Brazil

Key Themes

• Brasilidade• Immigration & “Whitening”• Coffee plantation economy• Role of President Vargas• Race & Slavery

Images of Brazil

• 1549 = Paradise on Earth• 16th century = Site of cannibalism• 17th century = Awareness of racial inequality• 19th century = Scientific wonderland• 20th Century = World connections• 1970s = “Awakening Giant” & “Brazilian

Miracle”• 1980s = 2 Brazils in 1 nation

Brazil’s Independence

• 1808 = Queen Maria & Prince João escape Napoleon’s invasion

• 1820 = Military demand abdication of King João

• 1822 – 1889 = Monarchy under Emperor Pedro I & Emperor Pedro II Dom Pedro II

Why a republic in 1889?• Abolition of slavery (1888)• Alienation of the

plantocracy

The Old Republic/Era of the Oligarchies, 1889 – 1930

• Favoritism• Corruption• 1891 = New

Federal Constitution

• Coup d’etat of Vargas & end of Old Republic (1930)

The Getùlio Vargas Revolution

• First era = 1930 – 1945• 1937 = Estado Novo

dictatorship began• Second era = 1951 – 1954 • Built a strong national

government• “Father of the Poor”

The Estado Novo, 1930 – 1945

The Populist Era, 1945 – 1964

• Vargas forced out (1945)

• Vargas elected president (1951 – 1954)

• Vargas’ suicide (1954)• Military coup deposes

President Goulart (1964)

Authoritarian Regime, 1964 – 1985

• Military government

Era of “Nova Repùblica,” 1985 – present

Plantation Economy & Race

• Brazilwood, sugar, coffee• Dependent upon imported goods• Rigid racial & social hierarchy

“Gold Cycle,” 1690 – 1750

• Late 17th century – early 18th century = Gold mining

• Minas Gerais• Demographic shift

King Coffee, 1840s – 1928

• 1920s = “Coffee paid for everything”

• Destruction of rainforest• Social wealth model from

sugar• 1860s – 1870s = Immigrant

labor• 1928 = Coffee “bust”

Afro-Brazilian Slavery

• 1492 – 1850 = Almost 10 million slaves sent to Brazil

• Gradual Abolition• Quieroz Law of 1850• 1871 = Law of Free Womb• 1880s = Abolitionist movement• 1886 = Whipping of slaves outlawed• 1888 = Full abolition

Slave Population

• 1873 = 1,566,416• 1883 = 1,346,648• 1885 = 1,133, 228• 1887 = 723, 419

Immigration

• 1827 – 1930 = 3.8 million immigrants from Europe & Japan arrive in Brazil

• 1897 – 1930 = 35% of immigrants were Italian, 29% were Portuguese

• 1884 – 1970 = 248,400 Japanese move to Brazil

• Brasilidade & “Whitening”

Experiments

• 1820s = Recruitment of German-speaking Austrians to colonize as middle-class farmers

• 1860s = Recruitment of Chinese immigrants

1940 & Brasilidade

• 1940 = Claims of “white nation” status

• 1940 = 63.5% white, 14.6 % Black, .6% “yellow,” 21.2% “Pardo”

• Why?• Vargas, samba, & soccer • Estado Novo attitude about

race

Movimento Negro

• Mid-1970s• Why the name?• Ebony magazine

Popular Religion

• Popular Catholicism

• Umbanda = Fastest growing religion in 1950s & 1960s

• Bantu speakers in Rio

• Candomblè

Pentacostalism

• Rio de Janeiro = 61% of churches are Pentacostal

• 1906 = Started in Los Angeles by William Seymour

• 1970s & 1980s = Gains strength in Brazil

• Speaking in tongues• Why the attraction?