Why Brazillians speak Portugese

[Hvr]

Amazingly it dates back to the 15th century:

BBC - Travel - The town that split the world in two

At first glance, Tordesillas, a small city on the banks of the Duero River in the Valladolid Province of Spain, seems perfectly ordinary. It has an old quarter with a well-preserved Plaza Mayor and churches that date back to medieval times.

But mention it in San Paolo, Cartagena, or any other Central or South American city and many will immediately recognise its name. It was here in 1494 that Spain (then the Kingdom of Castile) and Portugal divided lands they had yet to find – and thus set the stage for Brazil to become the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas.

I wondered why but had no idea how it originated. This BBC article sets out the history and provides a fascinating peek at the world powers dividing both the known and unknown world.

Noting several AFFers have travelled to Brazil I though it may be of interest to the wider readership.

 

[QF WP]

Funny that my Brazillian friend and I were lamenting that fact whilst watching (from opposite sides of the planet) Australia play Brazil in the Football (soccer) from the MCG recently. He said

aside from Brazil, Portugal and some countries from Africa, elsewhere in the world would you use Portuguese? Except for us, people from the aforementioned countries, Portuguese is almost useless whilst English although not natively, is spoken in every single corner of the world...

Ah, I forgot to mention East Timor.

Got to love Messenger

 

[Warks]

Mozambique, Angola, Goa...

 

[kpc]

Macau (the older citizens)

 

[QF WP]

Thanks for the link to the article Hvr. Sent it to my Brazillian friend in Belo Horizonte and he appreciated it. Now to increase my knowledge of Portuguese (because his English is very good - helps listening to good Australian bands that tour there).