Brazil

Brazil is South America’s largest nation in both land and population. It has mountains, rainforest and the Amazon River connects to the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. It was discovered by the Portuguese in 1500. At first the Portuguese used it as a colony because they had found a tree there that could make red dye for clothes, but not many Portuguese moved there. Most of Brazil was still populated by 7 million Native Americans that were nomadic and did not live in big cities like the Aztecs and Inca but in the Amazon Rainforest.

The major change in Brazil was when sugar was brought there. Sugar grew well along the AtlanticCoast and many Portuguese people moved to their colony of Brazil in South America. To help grow and harvest the sugar,Brazil imported millions of African slaves. Many of these slaves died and had to be constantly replaced (like in Haiti) because of the hard work they had to do. Many slaves ran away and started their own cities in the rainforests of Brazil. Some of these cities had 30,000 people. The African slaves, Native Americans and Portuguese often intermarried and most Brazilians today are a combination of the three groups.

There were several false gold rushes in which people thought there was gold… but then there was none. Brazilian colonists found that coffee also grew well in Brazil and that became a major export as well.

In the early 1800’s all of the continent of Europe was being destroyed and threatened by war (Napoleonic Wars). Portugal’s king was afraid of being captured by his enemies so he escaped to his colony in South America… Brazil. The king of Brazil brought his son- Pedro. Pedro grew up in Brazil and when he had grown up his father the king went back to Portugal and left Pedro in charge. Once the king was back in Portugal, Pedro declared Brazil independent and made himself the king of Brazil.

1.) How were Brazil’s Native Americans different from other groups we learned about earlier in the year?

2.) Why did Brazil import millions of slaves in the 1600’s?

3.) Explain how Brazil gained independence.

Cuba

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea. It has plenty of natural seaports and is only 90 miles from Florida. It has some small mountain ranges and some plains and has a tropical climate. Before Europeans discovered the new world many Native Americans lived in Cuba.

Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba when he first discovered the New World in 1492. He sailed for Spain and soon after he discovered Cuba, many of the Native Americans died of the new diseases. Cuba was one of the first major colonies for the Spanish in the New World because it had many safe harbors for boats without rocks so thatthey wouldn’t crash and sink. Also, these harbors gave protection from other countries’ war-boats (France and England wanted to take Cuba from Spain).

Like Brazil, Cubabecame very important when it was discovered that sugar grew very well there. They imported slaves from Africa and like Brazil they became a major producer of sugar, and also tobacco. In the 1800’s they fixed many of their roads and got trains to help move the sugar in Cuba to their ports. Cuba became the world’s largest sugar producer.

The US was very rich and industrialized by the 1890’s and had a large demand for sugar. US Capitalists began getting very interested in buying land and controlling the sugar business in Cuba. The Spanish were very cruel to the Cubans and just wanted them to make sugar for the Spanish to make money.

The Cubans began a war against the Spanish to kick them out. Their leader, Jose Marti was killed by the Spanish so the US decided to help them kick the Spanish out. In 1898 the US helped kick the Spanish out of Cuba and Cuba became independent.

1.)Name 2 reasons Cuba became a major colony for Spain?

2.)Why did the US get involved in Cuba?

3.)In 2 paragraphs, compare and contrast the histories of Brazil and Cuba.