History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America, (French: Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre de Brésil; Latin: Historia Navigationis in Brasiliam, quae et America Dicitur) is an account published by the French Huguenot Jean de Léry in 1578 about his experiences living in a Calvinist colony in the Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After the colony dissolved, De Léry spent two months living with the Tupinambá Indians.
Historical context
Brazil was the first area of the Americas explored by the French. At the time of Jean de Léry's History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America, the French and the Portuguese were in competition for control of the resources of Brazil. While reports of cannibalism among the indigenous people were widespread, interactions with the natives showed that they were friendly. At the time, it was common practice to use Europeans who had spent time with the indigenous peoples as interpreters to help the Europeans communicate with the natives. In the years preceding de Léry's writing of History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America, the Portuguese had begun their effort to completely colonize Brazil, so the influence of the French was fading, though pockets of French control and influence still existed in Brazil. This fading influence coincided with the Portuguese's exploration of the Amazon river delta, though trade between the people of Brazil and the English and the Dutch was also increasing. A product of the competition for control of the lands of Brazil between the French and the Portuguese in Brazil was the creation of tribal alliances, with the Tupinamba, the group referred to in History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America, siding with the French against the Tupiniquim, who allied themselves with the Portuguese. In this era of first contacts, the understanding of the indigenous peoples were being informed by the accounts of early explorers like de Léry and the Portuguese explorers, so much of what was known to new arrivals about the indigenous peoples came from reports like de Léry's. These other accounts had some thematic similarities to de Léry's, such as the usage of tribe names to describe the people specifically, or the frequent use of gender-indicating nouns like “man” or “woman”. Thus, de Léry was writing in a different historical context from those accounts emerging from Africa, which emphasized racial elements more than they emphasized gender or non-racial elements.
About Léry
Jean de Léry was born to an upper-class family in 1534 in Margelle (Bourgogne), France. He was well-educated; he studied theology in Geneva whilst working as a shoe-maker. Léry was alive during the Wars of Religion time-period in France between the Protestants and the Catholics. It was during this time that the Genevan church was recruiting Frenchmen to be trained as missionaries of the Reformed Gospel. Léry joined this group but instead of returning to France, in November 1556, he and a group of thirteen Calvinist ministers were sent to Brazil. They were to create the first Protestant mission in the New World. Upon his return to France in 1558, he got married but it is unknown whether or not he had children. He returned to Geneva to further his ministerial studies and became a Protestant minister near Lyon. He also joined Protestant troops in the French religious wars where he used knowledge he gained from his expeditions in Brazil to help him and other soldiers to survive. In 1613, he died of the plague at the age of 79.
Synopsis
The book has 22 chapters, with Chapter 1 discussing the motive behind the voyage to Brazil and Chapters 2-5 describing the sights and events that occurred during the voyage to Brazil. Chapters 6-20 consist of Léry describing the land of Brazil, the physical description of the indigenous people, and the behaviors and customs of the indigenous people. Lastly, Chapters 21 and 22 recount the departure from Brazil and the trip back to France. The book contains detailed descriptions of the plants, animals, and indigenous people in the New World for the French.
Themes
The Tupinamba physical constitution
Léry describes the physical characteristics of the Tupinamba people and details the modifications they make to their bodies, as well as their comfortability with being completely nude. Lery describes the constitution of the average Tupinamba person: