sentences:  Slavery in Brazil
  
  Slavery in Brazil began long before the first Portuguese settlement was established in 1516, as members of one tribe would enslave captured members of another.Later, colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases of settlement to maintain the subsistence economy, and natives were often captured by expeditions called "bandeiras" ("Flags", from the flag of Portugal they carried in a symbolic claiming of new lands for the country).