There was a time Portugal was a big nation in the world. Maybe something more or less like US. I did mean it! They were big and then started to get smaller. As I said, like US! They used to sail away around everywhere and then they “discovered” a lot of places around the world. Like Brazil, in South America. Or Goa or Macau, in Asia. Or Angola, in Africa. In one of those “discover adventures”, Portugueses got shipped to the Specialties Market (around Asia – India, Japan and China). But, as the Portuguese version of history says, a huge storm made them got lost and the route came up to another one. So then, they discovered Brazil!
When the Portugueses got to Brazil, there were nothing but forests around here. And indians. Not those ones wearing leather clothes (those are North Americans), but those ones wearing just something in front of their “private” body parts and beautiful arrangements in their heads. They were colorful! There were more than 10 languagues in Brazil at that time. Now there’s just one official language – and it’s not one spoke by indians!
The contact between indians and Portugueses made indians sick. Indians got flu or even worst diseases and didn’t have enough anticorps to combat them. Millions of them died because of it. It’s sad to think about it. A new people had just to come over to kill indians and not by using force or violence at first.
Portugueses tried to slave Indians. It didn’t work. Firstly, because indians are free by nature. And secondly, because they didn’t allow Portugueses to take them in group and be ordered by them. But there was something that Portugueses could do – and they actually did. It was to turn the indians in cristians. Poor them. Now they were converted to Catholicism and started to pray just for one God instead of millions of them! They should get easily to heaven praying for millions – someone among them could listen to and help indians faster! They also exchange very valueable stuff for nothing. Like they exchanged mirrors for gold. And then Portugueses got richer and richer and made beautiful churches in Portugal with gold brought from Brazil. Many churchies in Portugal were decorated with gold. Brazilian gold, don’t forget!
Because of the slavery thing with the indians didn’t work, they had to do something. Then they thought about Africans. They brought a lot of Africans around all over African Continent to Brazil to make them slaves. And then the slavery started in Brazil (very shame!). The Africans had to work in lots of things. African women were made sexual slaves by white men. African women had to feed white babies with their milk. Africans, in general, had to work hard without getting payment or had some kind of amusement or resting. If they tried to escape or even if they didn’t do their work properly, they were accused and got some kind of punishment. Sometimes, because they got so many punishment, they came to die. Very sad!
So because of Brazilian richness, a lot of Europeans tried to take advantage of this beautiful land called Brazil. There were French, Dutch, Spanish, English in here trying to steal Brazilian Wood (a red wood called Pau-Brasil, which was used to make some kind of ink to get color in things), gold, gems… It was a big mess! But then there was a war around the world. France X England. Napoleon was putting Portugal under pressure to stay aside him. But Portugal was getting some help from England, so Portugal had to choose one of them. England (and the rest of the world) didn’t want Napoleon (and his horse called White) in power. So D.JoãoVI (the Portuguese King at that time got to the power because his mother, D. Maria – the Crazy, was unable to take part of everything and govern her country), planned to pretend he had accepted Napoleon order, but escapep to Brazil with a lot other Portugueses (the majority of them, part of Portuguese Royal Family or Portuguese Royal Family Workers or VIP Portugueses) with help from England. And then, Portuguese people was the only one that cheated on Napoleon. They are not so dumb like we said in Brazil! (There’s a lot of joke in Brazil about how Portugueses can not understand our language – which could be the same, apart from we don’t understand Portuguese language in the same way as they do. We speak Brazilian Portuguese, come on!).
So now comes the beautiful part of everything! Starting the “Brazilian people” and “Brazilian culture”. Can you imagine hundreds and hundreds of Portugueses crossing the ocean to get to some tropical country where there’s nothing but rainforests and indians (and mosquitos)? Yeah, that’s exactly what happened! Many of the “naus”(Portuguese ships) were not so lucky and was lost on the way. But the ones that could make it, got to Brazil (in the North part of the country) and those Portugueses wearing lots of clothes at once had to put their feet in Brazilian sand and start a new life in here! Indians got curious about those strange people. Portugueses got shocked by “naked” indians looking at them. They had to get used to each other, build cities and palaces and stuff. Jesuítas (one religious order) came to Brazil to teach Christianism to indians. Africans got to Brazil to be made slaves. Portugueses learned to live in Brazil (and survive in warm weather and around mosquitos!). And after few years, Napoleon war got to the end and the Royal family members could be back to Europe. Some of them went to. Some of them didn’t. But D. João left his son in Brazil to govern the country before going back. After years, Brazilians started to fight for their independence. But then, D. Pedro II (D. João VI grandson) proclaimed Brazilian Independence around the Ipiranga river bank. He said “Independence or death!” and Brazil was officialy “free”. But it’s good to remember we’ve never been free of this weird heritage that came from Portugueses and their exploration colonization… There’re still marks in Brazilian society that reflect this feeling of always getting the best part of everything without working hard, or this feeling that people around here can get everything with money from others, or taking advantage of every kind of situation and so… It’s sad at all!!
