bandeirante

…parties of explorers, known as bandeirantes, traversed them from time to time, capturing and enslaving Indigenous people and searching for precious metals and stones. Some of the bandeirantes settled in the interior and introduced small groups of cattle that eventually expanded into large herds. Cattle raising came to dominate Brazil’s…

The bandeirantes, as the participants were called, might spend many months or even years in the backlands. Although led by Portuguese or people of mixed heritage passing for Portuguese, the highly mobile columns were mainly indigenous, being made up of direct dependents or slaves of the…

…hinterlands by armed pioneers (bandeirantes) in search of Indian slaves, gold, silver, and diamonds. In the process, Portuguese explorers expanded the frontiers of what was to become present-day Brazil into areas claimed by the Spanish. In 1711 São Paulo attained the status of a city, yet it remained an…