Slide Sets

Whereas many historical works have been devoted to the “heroic Age” of New France, far fewer in recent years have taken note of the unsuccessful French attempts to wrest Brazil from the Portuguese. Since the somewhat polemical books of such nineteenth-century authors as Paul Gaffarel (Histoire du Brésil français au seizième siècle, Paris, 1878) and Pierre Margry (Les navigateurs français et la revolution maritime, Paris, 1867) little new has been said about the French in Brazil. Recent studies that have touched upon the subject, for example Michel Mollat du Jourdin’s excellent work on the Verrazano brothers, concentrate on discovery and exploration, the most famous aspects of the French achievements in South America. Part of the cause for the general neglect of the history of the French in Brazil is that it is often regarded as having concluded in failure, since the French were unable to establish a permanent colony in Brazil similar to those that settled New France. Nobody likes to dwell on disaster.

To view the frustrated struggles of the French to dominate Brazil politically as an unmitigated flop is to adopt a narrow concept of the affair, however. The primary motivation for the French to establish a colony in Brazil, despite the Huguenots’ efforts to build the City of God in the midst of the Tupinambás, was to drive out more easily the Portuguese competition for the most precious commodity found in Brazil in the sixteenth century, brazilwood. Moreover, both the Portuguese and the French seemed quite able to obtain the wood throughout the century without any significant colonial settlements. The Portuguese and the French crowns were interested in settlements far more than were the Portuguese and French merchants who financed the vast majority of the voyages that sailed to Brazil. Thus, in order to understand the nature of the competition between the French and Portuguese for Brazil, it is first necessary to be aware of the economic interests which motivated them. These interests are often clearly depicted in maps of Brazil from the sixteenth century.

The bulk of the French voyages that sailed to Brazil in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries left from the Norman ports of Le Havre, Dieppe and Honfleur, and were financed by merchants from these cities and from Rouen, the commercial and banking capital of Normandy. A center of cloth making and distribution in medieval and early modern Europe, Normandy required a vast amount of raw materials, such as wool, linen and alum, to feed its manufactures. As the taste for brightly-hued cloths flourished in early modern France, the need for dyes expanded. Traditionally, Normandy relied upon pastel from Toulouse to tint its fabrics. But the new brazilwood brought back by the various early French expeditions to Brazil, in addition to American cochenille somewhat later, produced the brighter shades that were more popular. Further, disastrous failures of the pastel crop in the 1560s helped to wean the Normans away from pastel and encourage them to rely on brazilwood.

King Manoel of Portugal in 1505 granted a group of Lisbon merchants a monopoly on the brazilwood trade. Despite the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, by which the Pope had divided the world between the Spaniards and Portuguese, French interlopers were common throughout the Iberian possessions in the New World. Within a year of Manoel’s grant French merchants were sailing to Brazil in search of dyewood. In the absence of beasts of burden in Brazil, both the French and the Portuguese soon had to turn to the Indians for assistance in obtaining the wood. The Portuguese tended to rely upon a resident factor who accumulated a supply of wood to be shipped on Portuguese ships at regular intervals. The French were less organized, probably in part because of their illegal status and the danger of Portuguese attack. The French ships would anchor off the coast and the crew would land in smaller boats. They contacted the Indians, sometimes with the help of a French interpreter who resided permanently with the Indians. The heavy labor of cutting, sawing, splitting, quartering, rounding and stripping each log was performed by the Indians. Even when the sources of supply were pushed from the coast inland, the Indians were willing to assist the Europeans in return for metal implements and manufactured goods. Once cut and stripped, the wood, now turned a deep red color, was loaded at the coast into the small French ships. The French crews would store them in the main ship for the return journey to France. There the logs would be ground into sawdust and soaked in water to produce the valuable dye.

Although the Amerindians obtained metal tools and other manufactured goods from the Europeans, they lost more than they gained from the exchange. Not only did European diseases decimate their numbers, but also the Portuguese and French took to using their Indian allies against each other. The Tupinambás sided with the French, while the Tupiniquins allied with the Portuguese. Each of the European rivals felt free to slaughter and enslave the Indian allies of their foes. The result was a terrible loss of life among the Indians and a deterioration of the Amerindian culture in Brazil.

