Portuguese Brazilians () are Brazilian citizens whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Portugal. Most of the Portuguese who arrived throughout the centuries in Brazil sought economic opportunities. Although present since the onset of the colonization, Portuguese people began migrating to Brazil in larger numbers and without state support in the 18th century.
The Portuguese prerogative
According to the Constitution of Brazil, the Portuguese people have a special status in Brazil. Article 12, first paragraph of the Constitution, grants to citizens of Portugal with permanent residence in Brazil "the rights attached to Brazilians", excluded from the constitutional prerogatives of Brazilian born. Requirements for the granting of equality are: habitual residence (permanent), the age of majority and formulation of request from the Minister of Justice.
In Brazil, the Portuguese may require equal treatment with regard to civil rights; moreover, they may ask to be granted political rights granted to Brazilians (except the rights exclusive to the Brazilian born). In the latter case, this requires a minimum of three years of permanent residence.
The use of citizenship by non-Brazilian nationals (in this case, Portuguese) is a rare exception to the principle that nationality is a sine qua non for citizenship, granted to the Portuguese – if with reciprocal treatment for the Brazilians in Portugal – due to the historic relationship between the two countries.
History
Early settlement and colonization (1500–1700) Some of the earliest colonists for whom we have written records are João Ramalho and Diogo Álvares Correia. At the time the Portuguese Crown was focused on securing its highly lucrative Portuguese Empire in Asia, and so did little to protect the newly discovered lands in the Americas from foreign interlopers. As a result, many pirates, mainly French, began dealing in pau brasil with the Amerindians. This situation worried Portugal, which in the 1530s started to encourage the colonization of Brazil, principally for defensive reasons. The towns of Cananéia (1531), São Vicente (1532), Porto Seguro (1534) and Iguape (1538) date from that period.
By the mid-16th century, Portuguese colonists were already settling in significant numbers, mainly along the coastal regions of Brazil. Numerous cities were established, including Salvador (1549), São Paulo (1554) and Rio de Janeiro (1565). While most Portuguese (and predominantly male) settlers came willingly, some were forced exiles or degredados. Such convicts were sentenced for a variety of crimes according to the Ordenações do Reino, which included common theft, attempted murder and adultery.
During the 17th century, most Portuguese settlers in Brazil, who throughout the entire colonial period tended to originate from Northern Portugal, moved to the northeastern part of the country to establish the first sugar plantations. Some of the new arrivals were New Christians, that is, descendants of Portuguese Jews who had been induced to convert to Catholicism and remained in Portugal, yet were often targeted by the Inquisition (established in 1536) under the accusation of being crypto-Jews.
Azoreans in Maranhão, Pará and Amapá
There was concern in keeping the control of the territory, hence the policy in promoting the colonization with couples in the border lands. The occupation of the territory was seen as essential. In 1619, about 300 couples arrived in Maranhão, the total number of people being around 1000 individuals, a significant number for that time. Maranhão is the first region to receive Azorean settlers in an organised way. Beyond the initial settling in 1619, led by Estácio da Silveira in 1619, others followed: in 1621 arrived 40 couples with Antonio Ferreira de Bettencourt and Jorge de Lemos Bettencourt, in 1625 other couples came with Francisco Coelho de Carvalho; in the ships "N. S. da Palma" and "São Rafael", 50 couples arrived; in the ships "N. S. da Penha de França" and "São Francisco Xavier" more settlers came.Açorianos no Brasil, Vera Lúcia Maciel Barroso Throughout the 17th century, successive waves of Azorean couples were settled in Maranhão.
Azorean couples were also settled in Pará, an example of this being the 50 couples (or around 219 individuals) who embarked on 29 March 1677, in the ship "Jesus, Maria e "José", in Horta, Faial. In 1676, 50 Azorean couples with 234 people of both sexes landed in Belém, coming from Feiteira, Faial.
In 1751 Macapá in Amapá received Azoreans and it was recommended to the captain of the ship to have a special care with the settlers, since "for the most part they were women, children and older people."
Growing Portuguese migrants (1700–1822) In the 18th century, immigration to Brazil from Portugal increased dramatically. Immigrants to Brazil departed from Portugal via the ports of Lisbon (Leixões), Porto, and Funchal on Madeira. Two British companies provided the bulk of transport of passengers in this period: the Companhia Marítima Mala Real Britânica and later the Companhia de Navegação do Pacifico. Many gold and diamond mines were discovered in the region of Minas Gerais, which then led to the arrival of not only Portuguese, but also of native-born Brazilians. Regarding the former, most were peasants from the Minho region in Portugal. In the beginning, Portugal stimulated the immigration of minhotos to Brazil. After some time, however, the number of departures was so great that the Portuguese Crown had to establish barriers to further immigration. Most of these Portuguese involved in the goldrush ended up settling in Minas Gerais and in the Center-West region of Brazil, where they founded dozens of cities such as Ouro Preto, Congonhas, Mariana, São João del Rei, Tiradentes, Goiás, etc.
