Time traveller’s handbook
Colonial Brazil
Welcome to Colonial Brazil, where survival skills are key
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral planted the nation’s flag on the Brazilian shore as early as 1500, but over 100 years later only a few trading posts have been established on the east coast. While the Portuguese Empire focuses on expansion into India and the Far East, Brazil has been divided into 15 captaincies that are run by Portuguese nobles. They run these as their own private fiefdoms while logging brazilwood trees for its extremely valuable red dye.
But in São Paulo, still the only inland settlement of any size, second- and third-generation settlers are exploring the country’s interior, including its mountainous highlands and deep jungle. These explorers, or bandeirantes, travel in groups of several hundred, following the river courses on journeys that last months or years. Hoping to find gold or emeralds, the main source of wealth for most of them is capturing the indigenous Tupi they meet and selling them into slavery.
Where To Stay
Make sure to stay away from the indigenous villages because the bandeirantes are actively hunting down tribes, enslaving whoever they can and exterminating the rest. This means that many of the indigenous people are hostile to outsiders, even leading their own raiding parties.
Jesuit missionaries have set up fortified communities known as ‘reductions’ to try and protect the natives. But the slavers are growing increasingly brazen and have even started attacking these refugee camps. São
Paulo is your safest option. This future megacity is still a very poor frontier town, notable only for its large Jesuit college, but it is well defended.