But the trade in brazilwood made many commercial fortunes both in France and Portugal. Although the Portuguese were the eventual winners in the contest to settle Brazil, the French maintained a strong commercial presence there into the reign of Louis XIV. The merchants of France were satisfied if they could obtain the dyewood without the financial burdens of colonization. As the sixteenth century came to a close, it became progressively easier to break legally into the Spanish and Portuguese monopolies on trade with South America. The colonies required goods that Iberian industry could not provide, and used colonial products to pay the French merchants who brought them European manufactures. Thus in some respects the French, like the Dutch, reaped the benefits of the colonial markets in South America while shouldering few of the expenses.

The iconography of early modern maps was clearly depicted the facets of the New World which excited the imagination and the cupidity of Europeans. The Miller Atlas of 1519 contains a particularly detailed illustration of the flora, fauna and Amerindians of Brazil. The map is Portuguese, done in the modified portolano style that was developed in the sixteenth century. The place-names are written mostly inland at right angles from the coasts. In the detail presented in this slide, the coastal area familiar to the Portuguese traders in brazilwood is shown.

The map most likely was made for a noble patron, perhaps the Portuguese king Manoel the Fortunate. Since it surfaced on the French market, it is possible that it was made for the French king, Francis I, also known to patronize cartographers. The atlas to which the map belongs is generally attributed to the Portuguese map maker Lopo Homem, who acceded to the office of “Master of Sea Charts” in 1517. Due to his youth and inexperience at the time, however, it is probable that Homem commissioned his former tutor in the art of cartography, Pedro Reinel, to aid him in drawing the maps.

Homem’s map of Brazil was the first to illustrate accurately the mouths of the Amazon and Pará rivers. The Portuguese flags which fly north of the Amazon and south of the Plate rivers assert Portuguese sovereignty much beyond the territory accorded to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The iconography of the interior is dominated by the Amerindians, framed by wildlife that includes monkeys, jaguars and the brilliantly colored parrots and macaws that delighted Europeans. At the top and bottom are Indians in feather head-dresses. They carry bows and arrows for hunting. Europeans greatly admired the Amerindian’s skill with these weapons.

A group of four Indians in the center of the scene are shown at work gathering brazilwood for the Europeans. As illustrated, they performed this back-breaking labor in the nude. The brazilwood trees are hardwoods, and in order to fell them the Indians first burnt a ring around the bottom of the trees. They then cut the trees down and chopped them into smaller logs with European axes. They also stripped the logs with European metal tools. The dressed logs were carried by the Indians to shore and loaded on the small boats there for transport to the larger vessels anchored offshore.

The space and attention devoted to the brazilwood trade on this map is evidence that from a very early date Europeans were well aware of the lucrative commodities which could be extracted from Brazil even as they clung to their dreams of gold, silver and a passage through to the Orient.

This 1538 portolan chart of the coast of southern Brazil and Rio de la Plata is an early example of the cartography of the Dieppe School. Encouraged by the numerous voyages that left Dieppe for the East and the New World in the first half of the sixteenth century, a school of cartography flourished at Dieppe between about 1540 and 1560. Many of the best and most beautifully illustrated French maps were produced there. They were characterized by a portolano type drawing of the coasts embellished with striking miniature paintings and elaborately decorated borders.

Despite the brightly colored and fanciful islands placed in the bays and rivers, the anonymous cartographer who drew this map possessed a highly accurate knowledge of the coast of Brazil. He probably was a Portuguese working in Dieppe. His depiction of the waterways feeding into the Uruquai and Paraquai rivers is nearly correct. He probably hoped that the Rio de la Plata would turn out to be a passage to the Pacific.

In spite of the hint of the tenacious dream of a route to the Pacific, it is again the Amerindians gathering brazilwood which dominate the scene in the interior. As on the Homem/Reinel map, wild birds abound, although here there is shown only one specimen of mammal life. This map also contains an attempt, in the lower right hand corner, to show an Amerindian dwelling. Also, in the center on the left, a group of Indians is waging war with clubs and bows and arrows. But most of the space is devoted to procuring brazilwood. On the lower right two Europeans carrying guns accompany a band of Indians into the forest. In the upper right corner an Indian is chopping wood, supervised by a European. Curiously, the skins of both Europeans in and Indians are colored a delicate pink on this map. On the lower right Indians carrying red logs of brazilwood are escorted by Europeans in the direction of the coast, possibly to the European ship shown waiting just off the shore. The anonymous Portuguese who drew this map knew what the Normans among whom he lived in Dieppe sought in Brazil.

