Brazil is the country that is most similar to the United States in ethnic relationships. They have many similarities among their ethnic development patterns. First, both countries experienced a combination of conquest of the Indian population by Europeans. Second, they both imported African slaves for labor. Third, both countries were primarily composed of immigrants from Europe. Slavery lasted for over two centuries in each country. Another similarity is the dominant conflict of ethnic groups is between blacks and whites. Blacks, along with mulattoes in Brazil, are the primary minority group and whites dominate the society. Blacks are ranked the lowest on the social and economics scales, including income, occupation, education, and political power. In Brazil, blacks are stereotyped as dirty, physically unattractive, and lazy. These are very similar to the stereotypes of blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians in the Unites States.
The United States and Brazil are also different in many ways. Brazil had many more African slaves enter than the United States. Slavery last longer than it did in the United States. The African culture influenced Brazil in foods, religion, music, and dance far more than it ever has in the United States. Another difference is the United States colonists were unsuccessful at attempting to enslave Indians but the Portuguese used Indians as slave laborers right away. Brazil's slavery of blacks was milder and more humane than the United States. One factor is the differences between Anglo-Saxon and Portuguese culture. The Portuguese were more tolerant toward colored people and had interacted with them before but Anglo-Saxons had had very little contact with slaves. Brazilians also had a closer master-slave relationship than Anglo-Saxons. In Brazil, slaves were perceived as an unfortunate being, a slave by accident of fate. In the United States, slaves were perceived as less than human and naturally enslaved.
