=CHAPTER I.=


THE COLONIES. HISTORY AND LOCATION.


THE FIRST SETTLERS.

The first reference to German settlers in Brazil we have from the pen of
Hans Stade of Homberg in Hessen. Stade made two trips to Brazil; one in
1547 and one in 1549. In the latter instance he was shipwrecked but
succeeded in landing safely near the present port of Santos in the state
of São Paulo. As he was a skilled artillerist the Portuguese made him
commander of the fort Bertioga, the ruins of which are an interesting
landmark to this day. Later Stade spent several most trying years as the
captive of a cannibalistic tribe.

After his return to Germany, Stade published an account of his
experiences. The first edition entitled "_Wahrhafftige Historia unnd
beschreibung einer landschafft der Wilden, Nacketen, Grimmigen,
Menschfresser Leuthen in der Newen Welt America gelegen, ..._" appeared
at Marburg in 1557.[1] In this work Stade refers to two of his
fellow-countrymen located in Brazil; the one Heliodorus Eoban of Hessen,
who had charge of a sugar-refinery on the island of São Vicente (near
Santos); the other Peter Rösel, who was located in Rio de Janeiro as the
representative for a business firm of Antdorff.[2]

Next we come to Manuel Beckmann, the son of a German who had located in