Born in Dieppe about 1505, probably of a Scottish father and a French mother, Jean Rotz is the most famous of the Dieppe School cartographers. His father was a merchant, probably associated with Jean Ango, the celebrated merchant/armateur of Dieppe. Rotz had plenty of first-hand maritime experience when he came to make his Boke of Idrography in 1542. He may have sailed to Sumatra in 1529 with the Parmentier brothers. He certainly went to Guinea and Brazil in the 1530s while in business with his father. It would seem that he also studied science in Paris for a couple years. Moreover, in Dieppe he came under the influence of the Dieppe cartographers, with their magnificently illustrated maps. It appeared in 1542 that Rotz was perfectly placed for a career as one of the explorers in the service of Francis I.

Instead, for reasons that remain unknown, in 1542 Rotz surfaced in London, with his wife and children in tow. There he entered the service of Francis’ rival Henry VIII, to whom he dedicated his Boke of Idrography. This atlas consists of an explanatory introduction, eleven regional charts and a mappa mundi. It is oriented as many maps of that time were, with north at the bottom. Rotz was highly influenced by Portuguese cartography despite the typically French borders and decorations. The nomenclature of place names is Portuguese, as is the decorative wind rose. Less original than some of the later Dieppe map makers, Rotz still made important contributions to the development of the Dieppe School.

In the detail of Brazil shown here, the cannibalism of the Amerindians is now emphasized. The friendly, often childlike Indians of the earlier maps have been replaced by Indians engaged in fearsome activities. One of the Indian dwellings on the top of the map (south) has the skull of a human above the door. Although some Amerindian dwellings in Brazil were similarly adorned, here it is clearly meant to symbolize the cannibalism of the owners. In the longhouses at the top and in the Indian palisade in the center are people reclining in hammocks, sometimes hung over fires for warmth and to drive away the insects. Indian skin and hair are too light, but the nudity of the Amerindians as they go about their tasks is correct.

And despite the fascination of the execution of prisoners, warfare, dances and especially cannibalism, the familiar labor of gathering the valuable brazilwood, accompanied by the ever present and equally profitable parrots, occupies much of the center of the map. Near the coast there is a small French stockade, identifiable by the cannons near it. This is the fort from which the European trade goods are carried in baskets to the Indians to be exchanged for logs of brazilwood. A procession of Indians brings both the logs and the green parrots coveted by the French for their feathers. These Indians load the logs into a small French boat while another group uses European metal tools to cut and skin the trees. One log not yet stripped has a red end and the others have turned completely red. In the background is the forest of brazilwood from which the Indians have obtained the logs. One author who has analyzed this map (see bibliography, Helen Wallis, p. 72) has even suggested that the tiny gold spots in the red paint coloring the brazilwood are meant to signify its high value.

The importance of Brazil to the economy of Normandy is obvious in this illustration from the Entrée du Roi Henri à Rouen en 1550. This the most sumptuous of French Renaissance royal entries was staged for Henry II and Catherine de Medici by Rouen, the city that Francis I had called the first city of the realm after Paris. These entries frequently featured “tableaux,” elaborately staged entertainments for the royal entourage. The theme of one of the most important tableaux of the Rouennais celebration was Brazil. In fields on the banks of the Seine near the city the Rouennais erected an imitation Brazilian village. For Indians they used authentic Brazilian captives and “guests,” and French sailors and maidens appropriately stripped and painted for the occasion. Brazilian flora and fauna were also imported, and Amerindian dwellings were constructed. The inhabitants re-created many aspects of Amerindian life in Brazil, including the gathering of brazilwood, and the friendly relations between the French and the Indians were emphasized. The climax of the drama consisted of a mock battle between the Indian allies of the French, aided by the French, against the Indians allied with the Portuguese and a Portuguese ship in the river. Not surprisingly, the French-supported Indians were the victors.

