives and the route. Two main aspects were explored. In the most “spiritual” of these, if the term could be applied to travellers of the time, the most sought-after was the Tree of Life planted in the middle of the Garden of Eden and watched over by cherubim and seraphim. At its base there would be a fountain, and whoever drank the water would gain knowledge of the secrets of the Universe and eternal youth. The aim of the “materialist” aspect was something different: the rivers of gold, the silver palaces set with precious stones, crystal towers and streets of gold that would mark the city of Eldorado.
All this helped to adapt a vision of America as a land that would remedy Europe’s sexual, spiritual and material ills. The new lands would feed desires, hopes and purses – enough to convince anyone to embark on an adventure to the new continent. But the desire for infinite conquest, in Brazil at least, was soon to be tempered by a succession of impasses that would lead to a rapid modification of this picture.
Reality and Relations with the Native Indians
To travel all over the land in search of wealth was one thing but to stay there was something quite different. Whilst there were misfortunes, the division of expectation moulded itself to the reality encountered. In Brazil, the reality was that there were no clear indications of gold or precious stones, whilst there was a growing certainty that not all was peace and harmony with the inhabitants who had hitherto seemed so innocent. Before long, the body of some adventurer had been served up at a ritual tribal banquet and what had seemed an easy exercise turned into an dubious adventure. In less than three decades, the Portuguese government reached the conclusion that the best thing to do in the absence of minerals that abounded in Mexico was to try and exploit the agricultural potential of the place. In light of the hopes of the age, this was an almost forlorn conclusion.
But the decision was to pose an extraordinary problem: it would be necessary to live side by side with the tribes of the Brazilian coast, the majority of which were Tupis. The equation was not exactly a simple one. Brazil was occupied by a vast collection of autonomous groups. There were millions of individuals, speaking at least 170 languages, with different origins. With the exception of Amazônia, it was rare to find a grouping of less than one thousand individuals. There was no relationship of subordination amongst them; it was impossible to conquer the land as had been the case in Mexico, where the toppling of the king was the equivalent of assuming sovereignty over the entire Aztec empire. In other words, becoming established in Brazil involved group by group contact and its continued repetition.
Contrary to what happened in the United States, this contact could not be limited to the warlike activities of driving away or massacring the original occupants. The motive was very simple: the entire stock of knowledge at that time was completely useless for the task of working the land. The Brazilian coast was covered by the Atlantic Forest, the most exuberant variety of tropical rain forest. Giant trees took over the entire land and underneath them lived hundreds of thousands of species that were completely unknown to European eyes. Seeds brought from the old continent often did not germinate – and if they germinated it was not enough to sustain life. Soon, the pioneer farmers died of hunger under a tree that produced edible fruit – if only the victim had known.
The force of arms was on the side of the French, Portuguese and Spanish who ventured into Brazil. It was not difficult to shoot an entire tribe. But neither was there any sense in such action when the aim was to occupy the land on a permanent basis. The perception of a new state of affairs began to dawn from that realization in a very positive way: the success achieved by those who did not follow the usual rules.
Effective Occupation
The effective occupation of the Brazilian territory was only possible when an agreement was reached that enabled the Europeans to know a little of what the Indians already knew – that there was much more than could be obtained by the force of arms. The natives knew the uses of thousands of plants (to give some idea of this, the tribes’ common medicine chest generally involved the use of hundreds of remedies). They knew sophisticated methods of preparing food, the most important of which at that time was cassava. They cultivated species that were hitherto unknown (maize, cotton, tobacco and peanut, the latter being the most important). They knew how to handle nature: to master the planting seasons, they moved around seeking out foods that were appropriate for each time of the year.
The first Europeans to have access to this immense source of knowledge were precisely those who accepted the necessary price – a price that gave rise to the mixture of fascination and incomprehension that nowadays colours the image of the country and its place in the Western world. To survive in Brazil, the Europeans had to forget about their system of values and accept that of the Indians.