Funny thing is it said that Brazilian Independence was a happy and peaceful event, but how come to be, if Brazil is one of most rich countries in the world (and I don’t mean just by money, but mainly by the nature resources) and still nowadays we haven’t got to what’s called “First World”. We’re still a subdeveloped country and as far as I can see, we haven’t learned how to vote, how to conduct the country, how to fight for our rights, how to save up energy, how to build infrastructure, how to protect our own people, how to be a fair country for everybody… Brazil was one of the last countries in America to get its independence. USA got their independence nearly a century before us… so, you can see it!
After independence, Brazil headed to an even more weird democracy. Many years after that, Brazil was faced to Military Government, that seemed to be an epidemic around Latin America at that time (and maybe nowadays as well – I can see it around Brazilian neighborhood). Over 20 years of dictatorship made Brazil got worst. People were killed, arrested, and those kind of horrible things… But it came the democracy once again and there was the first president elected indirectly by an electorate. But he didn’t have enough time to get to the power. He was dead just before taking up office. The vice got to the power. And just four years later, there was an election in Brazil. A new young president that inflactionated Brazilian economy and stole lots of money from people’s savings. He was about to get impeached but to avoid it, he renounced it. The vice, once again, got to the power. And just few years later we had a proper election voted by Brazilian people. The new president stayed in the power for eight years, stablished the economy, make it stronger. After him, there’s our president in the power by now, Lula. Lula was one of the people that fighted for freedom in Brazil during the dictatorship. He was arrested and injured by Brazilian Army. I still recall the first time that he was elected. People from all over the country went to the capital, Brasilia, to see him taking up office. It was something that I can’t forget – had never seen this in my own country since I was born… He got to the power once again few years later, but unfortunately his party is accused of corruption and so till today. And that’s a brief history of Brazil. I guess it all shows that we are a very unconstantly people, but I believe Brazil will someday change its way and finally gets better. The worst thing in it all I believe is Brazilian people didn’t have a proper identity. That’s very sad. We’re millions in here – there are around 20 million people living in Great São Paulo, and we can not come to an identity. Just for you understand, there are many “colonies” in Brazil. So people from Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Armenia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Romenia… and the indians… and the Africans… and other few ones… it’s very confused to us all this. E.g. , I have a Japanese family and when I was a child I was sure of being Japanese. I mean, not just by birth, but by heart. So I grow older and got sure to be Brazilian. I mean, by heart and by birth. But then I went abroad and was sure to be half Brazilian and half Japanese. Brazilian by birth and by heart and mainly by my attitudes toward life, but Japanese by soul, because my grandparents were from there and I respect and follow few things in Japanese culture in my life. And I’m sure all my discipline is Japanese! But my way of seeing life is easygoing than Japanese way, well, then I consider myself very much Brazilian! And that’s more or less what each Brazilian should be or think. A mix of everything and everywhere that is not well mixed up till now!
When the Portugueses got to Brazil, there were nothing but forests around here. And indians. Not those ones wearing leather clothes (those are North Americans), but those ones wearing just something in front of their “private” body parts and beautiful arrangements in their heads. They were colorful! There were more than 10 languagues in Brazil at that time. Now there’s just one official language – and it’s not one spoke by indians!
The contact between indians and Portugueses made indians sick. Indians got flu or even worst diseases and didn’t have enough anticorps to combat them. Millions of them died because of it. It’s sad to think about it. A new people had just to come over to kill indians and not by using force or violence at first.
Portugueses tried to slave Indians. It didn’t work. Firstly, because indians are free by nature. And secondly, because they didn’t allow Portugueses to take them in group and be ordered by them. But there was something that Portugueses could do – and they actually did. It was to turn the indians in cristians. Poor them. Now they were converted to Catholicism and started to pray just for one God instead of millions of them! They should get easily to heaven praying for millions – someone among them could listen to and help indians faster! They also exchange very valueable stuff for nothing. Like they exchanged mirrors for gold. And then Portugueses got richer and richer and made beautiful churches in Portugal with gold brought from Brazil. Many churchies in Portugal were decorated with gold. Brazilian gold, don’t forget!
Because of the slavery thing with the indians didn’t work, they had to do something. Then they thought about Africans. They brought a lot of Africans around all over African Continent to Brazil to make them slaves. And then the slavery started in Brazil (very shame!). The Africans had to work in lots of things. African women were made sexual slaves by white men. African women had to feed white babies with their milk. Africans, in general, had to work hard without getting payment or had some kind of amusement or resting. If they tried to escape or even if they didn’t do their work properly, they were accused and got some kind of punishment. Sometimes, because they got so many punishment, they came to die. Very sad!
