If someone will ask you to think of a country that lies in South America, there’s a big chance that you will answer Brazil. Why, this country is the fifth largest country in the whole world and also one of the countries that have a vast geographical territory. Well, this country is not also known for its size but also the wonderful climate it has. Brazil doesn’t have any real “dry” season. Because of this, many tourists from around the world flock to Brazil just to have their summer vacation. Even more, it’s also not behind when it comes to having famous landmarks, the transportation system, technology and economic status. See how this country prospers to think that Brazil started as a land that’s inhabited by indigenous people. If you will have a deep research about this country, you will surely be amazed about the history of Brazil.
It started thousands of year ago, when indigenous people started crossing a land bridge which is called the Bering land bridge, passing through Alaska and then venturing to the rest of North and Central America. What made that journey possible, not one person alive surely knows. However, the real discovery of Brazil dates back in the year 1500 when a Portuguese, Pedro Alvares Cabral, discovered the country. Since the year 16th century up to the 19th century, Brazil was under the control of Portugal. Then on the year 1822, the country became a constitutional monarchy and gained its independence from Portugal. It was then called the Empire of Brazil.
As for the Pre-colonial history of this country, there had been fossils discovered in Minas Gerais proving the existence of indigenous people in this country for more than 8,000 years. However, the dates of the existence of “Indians” or indigenous people are still topics of arguments for archaeologists up to this day. Despite the arguments about the real history of Brazil, archaeologists, historians, and linguists have agreed that the pioneer hunters came to Americas from Asia by trailing the path of Bering Strait. It was also believed that people back then might have used sea routes to be able to reach Brazil.
The country started its development under the reign of Portugal. However, the latter country has little to no interest in Brazil. It was believed the Portugal became more focused in the profit it gains through its trade with other Asian countries like China, India and Indonesia. Due to this fact, Brazil was invaded by other countries and so the Portugal devised other plans in effectively running Brazil at no cost. A system was created, which was called the Hereditary Captaincies. Through this system, Brazil was divided into several strips or pieces of land that were provided to Portuguese noblemen. The appointed noblemen will then have the responsibility to rule over the assigned strips of land and soon report any developments to the king.
A lot of things happened in Brazil before its Redemocratization in the year 1985. Up to this time, the same system is applied. There were also cases of corruption that the country had underwent. For example, in the year 2005, the Lula government became responsible for the accusation of corruption and misuse of authority. All the members of this government was forced to surrender their authority and resign. However, in the year 2006, Lula was re-elected as President. Because of diverse influence that dates back thousands of years ago,Brazil turned out to what it is today.
