Lisbon. He is known in history as Manoel Bequimão and was the leader in
the Maranhão revolution of 1684. This uprising, altho it came to grief,
may be regarded as the first of a long series of protests against the
home government resulting in the declaration of the independence of
Brazil on the field at Ypiranga, September 2d, 1822. Beckmann died a
martyr's death at Rio on November 2, 1685. His younger brother, Thomas
Beckmann, who had also taken part in the revolution, was acquitted.[3]

In the 18th-century there was another important German figure in
Brazilian history; that of Lieutenant-General Johann Heinrich von Böhm.
It was von Böhm who, at the head of Portuguese troops, recaptured the
city of Rio Grande in Rio Grande do Sul from the Spaniards in 1777.[4]
Von Böhm was assisted by two other German officers, i.e., the Count of
Lippe and Marschal Funk. These three characters were in a sense the
forerunners of the German battalions brought into Brazil by the First
Empire in the early part of the following century.

The first colonization of importance by Germans in Brazil did not take
place until the early part of the 19th century. Beginning with that
century there was a steady stream of non-Portuguese settlers into the
country, and of these the Germans formed an important part.


COLONIZATION IN INDIVIDUAL STATES.


_Introductory Remarks._

The following is a résumé of the German colonies[5] in Brazil and a
brief introduction to their history.