Similar to Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean, Pedro Alvares Cabral’s accidental landfall in Brazil led to the cultivation of industries in brazilwood and sugar. Although, Brazil did not initially capture the attention of the Portuguese empire. The only valuable commodity unique to Brazil was brazilwood – a dyewood used by the Tupi people to color cotton fabrics. Setting up a government for a colony that yielded only dyewoods was not of high importance on Portugal’s agenda (Martin & Wasserman, 88). Unlike Spain, Portugal mainly focused on developing a commercial empire in countries situated outside of the New World. Portugal’s initial reluctance to colonize Brazil resulted in the arrival of Spanish and French interlopers along the coast,
