Modern day Brazilian History is documented from the early 1500s with the arrival of Portuguese explorers under the leadership of Pedro Alvares Cabral whose first port of call was southern Bahia. The land though was already inhabited for centuries by native Indians and there are records from Portuguese sailors describing the presence of small villages and communities already living here.

The Portuguese then decided to settle and declared Brazil a colony. They saw potential in exploiting the country’s rich agricultural and mineral resources. Sugarcane plantations were setup with labor coming from enslaved native Indians. Slaves were later shipped in from Africa in large numbers in an attempt to cope with possible human labor shortages. Slavery in Brazil was first abolished in 1854, after much pressure from the Portuguese’s British allies; though it was still practiced until the late 1880s.

The Portuguese however did not have a smooth reign and in 1624 had to repulse an attack by an invading Dutch fleet. The Dutch however continued in their attempts moving north along the coastline resulting in their temporary occupation of Pernambuco. A major war was fought between 1648 and 1649 which led to the eventually complete expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil.

Between the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the country experienced a major population increase with large numbers of; East European and Japanese migrants arriving during this period.

The Independent Empire of Brazil was declared so on the 7th of September 1822 by Dom Pedro I.