Wikipedia
The Bandeirantes (, "those who carry the flag") were 17th-century Portuguese settlers in Brazil and fortune hunters. This group mostly hailed from the São Paulo region, which was known as the Captaincy of São Vicente until 1709 and then as the Captaincy of São Paulo. They led expeditions called bandeiras ( Portuguese, "flags") which penetrated the interior of Brazil far south and west of the Tordesillas Line of 1494, which officially divided the Castilian, later Spanish, (west) domain from the Portuguese (east) domain in South America.
The São Paulo settlement served as the home base for the most famous bandeirantes. Most bandeirantes were descendants of first- and second-generation Portuguese who settled in São Paulo, but their numbers also included many mestizos. Though they originally aimed to capture and force Indigenous Americans into slavery, the bandeirantes later began to focus their expeditions on finding gold, silver, and diamond mines. As they ventured into unmapped regions in search of profit and adventure, they expanded the effective borders of the Brazilian colony.
Bandeirante is Portuguese for 'scout', and may refer to:
- Bandeirantes, Portuguese Brazilian colonial slavers and fortune hunters
- The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, a small turbo-prop passenger aircraft
- Rede Bandeirantes, a broadcast television network in Brazil.
- Federação de Bandeirantes do Brasil, the Girl Scouts of Brazil