In the words of Simão Ferreira Machado, in Triunfo Eucarístico, published in Lisbon in 1734, "half of Portugal was transplanted" to Brazil at that time.
Official estimates – and most estimates made so far – place the number of Portuguese migrants to Colonial Brazil during the gold rush of the 18th century at 600,000. Though not usually studied, this represented one of the largest movements of European populations to their colonies to the Americas during the colonial times. According to historian Leslie Bethell, "In 1700 Portugal had a population of about two million people." During the 18th century hundreds of thousands left for the Portuguese Colony of Brazil, despite efforts by the crown to place severe restrictions on emigration.Leslie Bethell (1986). "[ The Cambridge history of Latin America: Colonial Latin America]". Cambridge University Press. p.47.
Between 1748 and 1756, 7,817 settlers from the Azores Islands arrived in Santa Catarina, located in the Southern Region of Brazil. Several hundred couples of Azoreans also settled in Rio Grande do Sul. The majority of those colonists, composed of small farmers and fishermen, settled along the litoral of those two states and founded the cities of Florianópolis and Porto Alegre. Unlike previous trends, in the south entire Portuguese families came to seek a better life for themselves, not just men. During this period, the number of Portuguese women in Brazil increased, which resulted in a larger white population. This was especially true in Southern Brazil.
A significant immigration of very rich Portuguese to Brazil occurred in 1808, when Queen Maria I of Portugal and her son and regent, the future João VI of Portugal, fleeing from Napoleon's invading armies, relocated to the Portuguese Colony of Brazil with 15,000 members of the royal family, nobles and government, and established themselves in Rio de Janeiro. After the Portuguese military had successfully repelled Napoleon's invasion, King João VI returned to Europe on 26 April 1821, leaving his elder son Prince Pedro de Alcântara as regent to rule Brazil.Lustosa, pp. 109–110 The Portuguese government attempted to turn Brazil into a colony once again, thus depriving it of its achievements since 1808.Lustosa, pp. 117–119 The Brazilians refused to yield and Prince Pedro stood by them declaring the country's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822.Lustosa, pp. 150–153 On 12 October 1822, Pedro was declared the first Emperor of Brazil and crowned Dom Pedro I on 1 December 1822.Vianna, p. 418 Thousands of ordinary Portuguese settlers left for Brazil after independence.
Portuguese immigration to Brazil (1822–1960)
A few years after independence from Portugal in 1822, Portuguese people would start arriving in Brazil as immigrants, and the Portuguese population in Brazil actually increased. Most of them were peasants from the rural areas of Portugal. The majority settled in urban centers, mainly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, working mainly as small traders, shopkeepers, porters, cobblers, and drivers. A smaller number became coal miners, dairy workers, and small-scale farmers outside of urban areas. Portuguese immigrants also provided labor for the dredging of the Tietê River. Upheavals in Portugal after the 1910 Revolution and the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic caused a temporary exodus of Portuguese to Brazil. This wave of immigrants is noted for its establishments of bars, restaurants, bakeries, and small industries. The outbreak of World War I and the subsequent stock market crash of 1929 reduced the ability of the Portuguese to travel to Brazil.
The Portuguese and their descendants were quick to organize themselves and establish mutual aid societies (such as the Casas de Portugal), hospitals (e.g. Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo, Beneficência Portuguesa de Porto Alegre, Hospital Português de Salvador, Real Hospital Português do Recife, etc.), libraries (e.g. Real Gabinete Português de Leitura in Rio de Janeiro and in Salvador), newspapers (e.g. Jornal Mundo Lusíada), magazines (e.g. Revista Atlântico) and even sports clubs with football teams, including two regular contenders of the Brazilian Série A: the Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro and the Associação Portuguesa de Desportos in São Paulo. Other clubs include Associação Atlética Portuguesa in Rio de Janeiro, the Associação Atlética Portuguesa Santista in Santos, the Associação Portuguesa Londrinense in Londrina, the Tuna Luso Brasileira in Belém, and Associação Luso-Brasileira in Bauru.
Dwindling Portuguese immigration (1960–2009) In the 1930s, the Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas established legislation that hindered the settlement of immigrants in Brazil. WWII reduced immigration from Europe to Brazil; after it, immigration grew again, but, with the completion of demographic transition in Europe, European emigration gradually dwindled. As this process in Portugal came later than elsewhere in Europe, Portuguese emigration diminished slowly; but it was also gradually redirected to North America and other European countries, particularly France.