Goldrush in BrazilAt the end of the 17th century, the bandeirantes found gold in the interior of Brazil. Producing a goldrush. The news was met with great enthusiasm by Portugal, which had an economy in disarray following years of wars against Spain and the Netherlands. A gold rush quickly ensued, with people from other parts of the colony and Portugal flooding the region in the first half of the 18th century. The large portion of the Brazilian inland where gold was extracted became known as the Minas Gerais (General Mines). Gold mining in this area became the main economic activity of colonial Brazil during the 18th century. In Portugal, the gold was mainly used to pay for industrialised goods (textiles, weapons) obtained from countries like England and, specially during the reign of King John V, to build magnificent Baroque monuments like the Convent of Mafra. Apart from gold, diamonds deposits were also found in 1729 around the village of Tijuco, now Diamantina. Goldrush In the hilly landscape of Minas Gerais, gold was present in alluvial deposits by streams and was extracted using pans and other rudimentary instruments that required little technology. The hard work of gold extraction was mostly done by slaves imported from Africa. The Portuguese Crown allowed particulars to extract the gold, requiring a fifth (20%) of the gold (the quinto) to be sent to the colonial government as tribute. To prevent smuggling during the goldrush and charge the quinto, in 1725 the government ordered all gold to be casted into bars in the Casas de Fundição (Casting Houses), and sent armies to the region to prevent disturbances and oversee the mining process. The Royal tribute was very unpopular in Minas Gerais, and gold was frequently hidden from the colonial authorities. Eventually, the quinto contributed to rebellious movements like the Levante de Vila Rica, in 1720, and the Inconfidência Mineira. The large number of adventurers coming to the Minas Gerais during the goldrush led to the foundation of several villages, the first of which were created in 1711: Vila Rica de Ouro Preto, Sabará and Mariana, followed by São João Del Rei (1713), Serro, Caeté (1714), Pitangui (1715) and São José do Rio das Mortes (1717, now Tiradentes). In contrast to other regions of colonial Brazil, people coming to Minas Gerais settled mostly in villages instead of the countriside. In 1763, the capital of colonial Brazil was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, which was located closer to the mining region and provided a harbour to ship the gold to Europe. End of the goldrush Gold production declined towards the end of the 18th century, beginning a period of relative stagnation of the Brazilian hinterland.
In an attempt to expand the borders of colonial Brazil and profit from commerce with the silver mines of Potosí, the Portuguese Overseas Council (the Conselho Ultramarino)
ordered colonial governor Manuel Lobo to establish a settlement on the shore of the River Plate, in a region that legally belonged to Spain.
18th century-São José Fortress near Florianópolis, in Southern Brazil.
In 1679, Manuel Lobo founded Colonia de Sacramento on the margin opposite to Buenos Aires, and the fortified settlement quickly became an important point of illegal commerce between the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Spain and Portugal fought over the enclave in several occasions (1681, 1704, 1735). In addition to Colonia de Sacramento, several settlements were established in Southern Brazil in the late 17th and 18th century, some with peasant couples from the Azores Islands. The towns founded in this period include Curitiba (1668), Florianópolis (1675), Rio Grande (1736), Porto Alegre (1742) and others that kept Southern Brazil firmly under Portuguese control. The conflicts over the Southern colonial frontiers led to the signing of the Treaty of Madrid (1750), in which Spain and Portugal agreed to a considerable Southwestward expansion of colonial Brazil. According to the treaty, Colonia de Sacramento was to be given to Spain in exchange for the territories of São Miguel das Missões, a region occupied by Jesuits Missions dedicated to evangelising the Guaraní natives. Resistance by the Jesuits and the Guarani led to the Guarani War (1756), in which Portuguese and Spanish troops destroyed the Missions. Colonia de Sacramento kept changing hands until 1777, when it was definitely conquered by the colonial governor of Buenos Aires. Inconfidência Mineira In 1788/89, Minas Gerais was the setting of the most important of the conspiracies against colonial authorities, the so called Inconfidência Mineira. The Inconfidência was inspired by the ideals of the French liberal philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment and the successful American Revolution, which had taken place in 1776. The conspirators belonged to the white upper class of Minas Gerais and many had studied in Europe, specially in the University of Coimbra. Several of them, like a great part of the elite of Minas Gerais, had large debts with the colonial government. In the context of a declining gold production, the intention of the Portuguese government to impose the obligatory payment of all debts (the derrama) was a leading cause behind the conspiracy. The conspirators wanted to create a Republic in which the leader would be chosen through democratic elections. The capital would be São João Del Rei, and Ouro Preto would become a university town. The structure of the society, including the right to property and the ownership of slaves, would be kept intact. The conspiracy was discovered by the Portuguese colonial government in 1789, before the planned military rebellion could take place. Eleven of the conspirators were banned to Portuguese colonial possessions in Angola, but Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, nicknamed Tiradentes, was sentenced to death. The Inconfidência Mineira was not the only rebellious movement in colonial Brazil against the Portuguese. Later, in 1798, there was the Incofidência Baiana in the former capital, Salvador. In this episode, which had more participation of the common people, four people were hanged, and 41 were jailed. Members included slaves, middle-class people and even some landowners. 
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Colonisation of the South