Tomas Pueyo Profile picture
Aug 13, 2022 19 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Why do Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Spanish?

Because of the rotation of the Earth and the distance between Puerto Rico and Cape Verde:
It's 1494

Just 6 years earlier, in 1488, Portugal discovered a path to the Indian Ocean passing below Africa. If they could establish a trade route to the Indies, they could break the Muslim monopoly on the Silk Road and get crazy rich. But the Spanish want in too...
But just 2 years earlier, in 1492, Spain discovered America while looking for another route to the Indies. Now Portugal wants in too...

After some negotiations, they sign the Treaty of Tordesillas: the eastern path is for Portugal, the western path for Spain.
What will be the limit between the 2 spheres of influence? They settle on the midpoint between Spain's islands in the Caribbean and Portugal's islands on Africa's west coast—Cape Verde.
Move the Caribbean islands or Cape Verde east, or Brazil west, and they would have fallen on the Spanish side and speak Spanish to this day

Alas, this line gives the Brazilian tip of America to Portugal. But they don't know that, because Brazil has not been discovered yet!
In another world, Portugal would have kept its focus on Africa & Asia, and Spain on America for so long that Spain would have reached & conquered Brazil. Hard to fight that after the fact.

But Portugal was about to discover Brazil independently! Because of the Earth's rotation
6 years after Tordesillas, in 1500, the Portuguese stumble upon Brazil without looking for it. How come?

The Volta do Mar
The Portuguese pioneered Atlantic sailing and soon realized the winds and currents were so strong and consistent that the fastest way to travel required a big detour to harness them. For example, coming back from India, it was fastest to go near America
The Portuguese discovered this because they realized the winds and currents formed a "gyre" in the North Atlantic.

They then assumed the inverse was true in the South Atlantic. They were right.
The Portuguese knowledge of winds and currents was so strong that that the 1st time Bartolomeu Dias rounded Africa's tip, he didn't realize he had because he was too far from the coast! He saw the Cape of Good Hope on the way back.
Over time, the Portuguese understood better the winds, currents, and geography of Africa, and started going way into the South Atlantic to round Africa's tip... Until they stumbled upon Brazil.
Brazil was perfect for Portugal:
• On the good side of the Treaty of Tordesillas
• A perfect pit stop for the ships
• Perfect for timber
• They could use their slave trade from Africa to bring slaves into Brazilian plantations
This video gives a chilling sense of the scale of that slave trade:
And why are there gyres in the Atlantic? Because of the rotation of the Earth. It's the Coriolis Force
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_…
So to summarize:
1. Brazil belonged to Portugal's sphere of influence because to define it, Spain and Portugal took the midpoint between Cape Verde and Spain's Caribbean islands in the Treaty of Tordesillas
2. The Earth's rotation causes the Coriolis force, which causes the Atlantic gyres, which made it useful for ships from Europe to Asia to pass by Brazil on their way below Africa's tip
In other words, Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Spanish because Brazil fell in Portugal's sphere of influence due to the distance between the Caribbean and Cape Verde; and Portugal found Brazil and needed it because of the Atlantic gyres caused by the rotation of the Earth.
I'll publish next week 2 articles, a brief history of Spain, and a brief history of Portugal. Follow me to get them, or sign up to my newsletter
unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com
If you want a taste of it, you can head to my article or thread about France

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tomas Pueyo

Tomas Pueyo Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @tomaspueyo

Apr 28
Over 80% of Canada's population lives in these 3 areas.
Why these 3?
Why so disconnected?
What are the consequences of that?
Here's why: 🧵 Image
ST LAWRENCE VALLEY & GREAT LAKES
About 55% of Canadians live here, on the riverbanks of the St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Why?

And as soon as you go a bit farther north of the St Lawrence, population disappears. Why? Image
1. History: This is where Europeans came from, and the place they settled first

Also, the St Lawrence river is naturally navigable until Montréal by seafaring ships—and up till the Great Lakes since the 1800s

That meant direct trade with Europe & the world➡️wealth Image
Read 18 tweets
Apr 25
Trump claims Canada should become the 51st US state
How much truth is there to this claim?
These maps tell us:
You probably know that 50% of Canadians live below this line

80% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the border with the US! Image
You might also know that 70% of Canadians live in these 3 colored areas

These 3 areas are completely disconnected from each other Image
Read 25 tweets
Apr 13
10 surprising things I've learned about Korea as I research it:

1. You might have seen the map of day & night lights in North vs South Korea, but have you compared it with population density?
2. Seoul is just monstrous. Its metro area covers 12% of South Korea🇰🇷's surface but 50% of its population Image
3. North Korea is a dictatorship, but South Korea 🇰🇷 is no perfect democracy. All but ONE of🇰🇷's heads of state have had a troubled life... Image
Read 12 tweets
Apr 11
I think the craziness of North Korea is most apparent in its architecture. 7 examples:

1. The Science & Technology complex has the shape of an atom from above Image
Image
2. North Koreans like making their buildings' form represent their function. This is the entrance of the Zoo in the capital, Pyongyang: Image
3. The tallest building in the country is empty!
The Ryugyong Hotel was never finished. This Blade-Runner-style building has been empty for decades. The gov put LEDs on one facade, to use it... for propagandaImage
Image
Read 8 tweets
Feb 24
The stupidest German policy of the last decade: closing its nuclear power plants

These are Germany's sources of electricity vs what they could have been if they had kept nuclear open:

• This has destroyed Germany's industry
• The new gov can reverse this
🧵
Germany's economy is in tatters. It's one of the slowest-growing rich economies. It has been in recession in 2023 and 2024! Image
One of the main reasons is its industrial production: It's shrunk compared to similar countries Image
Read 13 tweets
Feb 19
This Sunday are Germany's elections
These are the best maps to understand the country:
Why is it so rich?
What makes it special?
What lies in its future?

1. We can still tell the East/West divide, 35 years after the reunification. These are Germany's phantom borders
2. Before WW2, East Germany had more:
• Working class ppl
• Vote left
• Women working
• Births out of wedlock
• Protestantism Image
Image
Image
Image
3. The main reason is because this region industrialized early. One of the reasons of that industrialization is because of the Bohemian Mountains and their coal and iron Image
Read 24 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(