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Course: Pernambuco
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Pernambuco

Pernambuco: an incomparable experience!

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Text lesson

The Portuguese

The Portuguese arrived in Brazil in the year 1500. At school, we learn that they landed on our shores by chance, as they were caught in a calm and their caravels were pushed westward by the wind… It’s hard to fully believe that version, isn’t it? Especially when we remember that, in 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas had been signed between Portugal and Spain, dividing all lands west of Cape Verde between the two powers.

Ahhh, so there was land to the west?

Of course the Portuguese knew that — and in 1500, just six years after the treaty was signed, they rushed over to plant the Portuguese flag and declare: this is ours! All before the French, Dutch and English could cast greedy eyes on this tropical paradise.

They arrived, planted the flag, but soon left — after all, they had to focus on trade with India and China, which was far more profitable at the time, while life in these tropical lands remained largely unchanged. And so, thirty years went by…

Everything we’re sharing here will help you understand how the State of Pernambuco was formed — its cultural heritage, its cuisine, its unique character — and, by extension, how tourism developed there. So don’t skip this part: if you don’t know how to tell the story, it’ll be much harder to engage and win over a new client…

Time passed, until the Portuguese Crown realised it would be economically impossible to manage such a vast territory — the Colony was too far from Portugal and constantly under threat from other rising maritime powers (the Netherlands, England and France). The solution was to divide it into Hereditary Captaincies — huge swathes of land granted by the king to certain Portuguese nobles, either to secure favours or to reward services rendered. These nobles were then responsible for managing the land, protecting it, and paying taxes. And, as the name suggests, these lands remained in the family, passed down through generations.

And so we arrive at the birth of the State of Pernambuco. Its current territory was formed from part of the Captaincy of Pernambuco and part of the Captaincy of Itamaracá. Within its present-day borders, Pernambuco has a coastline stretching 187 km along the Mata zone (coastal rainforest), followed by the Agreste — a transitional strip between the coast and the drier Sertão hinterland.

15th century Portuguese caravel
15th century Portuguese caravel