A Concise History of Brazil covers almost 500 years of Brazilian history, from the arrival of the Portuguese in the New World to the political events that defined the transition in recent years from an authoritarian to a democratic political regime. This book emphasizes topics that have deeply influenced the historical formation of Brazil and affected its existence to the present day, such as Indian cultures and their destruction, slavery, and massive immigration during the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century.