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History - Exploration and Expansion
Over the following years, a Governor-General,
Rio de Samo, was brought in to supervise expansion. Not only
did Brazil become the world's largest sugar producer under him,
but many Brazilians and Amazonians suffered as they were forced
into labor, slavery, and Jesuit missions. Jesuits attempted to
protect the natives from slavery, and in 1655 Father Antonio
Vieira got a royal decree to halt enslavement by settlers. However,
the Jesuits were expelled in 1759.
In 1743, Charles de La Condamine returned from a visit to the
Amazon with the first recorded scientific data on the river,
the plants, and the people. He also mapped the Amazon with remarkable
accuracy,investigated the poison used by the Amazonians, and
collected a milky sap would later become latex. Alexander Humboldt
followed in 1800 with the first tests of the electric eel after
he had stepped on one. Soon after, the Amazon was deluged with
scientists from all over the world.
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