Helpful skills
If you plan to join one of the expeditionary bandeiras, you’ll need more than just backwoods survival skills
Lingua Geral
The ‘general language’, or Lingua Geral, is a fusion of Portuguese and the indigenous Tupi language. It’s so widespread that it’s the first language of some of the bandeirantes.
Musketry
Whether you need to defend yourself against raiding native tribes or mutinous bandeirantes, knowing how to prime, load and fire a flintlock musket will be essential once you venture into the interior.
Geology
Fernão Dias Pais Leme bankrupted his family to outfit a bandeira in search of emeralds and came back almost empty-handed after four years. But there is gold in the Minas Gerais region.