Colonial Brazil
See also: Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Slavery in Brazil
The land now called Brazil was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.[23] The Portuguese encountered stone age natives divided into several tribes, most of whom spoke languages of the Tupi–Guarani family, and fought among themselves.[24]
Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization was effectively begun in 1534, when Dom João III divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies,[25][26] but this arrangement proved problematic and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor-General to administer the entire colony.[26][27] The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes[28] while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity.[29][30] By the mid-16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export[24][31] and the Portuguese imported African slaves[32][33] to cope with the increasing international demand.[29][34]
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