Covering a period of more than five hundred years, ranging from the roots of the Portuguese colonization to current days, Boris Fausto narrates the most important facts of Brazilian history. In his detailed analysis of the greater influences that delineate the country’s formation, the author analyzes fundamental institutions, such as the colonial system, the slavery system and the authoritarian regimes of the 20th century. Fausto emphasizes socio-political practices, challenging controversial issues, including reasons for the Portuguese abandoning the enslavement of the indigenous peoples, but enslaving Africans; the maintenance of the Brazilian territory as a whole, while the Spanish colonies were fragmented; and even the difficult transition from the authoritarian regime to the democratic government over the last few decades.