tlers. Nicholas Durand de
Villegagnon, a bold and skilful seaman, having visited Brazil, saw at
once the advantages which might accrue his country from a settlement
there. In order to secure the interest of Coligny, he gave out that his
projected colony was intended to serve as a place of refuge for the
persecuted Huguenots. Under the patronage of that admiral, he arrived at
Rio de Janeiro in 1558 with a train of numerous and respectable
colonists. As soon, however, as he thought his power secure, he threw
off the mask, and began to harass and oppress the Huguenots by every
means he could devise. Many of them were forced by his tyranny to return
to France; and ten thousand Protestants, ready to embark for the new
colony, were deterred by their representations. Villegagnon, finding his
force much diminished in consequence of his treachery, sailed for France
in quest of recruits; and during his absence the Portuguese governor, by
order of his court, attacked and dispersed the settlement. For some
years the French kept up a kind of bush warfare; but in 1567 the
Portuguese succeeded in establishing a settlement at Rio.

Mem de Sa continued to hold the reins of government in Brazil upon terms
of the best understanding with the clergy, and to the great advantage of
the colonies, for fourteen years. On the expiration of his power, which
was nearly contemporary with that of his life, an attempt was made to
divide Brazil into two governments; but this having failed, the
territory was reunited in 1578, the year in which Diego Laurenco da
Veiga was appointed governor. At this time the colonies, although not
yet independent of supplies from the mother country, were in a
flourishing condition; but the usurpation of the crown of Portugal by
Philip II. changed the aspect of affairs. Brazil, believed to be
inferior to the Spanish possessions in mines, was consequently abandoned
in comparative neglect for the period intervening between 1578 and 1640,
during which it continued an apanage of Spain.

English and French aggressions.

No sooner had Brazil passed under the Spanish crown, than English
adventurers directed their hostile enterprises against its shores. In
1586 Witherington plundered Bahia; in 1591 Cavendish made an abortive
attack on Santos; in 1595 Lancaster attacked Olinda. These exploits,
however, were transient in their effects. In 1612 the French attempted
to found a permanent colony in the island of Marajo, where the