Division of Spanish and Portuguese rule

Portuguese architecture

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The contrasting themes and traditions in Classical and Baroque Sculpture

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Portuguese rule

Portuguese rule in Brazil

Portuguese forces established an imperial presence in Brazil. The Portuguese King made vast land grants to Portuguese nobles in the expectation that they would develop and colonize their holdings. Portuguese interest in Brazil rose dramatically after midcentury when entrepreneurs established profitable sugar plantations on the coast.

The cities of the Iberian empires became centers of European-style society in the Americas: the spires of churches and cathedrals defined their skylines, and Spanish and Portuguese were the languages of government, business, and society. Beyond the urban districts, however, indigenous ways of life persisted. In the Amazon basin and Paraguay, for example, native peoples produced little agricultural surplus, and there were no mineral deposits to attract European migrants. Spanish and Portuguese peoples saw the western hemisphere more as a land to exploit and administer than as a place to settle and colonize.