page_title: History of Roraima
section_title: The 17th century: the discovery of the Branco River
hierarchical_section_title: History of Roraima / The 17th century: the discovery of the Branco River
context_page_description: The history of the territory that is now Roraima, a state at the extreme north of present-day Brazil is recent, but not thereby simple. Invaded numerous times by the various countries interested in the region, the seldom-visited Roraima aroused little interest on the part of the Portuguese, especially after the arrival of the royal family in Rio de Janeiro. Meanwhile, the territory became coveted by other countries, including England, the Netherlands, and, especially, Spain.
  A stage for revolts, massacres, exploration, and development, there were numerous foreign invasions, each repelled by the Portuguese force at Forte São Joaquim. Joaquim Nabuco, the acclaimed Pernambucan lawyer, defended the region from the king of Italy in the 19th century. The territory which was a municipality became a federal territory and a state.
context_section_description: Although the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500 under Pedro Álvares Cabral, two hundred years passed before they discovered the Branco River valley. It was by this river, which is the principal watercourse in the area, that the first Portuguese colonizers arrived.
  Although the area was inhabited by native people, the first Europeans' stay there was not calm, as Spain launched invasions from Venezuela, and the Netherlands from Suriname. The Portuguese reacted by defeating and expelling the invaders, and establishing Portuguese sovereignty in the region.
  Captain Francisco Ferreira and the Carmelite priest Jerônimo Coelho were the first colonizers to arrive at the Branco River. Their intentions were to imprison natives and collect turtle eggs.
  Later, Cristóvão Aires Botelho and Lourenço Belfort arrived, being the first to cross the Cachoeira do Bem-Querer. José Miguel Aires also came up the Branco, with the goal of imprisoning indigenous people and selling them at Belém do Pará and São Luís do Maranhão, where they would become slaves.
  In November 1739, Nicholas Horstman, a German surgeon commissioned by the Dutch Governor of Guiana, traveled up the Essequibo River accompanied by two Dutch soldiers and four Indian guides. In April 1741 one of the Indian guides returned reporting that in 1740 Horstman had crossed over to the Rio Branco and descended it to its confluence with the Rio Negro. Horstman discovered Lake Amucu on the North Rupununi and later settled in Belem.
  The Spanish, on their part, invaded the Uraricoera River Valley between the years 1771 and 1773, having crossed the cordillera of Pacaraima. There they founded three settlements, Santa Bárbara, São João Batista de Caya Caya, and Santa Rosa. However, they could not resist the Portuguese and were eventually expelled from the region. Seeing the international interest in the region, the colonial government constructed the Forte de São Joaquim do Rio Branco (now disappeared), a mark of Portuguese hegemony in the area.
  The construction of the fort brought an illusion of having achieved prosperity, with the construction of three villages where the natives were forced to live: Nossa Senhora da Conceição e Santo Antônio, on the banks of the Uraricoera, São Felipe on the Takutu River, and Nossa Senhora do Carmo e Santa Bárbara on the Rio Branco. They were not successful, as the natives rebelled against the Portuguese impositions, and abandoned the villages which later disappeared.
caption: Plan of Forte São Joaquim.
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