244 Lectures on Brazilian Affairs
It was under such unfavorable conditions that the story of
Brazilian commerce had to begin. It seemed as if Brazil
had been allotted by Fate to the wrong metropolis; that time
and situation were working against us. No doubt private
expeditions were fitted by Portuguese nobles of broader
views; most of them, however, came to grief. The stories
of Diogo Alvares, the Caramuru, of Joao Ramalho, and of
the so-called Bachelor of Cananea are semi-legendary
episodes that only underline the official indifference of
Lisbon.
But the French of Dieppe and Honfleur under King Fran-
cis, the Spaniards under Charles V of Germany, and the
English pirates became interested and interfered with the
Portuguese monopoly, and determined King John III to
start in 1531 the real occupation of the country.
II. COMMERCE UNDER THE COLONIAL REGIME
Two different phases may be discerned in the colonial
regime that was enforced in Brazil by the Portuguese metrop-
olis: one before the Spanish Domination and the other after
the Restoration, that is to say, after 1640. In the first
phase, the main features to be emphasized are the liberal
spirit in which monopoly was applied and the real efforts of
Portugal to devote all her care to the American Colony,
spending money, lives, and energy for its sake. During the
second phase, the Kings of the House of Braganza had
learned the Spanish lesson, and everything in the Colony
was to be sacrificed to the interests of the mother-country.
Unfortunatelythe first phase, 1531-1580, did not last more
than half a century. Portugal started considering Brazil as a
settlement colony and not as a mere trade factory like her
African and Asiatic possessions.
The kings of the great dynasty of Aviz adopted towards