The French in Brazil (Intro)

France Antarctique 1555-1560
The French ports in Normandy, specially Rouen and Dieppe, where in the XVI century a thriving textile industry was established, became the main economic activity that competed with Portugal for the Brazilian market.  Aware of the presence of vast forests of Brazilwood, used for dyeing fabrics, the French soon established commercial relations with the natives. 

The first voyage dates from 1503-1504, when the ship "Espoir" arrived on Brazilian coasts. After this first contact, expeditions multiplied.

In 1531, two French ships and 120 men under the command of Jean Dupéret, landed on the Brazilian coasts. On the island of Santo Aleixo (near Recife), called by the French of Ile Saint-Alexis, they built a fort and a commercial trading post. This French factory had a brief life. The Portuguese captured French ships on their voyage back to Europe and in December 1531 besieged the French fort until surrender.

The French made three other attempts to establish themselves in Brazil. The first one was in Rio de Janeiro (1555-1560), the second in Ibiapaba-Ceará (1590-1604), and the third in São Luís do Maranhão (1612-1615).

In the 1550s, the region of Cabo Frio to Rio de Janeiro was more under the control of the French than under the rule of the Portuguese.

For almost five years, between 1555 and 1560, the French held a fort on a small island in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro): Fort Coligny.

Calvinists Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon was sent to Brazil in 1555 to mark the French presence there. On August 14, 1555, with three ships, 600 sailors and colonists, he left for Brazil.

The French expedition arrived between 10-15 of November of 1555, in the Bay of Guanabara and they disembarked in a deserted island, the present island of Villegagnon.

In it was built the Coligny Fort and soon established good relations with the natives who lived there.

The members of this first expedition were almost all of Brittany and Normandy and were subdivided between Catholics and Protestants.

Shortly thereafter, in March 1556, a second expedition arrived, consisting of three ships and 190 men.

The colony had a good development, but the intolerant and rigorous norms of Villegagnon paralyzed the growth of the promising French nucleus.

The oppressive rules of Villegagnon compelled a good part of the settlers to leave the place. Among them were some Huguenots who returned to France, where their denunciations led to the desistance of an expedition of 700 to 800 settlers being organized.

In 1559, Villegagnon also returned to France, leaving the eating of the colony for his nephew Bois-le-Comte.

Portugal, which was not willing to tolerate the French presence on their lands, sent an expedition of 120 Portuguese and 1,000 Indians under the orders of Mem de Sá, Governor General of Brazil (1558-1570), who on March 16, 1560, after two days and two nights of a fierce confrontation, destroyed the French colony. The 70 French survivors and their 800 allied Indians, demoralized, left the fort and took refuge among other Indians.

As WJ Eccles wrote in his book "France in America":
"For a century, French traders had challenged the Portuguese hold on this vast region, with little or no aid from the Crown. But for religious dissension at Rio de Janeiro, and the unfortunate character of Villegagnon, France rather than Portugal might well have established a vast empire in South America."