Family Relations
The only possible basis for agreement was the custom, chiefly Tupi, that governed the acceptance of strangers in the tribe. From their point of view, the issue was as follows: the entire cultural structure of the tribe was based on blood relationships that identified the members of the group. The notion of the individual, essential within European culture, was nonsense for the Indians. To live amongst the tribe meant having a place in the chain that bound everyone by blood ties and the organizing of marriages. Only in so far as an individual was recognized by his relational position was he part of the group. Therefore, there were only two possible options for an outsider: to be an enemy or a relation.
The extreme difference was an indication of the radical option. To accept an outsider was the equivalent of their being married to a member of the group. The first to recognize this alternative were those who had fallen on hard times. Taking a woman made them related to all the members of the group, holders of a direct ticket to probable death for a less than satisfactory relationship. Those first Europeans who married according to native custom immediately became fundamental instruments in the organizing of increasingly frequent relationships with other Europeans.
Instead of returning home when another ship appeared, they made use of their dual status as Indians and Europeans in order to establish a new phase. Used to the trading customs of their equals, in accordance with the traditional tribal custom of providing assistance, from their relations they obtained products for supplying ships, trading the former for metal artefacts and objects that would be useful for life in the forest.
The new phase signified major progress for the unfortunate turned trader. Competence in the use of iron instruments – which soon became the basic merchandise for exchange – represented an immediate step forward for his relations. The time taken to cut down a large tree with an iron axe was infinitely less than that required when using stone axes – and it was necessary to cut down a great number of trees to open up a simple forest clearing in which to plant crops. The opportunity to obtain European tools was the passport to a highly prestigious position within the tribe, that would be translated in the local manner: the offer of women from other sub-groups (polygamy amongst the Indians in general was seen as a reward for the most able), which provided better access to the benefits obtained by the new relation.
Civilization and Tentation
For those who had fled from a wretched life, brought up in the tradition of Christian marriage, it was a tempting route. The first century of Brazilian history is peopled with Europeans who accepted that route, completely abandoning any plans to return to “civilization”. Until now, there has been something of this in the image of Brazil: an exuberant nature, cheerful people, but also a land of sin where values are corrupted, resisting the temptation of loss of identity, therefore a land that is seen in a negative sense as barely civilized or not at all.
In a short time, those who accepted the formula necessary to co-exist in the new land suffered censure by their peers as people who had abandoned religion and Christian customs to join the savages. But at the same time they were treated as what they in fact were: fundamental tools for the occupation of the territory, trustees of the secrets of the forest, influential in controlling the arms of the tribe, suppliers of goods, agents with whom it was at least possible to negotiate on European terms. These people bore the brunt of the adventure of building a Western civilization in the tropics – and the reluctance to recognize that it was necessary to run the risk of loss of identity, allowing the soul to be taken away by an apparent savage, in order for the task to become possible.
Into the dual state of being both doomed and fundamental was born the Brazilian, son of the initial marriage. Not exactly a European, neither an Indian. Identified with a father who often did not recognize him, brought up in the traditions of his mother, who often did not recognize him either.
Fusion of Customs
The spread of settlements created by marriage immediately permitted the development of an arrangement of a different type, also based on native customs. At the end of the first half of the sixteenth century, it was possible to build a structure where the cultures were merged and which was more acceptable in European eyes. Under such circumstances, the custom used to establish alliances with neighbouring tribes was fundamental. The agreement was based on the offering of women to the chiefs of neighbouring villages: these women had to abandon the customs of their own tribes and adopt those of the new husband.
This practice was widely adopted in the two areas in which occupation had progressed: Pernambuco and São Vicente (São Paulo). In both these areas, men who had suffered misfortune and married several Indian women – Vasco Fernandes Lucena and João Ramalho respectively – drew up major agreements with local groups based on marriages such as those. In that way they populated the first towns: European men married to Indian women. As soon as the relationships were established, the arrival of the priests enabled them to be completely invisible to western eyes. The simple formula of acceptance of the Catholic religion, sanctified by baptism, enabled the construction of a new civil identity for the Indian women who became as “white” as the married European men in the tribes were “Indian”.