It was no accident that Brazil was a central theme of the celebration staged for the royal entry at Rouen. In an edict of 1549 Henry II had made the Norman capital the only port of entry for the lucrative Brazil trade. The merchants of Rouen profited enormously from this commerce and it figures prominently in commercial contracts of the time. Ships financed by Rouennais merchants often sailed a route that took them south past Spain and Portugal, where they frequently stopped to trade, then continued down the coast of Africa. After trading there they would cross the Atlantic to Brazil and then return home to France by a northerly route. Some of the merchandise carried by these ships to Africa and the New World came from the Low Countries, although the industries of the Norman hinterland probably provided the bulk of it, and these same industries absorbed most of the brazilwood. But it is clear from the choice of subjects for the celebration of the royal visit that the Rouennais had integrated Brazil into an international commercial network.

This woodcut from André Thevet’s Cosmographie universelle depicts brazilwood for the French. A Franciscan monk, Thevet was one of the most widely traveled Frenchmen of his day. During his long life (c.1516-1592) Thevet made numerous voyages in Europe, Africa and the Near East. In 1555 Thevet visited Brazil as a chaplain for the expedition of Nicolas Durand, Chevalier de Villegagnon, who founded a small colony at the site of the future Rio de Janeiro. The colony was destroyed by the Portuguese about two years after its creation, but by then Thevet had long since departed, since he fell ill and left Brazil ten weeks after his arrival. Based on his experiences in Brazil Thevet published Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique (Paris, 1557). He held the post of Royal Cosmographer from the reign of Henry II through that of Henry III. His Cosmographie Universelle d’André Thevet was his most extensive study. Although his later publications contain a wealth of information, not all of it accurate, Thevet’s only personal knowledge of the New World derived from his 1555 visit to Brazil.

It is likely that Thevet witnessed Indians such as those shown in the woodcut harvesting brazilwood for the French. The process is realistically illustrated despite the presence of a fanciful sea creature in the waters near the shore. The nude Amerindians chop the trees and fallen logs with metal axes, while others haul the dressed logs to the beach. The small boats that carried the logs to the French ships anchored a little farther out are shown, although the French crews which oversaw the Indians at work and assumed control of the wood are curiously absent. Nor is there any hint in Thevet’s engraving of the trade itself, of the exchange of European manufactured goods for brazilwood that motivated the Indians to labor for the French. As a result, this illustration could mislead a European reader uninitiated in the true nature of the relationship between the Indians and the French in Brazil.

French commercial interests in Brazil lingered well into the seventeenth century, long after hopes of successful French colonization of Brazil had proved to be a chimera. In this 1613 map of Pierre de Vaulx, the echoes of those colonial aspirations linger in the small shield of France located on the coast of Brazil near the label “La France Antarctique.” Thus the French claim to an enclave on the coast lingered although the practical reality of Spanish sovereignty in South America is admitted in the much larger shield of Castile in the center of Brazil (the crowns of Spain and Portugal united in 1580). The coast of Brazil on this map, which was probably made for a princely patron, is done in portolano chart style, with the nomenclature written at right angles to the coast. By now the west coast of the continent had been charted as well as the east.

The map is well embellished with elegant miniatures, some of them imaginative, such as the mermaids in the center. It is interesting to note that the French territory is again decorated with Amerindians transporting brazilwood to the coast. The appropriately red logs are carried by the nude Indians just above and below the designation “La France Antarctique.” Unquestionably, brazilwood had been and remained France’s most vital interest in Brazil.

1. Lopo Homem/Pedro Reinel, detail of map of Brazil from the Miller Atlas, c. 1519, Paris, B.N.
2. Detail of map of Brazil, Anonymous, Dieppe School, c. 1538, from an untitled atlas.
3. Jean Rotz, Boke of Idrography, “Brazil,” 1542.
4. Illustration from L’Entrée à Rouen du Roi Henri II et de la Reine Catherine de Medicis en 1550, published 1551, Rouen, Bibiliothèque Municipale.
5. André Thevet, Cosmographie universelle, T. II, “Comme ce peuple couppe et porte le brésil es navires,” 1575, woodcut, Paris, B.N.
6. Pierre de Vaulx, Atlas of 1613, “Brazil,” Paris, B.N.

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Wallis, Helen, ed. The Maps and Text of the Boke of Idrography Presented by Jean Rotz to Henry VIII now in the British Library. Oxford: The Roxburghe Club, 1981.