Why Do Brazil Speak Portuguese

Brazilians Speak Portuguese. Why Not Spanish? Connectbrazil.com explains — Original folio from the Tratado de Tordesilhas, Joserebelo - Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa

Planning some Brazilian Solar day festivities? A little Portuguese might add together to the ambiance.

Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Castilian. As the but country in South America to officially speak the language, there's an intriguing story behind that unique slice of cultural heritage.

Past Sean Chaffin

It all begins with the Pope, a treaty, and an undiscovered continent.

Later on Christopher Columbus "discovered" the new globe, Spain and Portugal raced to colonize these new lands. In an endeavour to stymie its rival, Spain sought support from the pope, Spanish-born Alexander VI. He created a line of demarcation to divide the nations' claims equally part of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

That miraculous and fateful decision is why Brazilians speak Portuguese.

While information technology was all the same early on in the exploration of the western hemisphere, the Portuguese must not have known exactly what they were giving up when they signed that treaty with Spain. The line of demarcation ran just east of South America and north into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Spanish were authorized to explore everything west of the line while the Portuguese could but explore lands east of the line – by and large open body of water. Other countries ignored the treaty, but it allowed the Spanish to explore and colonize large portions of North, South, and Central America.

Realizing the folly, the Portuguese re-negotiated the treaty a year later and the line was moved farther due west. Portugal could so at least lay merits to the area that is now modern-day Brazil later information technology was discovered by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500.

The claim was generally ignored until effectually 1530 when it was constitute to be a rich source of Brazilwood (Pau-Brasil), where the country got its proper name.

Brazilians later explored farther inland to aggrandize their territory. Simply Brazil was not completely safety from other invading countries. In 1555, the French claimed the surface area of Rio de Janeiro as its own. The Portuguese reclaimed it in 1560 subsequently fierce fighting.

_____________________________________________________________

You Might Also Like:

Brazilian Independence 24-hour interval: 15 Things To Know
Go To Know America's Biggest Brazilian Twenty-four hours Bash
10 Questions with Brazilian Jazz keyboardist Marcos Ariel
Take A Brazilian Break With Our ten Brazilian Music Streams
True Story: Traveling On Brazilian Time
Here's Bossa Nova's Most Important Book

_____________________________________________________________

For more than 200 years, Brazil was one of the well-nigh important colonies of the Portuguese empire. But on September 7, 1822, Brazil broke complimentary from Portugal.

Dom Pedro, Emperor Dom João'due south son and his father'southward acting regent in the colony, added his support to Brazilian nationalists and alleged the country's independence of the Portuguese homeland. The agreement was formally agreed to in a treaty signed by Brazil and Portugal in 1825.

And so that'due south the little-known story of why Brazilians speak Portuguese, and why so many aspects of Brazilian culture are distinctly different from their Castilian-speaking neighbors, from music to cuisine, the arts, and more than.

In fact, we'll go so far to say that Brazil'due south national identity is critically linked to its language.

Spanish remains the language of much of the western hemisphere, but for more than 207 million Brazilians – and millions more worldwide – Portuguese is the constabulary of the land. It is also a cute language for music.

Say Hello to a Brazilian

Looking to brush on your Portuguese a bit? Here are some common words below. While Brazilians speak Portuguese and non Spanish, speakers of that linguistic communication may detect some similarities.

Hello or proficient morning – Bom dia.
Good afternoon – Boa tarde.
Good evening or good night – Boa noite
Hi – Oi/Olá
Good day – Tchau
Proficient bye – Adeus
Please – Por favor
See you later – Até mais or até logo
Thank you (very much) – (Muito) Obrigado. (if a man is speaking) or (Muito) Obrigada (if a woman is speaking)
You lot're welcome or don't mention information technology – Não há de quê
Welcome – Bem-vindo

Take a class

Click here to explore Connect Brazil'due south listings for virtual or in-person Portuguese Language instruction near you.

An Editor and Senior Writer at Connectbrazil.com, Sean Chaffin is as well a freelance writer based in Crandall, Texas. His love of Brazilian music and culture is what prompted him to pen this story, but like most of us, he struggles mightily with Portuguese verbs, especially the irregular ones.

Stories like 'Brazilians Speak Portuguese, Not Spanish' are what nosotros do. Why don't y'all join us?

Sign upwardlyfor our emails on music, travel, friends and fun.Heed to our 'always alive' streaming station andour12 streaming music channels, always free.Browse our Lifestyle Directory.Click here to similar our Facebook page andhither for Brazilian events coast to coast.