Exploring the Amazon River

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Exploring the Amazon River

Overview

Portuguese captain Pedro de Teixeira (1587-1641) led the first full-length upstream exploration of the Amazon River in 1637. Taking almost two years to complete, the expedition covered more than 3,500 land and nautical miles (5,633 km). Teixeira's voyage was the first to systematically document the Amazon from its silt-laden outlet in Belém, northern Brazil, to the headwaters of its source in the Andes Mountains. The expedition established Portuguese dominance in the vast Amazon basin area of South America, and brought knowledge of the river that Portuguese explorers called the "Rio Mar," or river sea, to the world. Political impact of the expedition reached across Western Europe, Brazil, and the vast sought-after lands and riches of South America. The human impact of Teixeira's expedition included comprised both the Portuguese royalty (and, ultimately their subjects), as well as the indigenous peoples of South America and Africa.

Background

Portugal was slow to enter the race for exploration of the New World, as most Portuguese assets were committed to solidifying and maintaining Portugal's interests in Asia. In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas was engineered by Pope Alexander VI, who feared conflict between two Catholic nations committed to expansion. The treaty divided the unexplored New World, including South America, between Spain and Portugal. Portugal was prohibited to explore beyond a meridian drawn 1,000 miles (1,609 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Essentially, the eastern half of South America was reserved for Portugal. Peru, (along with what is now part of Ecuador, Bolivia, Columbia, Brazil, and Venezuela) was reserved for Spain. By 1530 the first Portuguese colonists were sent to Brazil to cultivate indigenous crops and to introduce sugarcane to the region.

In 1540 the first European expedition down the Amazon was led by Spaniard Francisco de Orellana (c. 1511-1546), starting down the Napo River in what is now Ecuador, and finally reaching the Atlantic Ocean in northern Brazil, territory reserved for Portuguese exploration. The Papal decree was difficult to interpret with the technology of the day, as Spain and Portugal both held different interpretations of where the line crossed the coasts of the New World. Other European nations also did not accept the Papal ruling, which prohibited them from any conquest of the territory divided among Portugal and Spain. The French formed a colony in what is now French Guyana, the Dutch in what is now Surinam. Both colonies were near the mouth of the Amazon. Soon, the English and Irish also colonized areas within the Amazon basin and built commercial outposts for trading.

In 1580 Portugal was annexed by Spain. Spain's King Philip IV became monarch over both of the rival nations. By the early 1600s Spain was entrenched in a drawn-out war against France and summoned the help of Portugal to rid the Amazon region from foreign merchants and colonizers. Pedro de Teixeira served in the ruthless campaign, as the Portuguese attacked Dutch and English trading outposts along the Amazon. European colonists were killed or imprisoned, and their primitive homes and businesses were destroyed.

In 1637 Teixeira was chosen to lead an expedition to explore the Amazon from its mouth at Pará (now Belém) to its source. Officially, the mission was prompted by a group of starving Jesuits who had arrived near Belém from deep in the Amazon basin. The Jesuits relayed accounts of their attempts to return hampered by endless, confusing river tributaries and hostile indigenous peoples. Teixeira mounted an organized expedition with over 2,000 men in 47 boats and canoes. Accompanying Teixeira were men skilled in cartography (mapmaking) and navigation. The expedition left Pará in October 1637, and began its slow, deliberate journey documenting the Amazon and its tributaries. After only a few months Teixeira squelched a possible mutiny of his crew. While surveying a particular tributary, the crew observed a village of native people wearing bracelets and holding objects that appeared to be made of gold. The crew expressed a desire to stay for a time at the village they named Aldeia do Ouro (village of gold), and consented to continue the mission only after Teixeira's assurance that they would return later on the downriver portion of the excursion.

