Abstract
Before the Portuguese discovery and occupation of Brazil there was an indigenous population of 2•5m. at the beginning of the 16th century. The first Portuguese contact with Brazil was Pedro Alvares Cabral who left Lisbon in 1500 to sail along the Cape of Good Hope route discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1497–98. Setting a more westerly course he was carried farther westward, landing in a place he named Terra do Brasil. Early Portuguese economic activity in Brazil revolved around the exploitation of the huge timber (Brazilwood) resources. This was superseded by sugarcane and, to a lesser extent, tobacco, industries requiring large-scale labour. Millions of Africans were enslaved and shipped to the region.
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Further Reading
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Anuário Estatístico do Brasil.—Censo Demográfico de 1991.—Indicadores IBGE. Monthly
Boletim do Banco Central do Brasil. Banco Central do Brasil. Brasília. Monthly
Baer, W., The Brazilian Economy: Growth and Development. 4th ed. New York, 1995
Dickenson, John, Brazil. [Bibliography] 2nd ed. ABC-Clio, Oxford and Santa Barbara (CA), 1997
Eakin, Marshall C., Brazil: The Once and Future Country. New York, 1997
Fausto, Boris, A Concise History of Brazil. CUP, 1999
Font, M. A., Coffee, Contention and Change in the Making of Modern Brazil. Oxford, 1990
Guirmaraes, R. P., Politics and Environment in Brazil: Ecopolitics of Development in the Third World. New York, 1991
Stepan, A. (ed.) Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition and Consolidation. OUP, 1993
Turner, Barry, (ed.) Latin America Profiled. Macmillan, London, 2000
Welch, J. H., Capital Markets in the Development Process: the Case of Brazil. London, 1992
For other more specialized titles see under CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT above.
National library: Biblioteca Nacional, Avenida Rio Branco 21939, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.
National statistical office: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Rua General Canabarro 666, 20.271–201 Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.
Website: http://www.ibge.gov.br
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© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2004). Brazil. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook 2005. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271333_129
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271333_129
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