Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is quite different from all other countries in Latin America. This difference is not only based on the sheer size of the country and its Portuguese ancestry, but it is a product of a major chance development in its history which gave it a degree of self confidence not generally shared by most other countries in the region. But, we shall come to this important development in a moment. At the outset, the two metropolitan powers, Portugal and Spain, were set on seeking gold and other precious materials in Latin America. They were major rivals, and, thus, at the end of the fifteenth century, they sought the mediation of the Pope in their territorial disputes on that continent. The outcome was that in 1494, in the Treaty of Tordesillas, Pope Alexander VI, decreed that the dividing line between the two parties would be on a longitude 375 leagues west of Cap Verde. Subsequently, following further disputes, borders were, once again, settled, this time, in 1750, with the Treaty of Limits. Eleven years later, Portugal unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and, Brazil continued to expand in all directions.