Long before Europeans arrived, the land we now call Brazil was home to millions of Indigenous people—such as the Tupinambá, Tupiniquim, and Guarani—who spoke many languages and lived in diverse societies along the coast and deep in the forests. In the late 1400s, Portugal and Spain were racing to find new ocean routes. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Atlantic world between them, placing a large slice of the western ocean—unknown to Europeans—on Portugal’s side. In March 1500, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral sailed toward India, following winds and currents that pushed the ships far to the southwest. On April 22, 1500, Cabral’s sailors sighted land: a high, wooded hill they called Monte Pascoal. They anchored nearby, probably in today’s southern Bahia, and claimed the territory for the Portuguese Crown. A few days later, they celebrated the first Mass on the beach. Pêro Vaz de Caminha, the expedition’s scribe, wrote a famous letter describing the landscape, the people they met, and the natural wealth they imagined the land contained. Cabral first named it Ilha de Vera Cruz (“Island of the True Cross”) and soon Terra de Santa Cruz; over time, the name “Brazil” took hold, inspired by the valuable red dye wood—pau-brasil—found along the coast.