The advantage of this second formula, which became almost obligatory for the Portuguese, was the possibility of maintaining the appearance of purity of blood, immediately held in great esteem by the Brazilians – and a matter around which the political game of colonization would end up being structured at the first opportunity – as well as the power of nationality itself, two centuries later.
Brazilians
By accepting or refusing a guarantee of “European” status according to the benefits of the moment, the Portuguese government pledged a mechanism that enabled it to handle the colonials. When it was expedient, they issued documents that formally legalized purity of blood as required for obtaining positions or satisfying the soul. When it was not expedient, they punished the deviants under the terms of the Inquisition. It should be said that in Brazil, the chief victims of the Inquisition were Brazilians, generally punished for abandoning the faith and accepting native marriage customs outside the Church, or else polygamy.
The force of the documents is still apparent nowadays in some forms. Brazilians remain particularly sensitive to the accusation of not being “white” or, at least, not as white as they should be. The epithet carries considerable cultural weight, even after losing its main function with the coming of Brazilian independence. The numerous cultural manifestations constructed down the centuries of fusion that identity Brazilians as being “different” compared with Europeans – carnival, cuisine, freedom of customs, etc. – are viewed with enormous reservation by the local elite, who have inherited and internationalized the belief in “white” superiority, considering themselves to be different from the “common Brazilian”, simply because of having a more European upbringing or greater links with “more advanced” centres. Therefore, the most significant of all the benefits of racial contact – the benefit that is valid not only for Brazil but for all western civilization – continues to have a perception that is somewhat too exotic, yet it is without a doubt the most prominent feature that Brazil has to offer.
Welcoming the New
Few places in the world have Brazil’s readiness to accept new things, an attitude founded on the racial democracy built over the centuries. Concealed by racial prejudice on the part of the elite and only moderately apparent (compared with the example of the United States or Europe), this behaviour has enabled the building of an effective political democracy in a nation where there were all the reasons not to have one.
On an initial basis of miscegenation was established a society in which slavery existed. However, despite slavery, it was never possible to do away with the custom that had already become a tradition – and which could be seen every day in the children of whites and Negroes, Negroes and Indians, mixed races with whites and whites with Indians. Condemned as being inferior, these people succeeded in transforming condemnation into identity with the arrival of Brazilian independence. This identity is so strong that there are no divisions within the territory or political disputes of great consequence. On the contrary, the nation has been built on the basis of agreements that often appeared nonsensical in European eyes – and also to many Brazilians – but which have worked until now in rather an unusual way.
Since the 1800’s, the urge for democracy has translated into a deep-seated belief in the need to distribute power by means of devices of political representation. National elections have been held in Brazil since 1823 with a readiness to register electors that is unusual even by the standards of European democracies. Whatever may be said of the National Congress, it has been running like clockwork for 175 years. Only on three occasions during the entire history of the nation have elected representatives failed to fulfil their mandates. The power of Congress is such that not even the military dictatorship during the 1960’s was able to renounce it. Even dictators know that a country is ungovernable without elected representatives.
The power of Congress exists because it is bound up with a great social force. The slave society managed to transform itself by absorbing a vast number of immigrants and even merging with them. The custom of considering attractive any matrimonial prospect, regardless of ethnic origin, prevailed over the tendency to remain closed that was a feature of most immigrant groups. In the same way that outsiders are absorbed without loss of identity, Brazil is able to absorb companies. The first foreign company was established in Brazil in 1825 and is still trading today. A foreign-owned company has never had its system of ownership modified beyond the strict terms of the law.
Those are just some of the consequences of the basically democratic structure of the nation. Brazil is one of the last of the earth’s provinces where no-one is a foreigner and where it is possible to change destiny without loss of identity. It is precisely because of that feature that many call it the “country of the future”: from being a Colony (1500-1822), becoming an Empire (1822-1889) and during the Republic (1889 to the present), globalization is part of the natural make-up of every Brazilian. Perhaps Brazil can now be seen as the seed of a cultural reality where group pride is not above the possibility of accepting anything new.
Election 2022
Trade Balance
