The first people to come to Brazil care often called the South American Indians. They probably came from North America. Some of them were hunters and gatherers, but others were farmers.
Pedro Álvares Cabral was the first European to see Brazil. He saw it in 1500. He was from Portugal and the Portuguese government claimed Brazil. Soon, explorers explored the whole coastline of Brazil and colonies were set up. In the late 1500s and early 1600s the Dutch and the French would sometimes try to take land in Brazil. Brazilians started moving inland farther than the Treaty of Tordesillas said they could. This caused some fights with the Spaniards and native people in the area.
In 1822, Brazil claimed to be its own country and not a part of Portugal anymore. Soon there was civil war. But the emperor Pedro II improved the economy, and in 1888, he freed the slaves. In 1889, there was a military coup and Pedro II had to leave the country.
In 1889, Brazil became a republic. It was not very democratic, because the only people who could vote were people who owned land. There were some uprisings in the 1920s because some people thought the government was unfairly helping coffee growers. Brazil joined the Allies during World War II.
During the 1960s, the leader Castelo Branco made the government like a dictatorship. Since then, the country has become more democratic, but some people feel that there are still big problems in health and education.
In September 2016, then-president Dilma Rousseff was removed from office because of impeachment.
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