So because of Brazilian richness, a lot of Europeans tried to take advantage of this beautiful land called Brazil. There were French, Dutch, Spanish, English in here trying to steal Brazilian Wood (a red wood called Pau-Brasil, which was used to make some kind of ink to get color in things), gold, gems… It was a big mess! But then there was a war around the world. France X England. Napoleon was putting Portugal under pressure to stay aside him. But Portugal was getting some help from England, so Portugal had to choose one of them. England (and the rest of the world) didn’t want Napoleon (and his horse called White) in power. So D.JoãoVI (the Portuguese King at that time got to the power because his mother, D. Maria – the Crazy, was unable to take part of everything and govern her country), planned to pretend he had accepted Napoleon order, but escapep to Brazil with a lot other Portugueses (the majority of them, part of Portuguese Royal Family or Portuguese Royal Family Workers or VIP Portugueses) with help from England. And then, Portuguese people was the only one that cheated on Napoleon. They are not so dumb like we said in Brazil! (There’s a lot of joke in Brazil about how Portugueses can not understand our language – which could be the same, apart from we don’t understand Portuguese language in the same way as they do. We speak Brazilian Portuguese, come on!).
So now comes the beautiful part of everything! Starting the “Brazilian people” and “Brazilian culture”. Can you imagine hundreds and hundreds of Portugueses crossing the ocean to get to some tropical country where there’s nothing but rainforests and indians (and mosquitos)? Yeah, that’s exactly what happened! Many of the “naus”(Portuguese ships) were not so lucky and was lost on the way. But the ones that could make it, got to Brazil (in the North part of the country) and those Portugueses wearing lots of clothes at once had to put their feet in Brazilian sand and start a new life in here! Indians got curious about those strange people. Portugueses got shocked by “naked” indians looking at them. They had to get used to each other, build cities and palaces and stuff. Jesuítas (one religious order) came to Brazil to teach Christianism to indians. Africans got to Brazil to be made slaves. Portugueses learned to live in Brazil (and survive in warm weather and around mosquitos!). And after few years, Napoleon war got to the end and the Royal family members could be back to Europe. Some of them went to. Some of them didn’t. But D. João left his son in Brazil to govern the country before going back. After years, Brazilians started to fight for their independence. But then, D. Pedro II (D. João VI grandson) proclaimed Brazilian Independence around the Ipiranga river bank. He said “Independence or death!” and Brazil was officialy “free”. But it’s good to remember we’ve never been free of this weird heritage that came from Portugueses and their exploration colonization… There’re still marks in Brazilian society that reflect this feeling of always getting the best part of everything without working hard, or this feeling that people around here can get everything with money from others, or taking advantage of every kind of situation and so… It’s sad at all!!
Funny thing is it said that Brazilian Independence was a happy and peaceful event, but how come to be, if Brazil is one of most rich countries in the world (and I don’t mean just by money, but mainly by the nature resources) and still nowadays we haven’t got to what’s called “First World”. We’re still a subdeveloped country and as far as I can see, we haven’t learned how to vote, how to conduct the country, how to fight for our rights, how to save up energy, how to build infrastructure, how to protect our own people, how to be a fair country for everybody… Brazil was one of the last countries in America to get its independence. USA got their independence nearly a century before us… so, you can see it!
After independence, Brazil headed to an even more weird democracy. Many years after that, Brazil was faced to Military Government, that seemed to be an epidemic around Latin America at that time (and maybe nowadays as well – I can see it around Brazilian neighborhood). Over 20 years of dictatorship made Brazil got worst. People were killed, arrested, and those kind of horrible things… But it came the democracy once again and there was the first president elected indirectly by an electorate. But he didn’t have enough time to get to the power. He was dead just before taking up office. The vice got to the power. And just four years later, there was an election in Brazil. A new young president that inflactionated Brazilian economy and stole lots of money from people’s savings. He was about to get impeached but to avoid it, he renounced it. The vice, once again, got to the power. And just few years later we had a proper election voted by Brazilian people. The new president stayed in the power for eight years, stablished the economy, make it stronger. After him, there’s our president in the power by now, Lula. Lula was one of the people that fighted for freedom in Brazil during the dictatorship. He was arrested and injured by Brazilian Army. I still recall the first time that he was elected. People from all over the country went to the capital, Brasilia, to see him taking up office. It was something that I can’t forget – had never seen this in my own country since I was born… He got to the power once again few years later, but unfortunately his party is accused of corruption and so till today. And that’s a brief history of Brazil. I guess it all shows that we are a very unconstantly people, but I believe Brazil will someday change its way and finally gets better. The worst thing in it all I believe is Brazilian people didn’t have a proper identity. That’s very sad. We’re millions in here – there are around 20 million people living in Great São Paulo, and we can not come to an identity. Just for you understand, there are many “colonies” in Brazil. So people from Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Armenia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Romenia… and the indians… and the Africans… and other few ones… it’s very confused to us all this. E.g. , I have a Japanese family and when I was a child I was sure of being Japanese. I mean, not just by birth, but by heart. So I grow older and got sure to be Brazilian. I mean, by heart and by birth. But then I went abroad and was sure to be half Brazilian and half Japanese. Brazilian by birth and by heart and mainly by my attitudes toward life, but Japanese by soul, because my grandparents were from there and I respect and follow few things in Japanese culture in my life. And I’m sure all my discipline is Japanese! But my way of seeing life is easygoing than Japanese way, well, then I consider myself very much Brazilian! And that’s more or less what each Brazilian should be or think. A mix of everything and everywhere that is not well mixed up till now!
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