One of the most presented and discussed themes in history in the early years of school education is the colonization of Brazil. We memorized dates and names, we learned that the Portuguese were our colonizers, that there were already indigenous peoples, that African slaves were brought in as a result, and that Brazilians are the result of this Mix. However, as it is too simple a vision, it does not always make it clear what the meaning of colonization is in terms of its meaning. for that context and, much less, does not discuss, from a sociological point of view, its consequences for the constitution of Brazil as a parents.
Therefore, to know a little more about the beginning of the formation of Brazilian society, it is essential importance, at first, to apprehend what Caio Prado Jr. called “the sense of colonization” in his constructions Formation of Contemporary Brazil, work is published in 1942. Thus, as we dedicate ourselves to this exercise in understanding the process of colonization of Brazilian lands by the kingdom of Portugal, in the middle of the 16th century, it is necessary to understand this historical fact more broadly, that is, as part of a process bigger, global. According to the aforementioned author, the occupation of Brazil is just an episode that makes up a broader and already known process: maritime expansion. This means that the initial impulses of the colonization process would be explained by the desire for expansion of the European company within the mercantile logic that was consolidated at that time of the Age Modern. It was not just about a specific project of exploring the sea, of the Portuguese adventurous spirit, but, in addition, it was about looking for alternatives to expand trade that had as obstacles political and economic issues also internal to the continent, such as the Arabs who dominated the trade of spices.
Thus, it is possible to say that the formation of Brazilian society was not an end, an objective itself, as differently occurred in the so-called settlement colonies so present in America Spanish. More as a consequence than as a target, the formation of Brazil as a nation took place through a process very peculiar history, with significant consequences for the constitution of the country as nation. Caio Prado Jr. states that all people have a certain sense in their evolution, which is not given by the details of history, but fundamentally when we analyze the set of essential facts and events of history in a long period of time. Also according to this author, there is a master and uninterrupted line of events, which follow each other in a rigorous order, directed towards a certain orientation. Such historical events are parts of a whole, a fact that would allow us to understand the specificity of a people, a nation, a society.
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For Caio Prado, in the Brazilian case, “we need to reconstitute the whole of our training, placing it in the broad framework, with its antecedents of these three centuries of colonizing activity that characterize the history of European countries from the 15th century onwards; activity that integrated a new continent into its orbit, parallel, in fact, to what was being carried out, although in different ways, in other continents: Africa and Asia.” (PRADO, p. 16, 2011). In this way, Brazil begins to draw itself as a society under a context in which production aimed at the export market predominates and, as a colony, it was bored to looking outside, since the improvisation, the non-commitment and the provisional were thoughts that made the emergence of a really solid social organization, in fact with a soul, unfeasible. national'.
For this undertaking in terms of work, slavery was used, a choice that is justified by the strong and profitable slave trade already practiced by Portugal since other times. The presence of slavery will leave its marks throughout the assembly of the structure of society Brazilian, and its presence is explained by this sense of colonization, since it is part of part of this. Thus, the colonization of Brazil takes on the aspect of a vast commercial enterprise, aimed at exploiting the natural resources of a virgin territory for the benefit of European trade. According to Prado, this would be the “true meaning of tropical colonization, of which Brazil is one of the results; it will explain the fundamental elements, both economically and socially, of the formation and historical evolution of the American tropics” (Ibidem, p.28).
Therefore, the occupation of Brazilian territory was not done in the name of building a new society with its own interests, national interests, but for the achievement of interests from abroad, from the metropolis, from those who did not live here, but who benefited from the business. Thus, "it is with such a goal, abroad, facing outside the country and without attention to considerations that do not were the interests of that trade, that the Brazilian society and economy would be organized" (Ibid., P. 29).
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