Teixeira and his men reached the upper Amazon basin in early 1638 and continued in a northwestern direction up the Napo River, an Amazon tributary that reaches into Peru. When the party reached the junction of the Aguarico River, Teixeira formed a small party to journey overland to Quito, a colonial Peruvian capital in what is now Ecuador. In Peru Teixeira presented the report of his journey along with maps to the surprised Spanish colonial officials. The Spanish Viceroy in Peru, Chinchon, ordered Teixeira and his Portuguese crew to return to Belém via the same route they ascended the Amazon. Chinchon also ordered the Spanish Jesuit Cristobal de Acuna (1597?-1676) to accompany Teixeira on his return journey, and to record a vivid, analytical account of the expedition downstream for Spanish authorities in Seville.

On the return journey, reportedly near the junction of the Napo and Aguarico Rivers, Teixeira held a ceremony claiming the western Amazon region for Portugal. This act of possession defied the Papal ruling of over a hundred years prior by more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km). Reportedly, Teixeira had orders from the Portuguese governor Noronha to claim the territory before the start of the expedition. The Spanish Jesuit Acuna did not record Teixeira's act of possession in his diary of the journey. As the expedition made its way downriver, the crew, anxious to return home, chose not to delay at the village where the gold was observed. The successful expedition returned to Pará in late 1639. Teixeira was welcomed with an appointment as governor of the state of Pará. He did not have the opportunity to serve a lengthy term, however, as he died within a year of returning from his voyage up and down the Amazon.

Impact

Teixeira's act of possession caused controversy among the two Iberian nations for over a hundred years. In 1640 Portugal broke its alliance with Spain and declared its independence. The Portuguese monarchy was restored with the crowning of King Joao IV in late 1640, breaking its alliance with Spain's King Phillip IV. During the 60-year alliance with Spain, Portugal's empire greatly deteriorated, as the Portuguese aided Spain in its wars with England and Holland. The two countries reciprocated by attacking Portugal's holdings in Asia. Portugal lost its commercial monopoly in the Far East to Holland. Portugal also lost its burgeoning commercial interest in India to England. With the Portuguese empire greatly reduced, holdings in Brazil became more important. Teixeira's claim encompassed almost the entire Amazon basin and greatly enlarged Portugal's influence in Brazil. Acuna, upon reporting to his superiors in Seville, advised Spain to defray ambitions in Brazil, lest they fight the Portuguese as well as the Dutch. Even after the Dutch attacked Rio de Janeiro and Baia, the resolute Portuguese held Brazil.

The accurate surveys and maps made by Teixeira's party aided the Portuguese in their negotiations with the Spanish, and helped open Brazil for colonization. After Teixeira, many expeditions were sent to the interior during the seventeenth century. By the late 1600s and into the 1700s, when gold and diamonds were discovered in villages along the Amazon, a gold rush from all over the world to Brazil was sparked. The Portuguese crown lavished the new-found riches on the restored monarchy, building baroque palaces, and buying expensive imported goods. The ideas of social reform and of building the middle class that were a priority in Portuguese politics before the Iberian union were set aside as the Portuguese crown enjoyed Brazil's riches.

Amazon gold also encouraged the world to update its commercial relations with Portugal. The English allowed Portugal a preferential tariff on wine imported from Portugal. In return, Portugal subsidized English exports and paid for the resulting trade imbalance with Brazilian gold. Portugal intensified the cultivation of sugar, cotton, and spices in Brazil for export. Port towns and trading establishments boomed along the coast of Brazil and near the mouth of the Amazon. The riches from the interior of the Amazon continued to pose challenges to bring to market, and Teixeira's expedition maps served as guides.

The human cost of Brazilian colonization enhanced by Teixeira's expedition is often considered by historians. The expansion of agriculture required a greatly increased labor force. This need culminated in the importation and enslavement of Africans, mostly from Angola. The Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits defended the native peoples of the Amazon against enslavement. Nevertheless, many of the native peoples of the Amazon were forever changed by the presence of the first European explorers. The Spanish and Portuguese introduced modern weapons, Christianity, and European diseases to native Amazonians. Smallpox, measles, and unfamiliar cold-type viruses decimated whole tribes. Syphilis spread quickly among indigenous peoples. Native culture was altered by the introduction of Christianity, often conflicting with engrained native customs allowing for living in harmony with the environment. Many indigenous tribes, however, refused the counsel or aid of the early Jesuit missionaries.

BRENDA WILMOTH LERNER