Jorge Amado; Where People and Cultures Have Mingled

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In many respects Brazil is a microcosm, a mixture of peoples and sensibilities drawn from all over the world-all humanity in a nutshell. It is also one country, with one government and a set of national institutions. Which of these two aspects do you consider the most important in your country-diversity or unity? Is it possible to speak of a Brazilian people and a Brazilian culture? In my opinion, one can speak of a single people, with its own culture, born of the intermingling of all the races who have passed that way.

Which are these races? - First of all, of course, there were the Indians. Then came the Europeans, mostly the Portuguese. But gradually the groups from Europe became more diversified. By the fifteenth century Portugal itself already had a very mixed population. Among the people were those who were known as the Moors. There were also the "new Christians" as they were called, jews fleeing from the Inquisition who, although they had been converted, were still being persecuted. In addition, there was a large Dutch colony.

Then there were the Africans, brought in as slaves. With them, racial intermixture began to accelerate. Anxious to split up the original tribes, the slave-owners would buy groups of slaves of different tribal origins-a Yoruba, a Bantu, a Congolese.

So the slaves interbred among themselves; but did they also interbreed with their white masters? Yes. The Portuguese interbred very readily and this mixing was so widespread that today there are no pure blacks.

If you look into the ancestry of any black-skinned Brazilian, his or her mother or father, grandparents or greatgrandparents, you will always end up by finding a white ancestor somewhere.

Are there any pure whites? - Among the immigrants of long standing, there are …