The independence of Brazil is long fought for, from breaking away from the Portuguese colony to getting rid of slavery, and to becoming the largest country in South America . The land had been originally named “Terra da Vera Cruz” otherwise known as the Land of the True Cross. The land had been “discovered” by Portuguese sailor, Pedro Alvares Cabral in April 1500, who meant to set sail for India. A famous scribe, Pêro Vaz Caminha, described “other people” whom they were greeted upon when first arriving. The “other” people were a tribe, the Tupinambá, who were taken advantage of by the Portuguese, similarly to many other tribes in Latin America. There started the colonization of Brazil, changing the religions of all tribes and converting them to Christianity and forcing them into hard labor and cruel slavery. By the end of the 16th century many of the tribes were driven out from the majority of coastal regions, unfortunately the Portuguese brought over unbearable diseases. These diseases the tribes had never encountered before, it caught up with them and many died. The European lifestyle overpowered the tribes, also driving them out. The Portuguese arrived in the 1500s and Brazil wasn’t freed out of their power till 1815. Then change started happening, many important changemakers stepped into play, including Dom Pedro. On September 7, 1822, Dom Pedro declared independence from Portugal and shortly after he was crowned emperor. But they did not abolish slavery until May 13, 1888. Today Brazil has a diverse spread of people. Data shows that the main ethnic group is mixed (45.3%) with many people with ethnicities from around the world. The next runner up is white (43.5%), Brazil definitely still has descendants of the Portuguese (and other European groups) lurking around. Similar to the U.S, Brazil imported slaves from Africa, the descendants of which represent  a wide amount of the Black community. Now there is only 0.6% of Indigenous people which means that the Portuguese executed and drove off many of the tribes in Brazil. Before the colonization there was definitely more than 1% alone of tribes. In more recent years there has been an Asian population (0.4%), although it is tiny it is more “new” which could be a new upcoming ethnic group in Brazil. The history, pain and troublesome this country had fought formed us the great Brazil!