The first governor-general was Trome da Sousa, and his capital was Bahia. In 1549 he was reinforced by a fleet of six vessels with 320 soldiers and officials, 400 convicts, 300 free colonists and 6 Jesuits. At different times wards of the Crown, female orphans of good family, were sent out, provided with portions from the royal estates, and given to the provincial officers in marriage. The establish ment of the College of Sao Paulo in Piratininga followed hard upon the arrival of the first bishop of Brazil in 1552, and of a number of Jesuits in 1553. Avowed friends and protec tors of the natives, these members of the Society of Jesus took upon themselves the pioneer's task, and their college became a centre of influence. Intrusive French settlers at Rio de Janeiro were driven out by the governor, and a Portuguese colony was founded there in 1567. But the progress of Brazil, in so far as it was dependent upon the aid of the mother country, was checked, if not entirely arrested, during a period of 60 years. Philip II of Spain acquired the crown of Portugal in 1578-80, and the union of the two countries— or rather, the subordination of the weaker nation — continued until 1640. Brazil received little attention during all these years, in part because she was identified with Portugal, but still more for the reason that her inferiority to the Spanish possessions in mineral wealth was taken for granted. The transfer of al legiance invited attack by English fleets. In 1586 Witherington sacked Bahia; Cavendish, in 1591, burned San Vicente; Lancaster, in 1595, captured Olinda. A futile attempt to found a permanent colony was made by the French (1612-18), and the Dutch dispatched a fleet against Bahia in 1624.
The Dutch in Brazil.— Most important were the efforts made at this time by an asso ciation of Dutch merchants, the famous Dutch West India Co., which commissioned Count Maurice of Nassau to promo e the interests of his countrymen in South America. The enor mous power of this corporate company, which, as Bancroft says, was "given leave to appro priate continents,' and, when 'invested with a boundless liberty of choice, culled the rich territories of Guiana, Brazil, and New Nether land,' was exerted in a large part of the region lying between Maranhao and Bahia. After the revolution of 1640, Brazil was, indeed, no longer Spanish, but the new Portuguese executive of the house of Braganca was too poor and weak to adopt such vigorous measures as were re quired. Accordingly a suggestion offered by a native of Madeira named Vieyra was wel comed, inasmuch as this plan relieved the gov ernment of the obligation to fight the Dutch West India Co. Vieyra proposed the estab lishment of a commercial company at Lisbon similar to that which had its headquarters at Amsterdam. The Brazil Co. of Portugal was organized, and in 1649 sent out its first fleet. After five years of severe fighting, the Portu guese merchants overcame the Dutch mer chants.
For half a century Brazil was permitted to remain at peace. In 1710, however, a French squadron under Duclerc attacked Rio de Janeiro and suffered defeat. On 12 September of the following year Admiral Duguay Trouin arrived off Rio with a new fleet and 6,000 men. The
governor was compelled to capitulate and to pay a large sum of money. A great change in the industrial conditions of the southern dis tricts was produced by the discovery of diamonds at this time (1710-30), and by the rush to the gold regions opened up by the enter prise of the colonists of Sao Paulo, a hardy race, with a large admixture of Indian blood much addicted to adventurous raids into the interior. Their explorations extended westward into Paraguay and northward into Minas, Goyaz and Cuyaba in the state of Matto Grosso. Gold was discovered in the regions last mentioned; by the beginning of the 18th century there were five towns of considerable importance in Minas Geraes; and that state is now one of the most populous of all. Laborers were withdrawn from the sugar industry by the superior attractions of mining, and Brazil lost her leading position as a sugar-producing country. The conspiracy of Minas in 1789 was the first sympathetic movement in Brazil occa sioned by the Revolutionary War in North America. Inspired by the success of the English colonies in achieving independence, the inhabit ants of Minas formed a project to throw off the Portuguese yoke, but the plot failed, the leader was hanged and the conspirators were banished to Africa, from which continent slaves were being imported in large numbers. It was an un profitable exchange for America. The French Revolution, among its extraordinary conse quences, promoted Brazil from the humble posi tion of a colony to be the seat of government of the Portuguese power, and the only Ameri can monarchy. In 1807 the threat of the inva sion of Portugal by Napoleon sent the prince regent, afterward King John or Dom Joao VI; across the ocean (29 November). With him went the Queen, the royal family, the great officers of state and members of the nobility. He created many new offices, and otherwise made the machinery of government in Brazil much more elaborate than it had ever been; and, to meet the increased expenses that these changes involved, at first imposed new taxes, and afterward, by debasing the money standard, inaugurated the long period of financial error that impeded the advancement of the country. On the other hand, Brazilian ports were de clared open to the commerce of all nations at peace with Portugal. Thus John favored in dustrial development and injured it at the same time. Numbers of artisans and manufacturers from England, Germany, France and Sweden came to take advantage of the new opportunity. In 1816 the School of Fine Arts was founded by French painters and sculptors. The occupation of Portugal by French troops was offset in the new world by the incorporation of French Guiana with Brazil (1809) ; but the treaty of Vienna in 1815 restored Guiana to France. On 16 Jan. 1815, the title of kingdom was conferred upon Brazil; and an important extension of the domain of this unique American monarchy was effected six years afterward, when Uruguay was united with it under the title of the Cis platine State. But this union, like the occupa tion of French Guiana, was destined to be tem porary, owing to the policy adopted by Argen tina. See ARGENTINA.