The story in brief
A fleet bound for India swings west and finds a coast already home to millions. A scribe writes the first letter about Brazil, and nobody reads it for 317 years. And the Land of the True Cross ends up named after a dye wood.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
The World Cut in Two
Before there is a Brazil, two kings divide the world with a ruler.
Sources: Treaty of Tordesillas (1494); Boris Fausto
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
Land Ho
A fleet bound for India sights a mountain that is on no map.
Sources: Caminha’s letter (1500); Livro das Armadas
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Letter
The first letter about Brazil went 317 years without a reader.
Sources: Pero Vaz de Caminha’s letter (1 May 1500)
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
The Owners of the Land
The “discovered” land had millions of people living in it.
Sources: Caminha’s letter; Manuela Carneiro da Cunha
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Name of Brazil
The Land of the True Cross ends up named after a dye wood.
Sources: João de Barros, Asia (1552); Atlas Miller
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- Vicente Yáñez PinzónCaptain of the Niña · Navigator of Palos · First to the Northeast
- Nicolau CoelhoCaptain of the Bérrio · India Veteran · First on the Beach
- Pero Vaz de CaminhaScribe · Chronicler of the Finding · Man of Porto
- Catarina ParaguaçuTupinambá of Bahia · Wife of the Caramuru · Catherine du Brésil
- Tomé de SousaFirst Governor-General · Founder of Salvador · Soldier of Africa
- Pedro Álvares CabralCaptain-Major · Nobleman of Belmonte · The Man Who Sighted Land
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Colony”. By the end of it, you can tell why Brazil is named after a tree, and where Tiradentes got a beard he never wore.
Stories in this journey
- Cabral: Land Ho
- Tiradentes: The Minas Conspiracy
Sources
- Pero Vaz de Caminha’s letter (1 May 1500)
- The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
- The journal of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage (1497–1499)
- João de Barros, Asia, First Decade (1552)
