Brazilian Colonial Life

Colonial life in Brazil was primarily dictated by Christianity and its role on forming a policy with the natives. During this period of time, conversion of the natives became the basis of Portugal's legal claims to Brazil, but this soon changed into a biased form of segregation similar to slavery. The native people were put under the protection of the crown to be treated well if peaceful and accepting conversion. Based off of the Brazilian bishop's new laws, those who were against giving up their own culture were treated horribly and legally could be enslaved to work for the plantation owners. Later, the king had an international Jesuit order, the Society of Jesus come over to spread the Counter-Reformation.

Although only a small number of these Jesuits came over, they had an extremely large impact on the Brazilian population. They wanted to blend the native cultures with existing Portuguese culture, and through it created a sort of Brazilianization, giving the intermarried Brazilians a new sort of identity. But this soon caused conflict with the bishop Don Pere Fernandes Sardinho, who preferred Europeanization over this new Brazilianization. Don Sardinho held this image of a new Brazil made of a few loyal Portuguese leading the rest of the heathen natives who would make up a majority of the population. Because of this, the Jesuits shifted their attention to the south to the “aldeia” (1) of Sao Paulo of Piratiniga, where the bishop held much less influence. Further success by the Jesuits led to a preference by the king, and the later recalling of the bishop to Portugal.

A new bishop was then sent over to support the outer regions, and he preferred the Jesuit method of conversion. This then led to a smaller slave pool causing much grief to the Portuguese investors who were losing workers. The colonists then started a "just war"(2) against the natives to capture more slaves to work for them. This damaged the trust between them while new diseases developed the decimated the native populations.