Written during the early seventeenth century, Frei Vicente do Salvador’s The History of Brazil: 1500–1627 offers a unique account of this volatile and dynamic period and holds the distinction of being the first history of Brazil written by a Brazilian. With sections devoted to natural, social, and political history, this expansive volume serves as a rich primary source, detailing the successes and failures of colonial governance, interactions with a diversity of Native peoples, and disputes between the Portuguese and the French and Dutch. As an eyewitness to many of the events he describes, Frei Vincente offers unparalleled access to the incidents, social customs, and personalities at play in colonial Brazil.

FREI VICENTE DO SALVADOR (1564–1636) was known as “The Brazilian Herodotus” and is recognized as one of the most insightful observers of colonial Brazilian society.

ALIDA C. METCALF is the Harris Masterson Jr. Professor of History at Rice University. Her most recent book is Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500.

TIMOTHY J. COATES is professor emeritus of history at the College of Charleston. The author of several books on the history of Portugal and its former empire, Coates is also the translator of Brazil at the Dawn of the Eighteenth Century and Dialog of a Veteran Soldier.