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BRAZIL’S HISTORY CAN be divided into two major parts: the colonial era
(1500 to 1821) and the post-independence period (1822 to the present).
Colonial Brazil became the first great plantation society in the Americas.
Using slave labor, its large agricultural estates produced sugar and, later,
coffee. After Brazil broke away from Portugal in the 1820s, members of the
Portuguese royal family ruled the South American country as emperors until
1889. Since 1889, Brazil has been a
republic
.
For centuries, Brazil has been a land where Europeans, Amerindians
(American Indians), and Africans intermingled, producing one of the most
racially mixed societies in the world. But it is also a nation of deep and
lasting social and economic gaps between its peoples.
A Legacy
of Inequality
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(Opposite) In recent years, Brazil
has been shaken by many public
demonstrations, such as this march
through São Paulo to protest gov-
ernment corruption in November
2014. Other protests have focused
on low wages or on high prices.
(Right) Dilma Rousseff, the first
female president of Brazil, was
elected to a second term in 2014.