Portuguese expedition claims a territory inhabited by Indigenous nations

On 22 January 1532, Martim Afonso de Sousa established São Vicente, generally identified as the first Portuguese town in Brazil. Colonial settlement tied land occupation to plantation development...

On 29 March 1549, Tomé de Sousa arrived at Porto da Barra with the Crown’s instructions to establish Salvador and the government-general. A centralized colonial administration helped organize...

On 25 March 1559, a royal license authorized mill owners in Brazil to import up to 120 enslaved Africans per mill, subject to duties. This policy made the Crown an active regulator and beneficiary...

On 20 March 1570, the Portuguese Crown issued a law that nominally protected Indigenous freedom while allowing captivity in “just wars” and certain other exceptions. Those exceptions gave colonists...

On 24 February 1587, the Crown issued legislation describing which Indigenous people could be held captive and under what purported legal conditions. Such rules did not establish meaningful consent or...