Golden Age of Brazil, 1695-1750

Subtitled "Growing Pains of a Colonial Society", Professor C.R. Boxer's book explores how the small European kingdom of Portugal established the vast colony of Brazil, extending to almost half the area and population of the whole continent of South America. The "golden age" was, of course, tarnished from the start: the book begins with a study of the slave trade and of the slavery in field and mine on which the developing economy was built. There follow chapters on the penetration of the boundless interior, west and south, by missionaries, cattlemen and a medley of other colonists, the fending off of European rivals, the discovery of diamond and gold deposits, and yet further expansion into Amazonia. Throughout the epic events, the lives of men and women of all classes are portrayed and the political and administrative repercussions of growth explained. By the time the "golden age" ended, three races - Amerindian, Portuguese and Negro - had achieved a relatively peaceful fusion and a Brazilian self-consciousness had emerged, the prelude to independence from Portugal. This reissue of Professor Boxer's classic study includes a new set of contemporary illustrations.