De Gestis Meni de Saa

De Gestis Meni de Saa is a poem written about 1560 (see 1560 in poetry) by José de Anchieta, a 16th century Portuguese Jesuit missionary in Brazil, who was called the "Apostle of Brazil." The poem describes the "heroic deeds" of Portuguese soldiers "fighting in the immense wilderness."

The wars referred to were actually aimed at the systematic conquest and destruction^{[citation needed]} of Tupi villages and fields and the enslaving of their inhabitants, as a means of "putting an end to cannibalism" and facilitating their Christianization. Anchieta and his fellow-Jesuit Manuel da Nóbrega supported and actively promoted that aggressive policy.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Portugal in America