A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s6: Discovery of Brazil
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s6
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Discovery of Brazil
v2.c72.s6.1
Now we describe the discovery and colonization of Brazil by the Portuguese. On 24 April 1500, Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral, commanding the fleet, which King Emmanuel had ordered to India, on receiving the news of the successful voyage of Vasco da Gama, caught sight of an unknown country towards the west. After passing the Cape Verde Islands, he had been driven out to sea by a storm and had not expected to see land at all, so that the discovery, which proved of the greatest value to Portugal, was the result of chance, and not of deliberate exploration. With great difficulty he was able to find a harbour, to which he gave the name of Porto Segro or Safe Port. He landed and took possession of the new country in the name of the King of Portugal, and after erecting a cross, gave it the name of Santa Cruz, which remained its official name for many years. The popular name of Brazil was given to it later on after brazil-trees (*Guaiacum officinale*) which grow in that country and provide a red dye-wood. Two royal ships only for a long time were despatched to Brazil every year to take out and land there condemned convicts and women of bad character, and to bring back parrots and different varieties of wood, notably the brazil-wood.²
v2.c72.s6.2
² Stephens, H. M. Portugal, p. 224
v2.c72.s6.3
Throughout the sixteenth century, a steady stream of Portuguese emigrants made their way to Brazil, either on account of the favourable report of its climate and resources, which they received from their friends or relations already settled there, or in order to escape the misfortunes impending on their own country, and more especially the heavy hand of the Inquisition.
v2.c72.s6.4
Brazil became a wealthy colony by the middle of the sixteenth century, with many well-populated and well-cultivated districts upon the sea coast, surrounding the ports and harbours, where prosperous towns had sprung up, e.g. Pernambuco, Tamacara, Ilheos, Porto Seguro, and St Vincent.
v2.c72.s6.5
The significance of Brazil to the Old World largely lies in the new plants which it contributed. The rubber plant, *Hevea brasiliensis*, originated in the tropical rain-forests of the Amazon Valley in Brazil. In A.D. 1876 its seeds were brought to Kew and from there were sent to Ceylon, Malaya and Java, which now supply most of the rubber, while the mother country Brazil supplies hardly two per cent of the world production. To India, Brazil gave two most beautiful ornamental plants, viz. *Jacaranda* mimosifolia, with violet-blue flowers, and *Solanum macranthum*, the brinjal-tree with purple and white flowers.