Robert J. Miller and Micheline D’Angelis,’Brazil, Indigenous Peoples, and the International Law of Discovery’ (Working Paper: February 23, 2011).

Abstract:

The Doctrine of Discovery, viewed through the lens of six hundred years of international law, has shaped Brazil’s legal history and laws ever since 1500 when Portugal claimed first discovery of the territory. A comparative law examination of the Doctrine’s long history in Portuguese and European law demonstrates that Portugal’s domination of Brazil was founded on feudal, religious, racial, and ethnocentric justifications. The adaptation of many of the Doctrine’s elements into Portuguese and Brazilian laws and policies for over five hundred years has had profound implications for Indigenous peoples. Brazil’s attempts to create a more positive and equal future for all of its citizens, just as similar efforts in all settler/colonizer societies, must begin with an enlightened recognition of this history and the Doctrine of Discovery. Only then can serious efforts to eradicate the Doctrine from Brazilian law and international law provide some resolution to deeply-rooted issues in a place of justice and healing.