Brazil

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Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. Its history can be traced back to the indigenous peoples who inhabited the region for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived in Brazil in 1500 and claimed it for the Portuguese Empire. Over the years, Brazil became a melting pot of diverse cultures due to the presence of African slaves, European immigrants, and the indigenous population. The country gained its independence from Portugal in 1822 under the leadership of Dom Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil. Another influential figure in Brazilian history is Getúlio Vargas, who served as the President of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and 1951 to 1954, and is known for modernizing the country and promoting industrialization.

Brazilian history

It is not possible to speak of country of ‘Brazil’ in historical terms for the most part, for the simple reason that there was no such political entity for most of its history and even after the Portuguese acquired Brazil as a colony in the sixteenth century European settlement remained entirely confined to the coastal regions of the north and east. Moreover, while there have been people living in the coastal regions and the Amazonian Rainforest for over 10,000 years, none of these developed a large territorial empire which encompassed much of the region. The Amerindian peoples who did live here in pre-colonial times also had relatively under-developed societies by comparison with, for instance, the Incas to the west or the Mayas and Aztecs far to the north-west in Central America.

Portuguese copy of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

The Portuguese somewhat accidentally acquired Brazil as a colony under the terms of Treaty of Tordesillas, adjudicated upon by Pope Alexander VI, which granted everything east of a line 555 kilometers west of the Cape Verde Islands to the Portuguese and everything west thereof to Spain. At the time this agreement was reached in 1494 neither side realized that a vast chunk of South America lay within this region. But when they did realize so, after the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered the Brazilian coast in 1500, Portugal set about colonizing the coastal regions.

Brazil remained a relatively under-developed colony by comparison with its vast size until the early eighteenth century when a gold rush brought tens of thousands of new settlers. By the nineteenth century when the country began arcing for political independence from Portugal (granted gradually between 1815 and 1822 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars), Brazil had developed as the country in the Americas with the largest slave population anywhere in the western hemisphere, with over four million Africans transported here by the Portuguese. Thus, it was not until 1888 that the Brazilian government agreed to abolish slavery, making it the last western nation to do so.

By the time the abolition act was passed Brazil was experiencing increasing inward migration from Europe, with many hundreds of thousands of people arriving from countries like Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Germany in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth. It was an increasingly prosperous country, one which like its southern neighbor Argentina was emerging as a rich nation when the Wall Street Crash set the development of South America back by several decades. Military juntas, dictatorships, economic stagnation and poverty characterized Brazil’s political history for the next half a century, but today the country is developing rapidly as one of the BRICS, the newly emergent economies of the twenty-first century, with Brazil predicted to be the fifth largest economy in the world by 2050.

Brazilian geography

Map showing the extent of the Amazon Rainforest across South America

Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country and occupies nearly half of the continent of South America. So extensive is it that it borders every country in the region except Ecuador and Chile. Given its extensive size the country has a complicated geography. It can broadly be divided into two regions, the coastal areas of the north and east which have long been the main centers of population and economic activity, and the vast interior which is relatively under-populated and which is dominated by the River Amazon and the Amazonian Rainforest. Yet even within these regions there are broad disparities, with some low-lying regions along the coast and others giving way quite sharply to plateaus such as those found near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is a highly urbanized country, with an estimated 23 million people living in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo alone, while over 85% of the population live in urban centers, nearly all of which lie within 300 kilometers of the coast.

Family history and genealogy

The first national census was not carried out in Brazil until 1872. Other records from an earlier date, such as church records and administrative documents pertaining to the Portuguese colonial administration are also useful for identifying ancestors here. Yet, all Brazilian demographic records up to the twentieth century can only shed light on certain parts of Brazil, as full censuses of the inland communities and those living in the Amazon Rainforest were simply impossible until modern times owing to the vast geography of the country. The Arquivo Nacional or National Archives is the leading research library in Brazil and is located in Rio de Janeiro. Portuguese colonial records, some of which are found in duplicate or original in Brazilian archives, are also useful for the history of the country between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Alternatively extensive records relating to Brazil in this respect are housed in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon.

Researching family history in Brazil

Key types of records available for genealogical research include civil registration records, which contain vital information such as births, marriages, and deaths, and have been maintained consistently since the late 19th century. Additionally, church records, which document baptisms, marriages, and burials, can provide valuable information about one's ancestors, especially for the periods before the establishment of civil registration. Other important sources for Brazilian family history research include census records, which can help establish familial relationships and residence patterns, as well as immigration and emigration records, which document the movement of people into and out of the country.

See also:

• Newspaper records
• How to get started with genealogy research
• Church records
• Cemetery records
• Census records

Brazilian ethnicity

Brazil is known for its ethnic diversity, which is a result of its complex history of colonization, slavery, and immigration. The country's population comprises various ethnic groups, including Indigenous peoples, descendants of African slaves, and European immigrants predominantly from Portugal, Italy, and Germany, as well as more recent immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.

See also:

• Iberian ethnicity
• Mesoamerican and Andean ethnicity
• North and Western European ethnicity
• East European ethnicity
• Middle Eastern ethnicity
• Central African ethnicity

Brazilian surnames

Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian surnames often reflect the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of Brazil's population, with Portuguese, Italian, German, African, and Indigenous influences, among others. Understanding the origins and meanings of Brazilian surnames can provide valuable insights into one's ancestral lineage and help genealogists navigate through various records to uncover their family's past. Additionally, familiarizing oneself with the naming conventions and patterns in Brazilian culture can be essential in connecting individuals with their ancestors and accurately tracing their genealogical roots

See also:

• Portuguese surnames
• Italian surnames
• German surnames
• African surnames
• Matronymic
• Patronymic

Explore more about Brazil

• Brazilian historical record collections on MyHeritage
• Most common ethnicities in Brazil on MyHeritage
• Research Latin America Genealogical Resources on the Internet, webinar with Daniel Horowitz on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
• Spanish & Latin American Records on MyHeritage, webinar with Daniel Horowitz on Legacy Family Tree Webinars

References