We are used not to think about the origin of the name of nations. Therefore, I guess that a lot of you have no idea of why Brazil is named Brazil. Nevertheless, I shall say about the story. It is interesting and I hope you like it.

A long time ago (1500), Brazil was colony of Portugal. On that time, Portugal exploited a large number of natural sources from the new land or discovered land (Brazil) in order to send it to Portugal and rest of Europe. 

The natural products they exploited were: wood, spices, seeds, medicinal herbs, some animals etc. The Portuguese people could get these products through agreements with indigenous people. The Portuguese people give to them a gift such as necklaces, combs and axes. On the other side, the indigenous people let them take the natural products.

Nonetheless, among all the natural products that the Portuguese people could acquire, the most valuable and significant was the "Pau – Brasil" wood. Pau Brasil is a Brazilian tree. Europeans were very keen to find these trees in order to extract from its wood a red ink which were very used in the textile industry of Portugal and Europe.

The populations of Pau-Brasil tree were found from North of Brazil (Rio Grande do Norte) to Rio de Janeiro. The most significant areas of the tree were in Pernambuco, Porto Seguro and Cabo Frio.

The tree just could be exploited with authorization of the king of Portugal. In this way, the king could get the majority of the profit.

Deforestation of the Atlantic Forest happened in a massively. After Portugal start the exploitation in the east cost of Brazil looking for "Pau-Brasil" trees, France began to explore the land as well. Since the moment that France and other European countries start to be interested on the wood, Portugal organized a sort of army which had as a mission to expel the invaders.

A type of war into the wood occurred and also an indigenous conflict started because of interests. For instance, some indigenous groups were on behalf to France and others on behalf of Portugal.

That is the explanation of why Brazil is called Brazil. It is because of the tree name! Due to the crazy interest of the Europeans specially Portuguese for the wood.

Currently, the tree is quite rare to be founded. However in my university there are some individuals. I took a picture to show you. Follow bellow!