Good luck!

The story of the first madness to sweep Brazilian soil: the gold rush that helped forge our nation.

Rain on the head, sun on the back of the neck, plague, famine, wild beasts, cannibals. Betrayal, intrigue, and corruption. These are the ingredients of this adventure. When Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet veered right off the African continent, its compass was greed. Cloves and cinnamon could bring good money in the Old World, but it was the hopes of gold and silver that set the Portuguese heart ablaze. And the European courts. In Boa ventura!, Lucas Figueiredo brings to life, for the first time, the hard and long journey toward the discovery of our mineral riches—and its consequences.

Ever since Manuel I the Fortunate and his unlikely ascension to the Avis throne, the Portuguese obsession with easy enrichment had taken root. And it had driven thousands of men into the sea, unaccustomed to hard work on the land, but eager for El Dorado. Spain's fortune in its share of the Americas only served to fuel the delusions of our metropolis. Countless expeditions ventured—and perished—into the Brazilian backlands in search of anything that glittered. Our own Sabarabuçu, the Brazilian version of Spanish good fortune.

Portuguese America was among the world's nine gemological provinces, with soil imbued with precious stones, especially diamonds. But it took more than two centuries for the Crown to see any sign of wealth. And only half that time to squander those resources. In a hundred years, Portugal had burned more than half the precious metal produced in the world during that period.

A succession of profligate monarchs, corrupt administrators, and tax evaders parade through the pages of Boa ventura! with a familiarity born of good research. Lucas Figueiredo, with several Esso Awards under his belt, follows the footsteps left in the forest trails by generations of adventurers. And he paints a picture of Brazil's great transformation: spurred by the gold rush, immigration helped transform a squalid colony of 300,000 inhabitants into a robust colony of 3.6 million. The search for the metal helped to occupy and protect Brazil's borders, develop agriculture, and even the arts. Only one thing remains from this period... Its main protagonist: Brazilian gold. Scattered throughout Europe.