Report O Povo Brasileiro Em Comparativa Coa Origem Étnica Espanhola

“O povo brasileiro”, by Sandra Comesaña Dominguez - 12936650

The aim of this report is to analyze and compare the ethnic formation of the Brazilian people and the ethnic formation of my native country, Spain.

To begin with, it should be pointed out that in its origins, Brazil population had a tribal structure. Each of them was divided by their mother tongue and they were completely self-sufficient, being able to do everything that was needed to survive and live in harmony. They were the one that the colonizers would later call as “Indios”. One of the main features of these villages were the non-existence of land property, it was a common good, and tribe chefs didn’t act like a traditional chef like those that existed in Europe around that time —they didn’t give orders, they just take care of the tribe unity—.

Meanwhile, in Spain, around the 8th century BC, a new empire arrived: the Phoenician civilization. This civilization came from the region of the actual Lebanon, already having the aim of colonize other territories and taking over the lands they passed through. Phoenicians developed the first writing system and they algo brought the concept of “city” to Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. This first steps of the birth of civilizations already shows the difference between both cultures, marked by the desire to conquer other territories and have them under his dominion. After the Phoenicians, other civilizations arrived to the Iberian Peninsula: the Greek and Carthaginian civilization and a few centuries after the Roman Empire, followed by the barbarian peoples and Arabs, who notably influenced numerous aspects of current culture (science, language, music, architecture heritage) and Spanish-Portuguese society.

Apparently, all these ancient civilizations have nothing to do with the Brazilian ethnic evolution, but indeed it is completely part of the transformation that happened in 1500, when the Portuguese arrived to e actual region of Porto Seguro claiming to have discovered the new world. They had the utopia of building a world for everyone, based on the beliefs of the Old Testament, so everyone could enjoy it. These beliefs obviously collided with those of the indigenous peoples. The Portuguese power and influence was so big that they quickly begin to conquer all the indigenous lands, converting them, imposing the Portuguese language, committing genocide and raping and forcing indigenous woman to marry them. Their sons were neither Indios nor Portuguese, being the first mixed generation.

Around this time, Spain was under the reign of the Reyes Católicos, a regime highly influenced by catholic religion at a time when the victorious exit of the church in the Crusades had reinforced that religious character of the society. With the Renaissance, the strength of the Church grown and both Portugal and Spain sent numerous missions for the conversion of these pagan peoples to Catholicism. In the Iberian Peninsula the influence of the Church will last until almost today. From the Middle Ages until now, monarchies, more or less conservative, have succeeded in Spain, in addition to a military regime for 36 years.

The third pillar of the ethnic formation of present-day Brazil is the arrival of the African peoples through the international slave market from the colonial period until almos the end of the Empire. They were bought and sold as slaves to work on plantations, since the colonizers had not managed to subdue the Indians. African peoples brought with them their spiritual rituals, religions and lenguaje but as the Jesuits missionaries arrived they were forced to convert to catholicism as well as change their mother tongue for Portuguese. However, they were able to maintain some rituals and aspects of their culture that we can perfectly distinguished nowadays. A large amount of women were raped by colonists and their sons, as it happened with the Indians, were neither Portuguese nor African. Both crossbred populations were the origins of what would become the original Brazilian population, they were called “o povo que não é ninguém”.