<P> Brazilian gold, first discovered in the late 17th century, has played an important and lasting role in shaping the social, cultural, and economic realities of eastern South America . The initial discovery of gold in the area that is modern - day Brazil led to the longest lasting gold rush in world history, bringing hundreds of thousands of non-indigenous Portuguese and slaves to the area as well as environmental destruction and pollution . The effects from mass migration to the region in the pursuit of riches are some of the biggest formative components of Brazilian culture today . However, along with the opportunity for economic prosperity that gold has offered to some, extensive mining and the processes that accompany purification of the valuable mineral have wreaked havoc on the delicate ecosystem of the Amazon, with large swaths of rainforest leveled and dangerously high levels of mercury deposited in the Amazon River . Despite the negatives, Brazilian gold is still highly sought after and mined by modern - day Brazilian "garimpieros," partly due to the recent resurgence of gold prices making the dangerous and polluting line of work highly profitable . </P> <P> During the 1690s in southeastern Colonial Brazil, when Portuguese colonists known as bandmasters roamed the countryside looking for indigenous peoples of Brazil to capture for the slave trade, gold was discovered . The discovery changed the history of eastern South America, expanded the use of indigenous and African slaves in the Portuguese colonial regions of the continent, and contributed to the borders of present - day Brazil . The bandmasters had found gold in the present day Mina Raiser region . </P> <P> Unlike other gold rushes in the world's history, the Brazilian Gold Rush lasted the longest, from the 1690s into the 19th century . In contrast to the 1840s − 1850s California Gold Rush, which helped the United States establish new "Industrial Revolution" era infrastructure, the Brazilian gold rush saw mass migration but little new non-mining infrastructure in the colony . Much like other gold rushes around the world of the era, the natural resources received notable environmental degradation from the mining process . What sets the Brazilian gold rush apart is that the consequences from losing environmentally crucial resources did not hinder the mining of gold . </P>

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