THE CAUCASIAN IN BRAZIL. 553 



and 62.7 in 1890. That of the negroes fell from 54 to 14.5 and then 

 to 12.3 per cent, in spite of the excess of negro over white inunigra- 

 tion, which continued until the suppression of the slave trade in 1854. 

 Since that date European immigration has been great. However, the 

 proportion of whites of foreign birth decreased from 34 per cent, in 

 1872 to 30 per cent, in 1890. Native whites numbered 34 per cent, 

 in 1872 and 51.6 in 1890, while the blacks fell from 21.7 to 16.3. 



The movement of population from Eio to and from the surround- 

 ing country undoubtedly affects the relative proportions of whites and 

 blacks. This element of uncertainty does not exist when the popula- 

 tion of the country as a whole is studied, and the successive general, 

 censuses of Brazil afford a better basis for calculation. 



Brazil was settled in the middle of the sixteenth century by the 

 Portuguese — a people formed of the mixture of many nations, all of 

 them, however, of pure Caucasian descent and the vast majority be- 

 longing to the Mediterranean race. The country was found inhabited 

 by red Indians, who closely resembled the North American aborigines, 

 and who readily submitted to white domination. The reports of the 

 Jesuit missionaries and parish returns show that the process of incor- 

 porating them with the religious, political and industrial framework of 

 the colony was begun immediately and continued for nearly a century 

 and a half. About five thousand Indians were so civilized and incor- 

 porated. 



Almost simultaneously with the original white settlement the im- 

 portation of negro slaves from the near-by African continent began, 

 and it was continued on a large and increasing scale for three centuries. 

 By the end of the eighteenth century the arrivals had reached twenty 

 thousand yearly. It is estimated that about two millions of negroes 

 were imported into Brazil during the colonial period. 



White immigration was surprisingly small. Portuguese policy did 

 not aim at erecting a new Portugal across the sea, but at making a 

 profit out of the region by the labor of Indian and negro slaves. No 

 foreign whites were allowed to enter Brazil, and it was difficult even 

 for a Portuguese citizen to obtain the required passport. About 

 twenty thousand emigrated to central Brazil with the early expeditions 

 by the colonial proprietors and the government. In the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century several thousand Azoreans went to northern 

 Brazil. A century later the discovery of gold in Minas Geraes stim- 

 ulated a rush estimated at twenty or thirty thousand. In the middle 

 of the eighteenth century there was a considerable influx of Azoreans 

 into extreme southern Brazil. With these exceptions whites came 

 singly or in small bodies, being mostly officials, soldiers, proprietors 

 coming to take possession of huge land-grants from the crown, mer- 



