Book excerpt: When Brazil's 'golden age' began, the Portuguese were securely established on the coast and immediate hinterland. European rivals - Spanish, French, Dutch - had been repelled, and expansion into the vast interior had begun. By the end of the 'golden age', bandleirantes, missionaries, miners, planters and ranchers had penetrated deep into the continent. In 1750, by the Treaty of Madrid, Spain recognized Brazil's new frontiers. The colony had come to occupy an area slightly greater than that of the ten Spanish colonies in South America put together. Despite conflicts, the fusion of Portuguese, Amerindian and African into a Brazilian entity had begun; and the explosive expansion of Brazil had laid the foundation for the independence that followed in 1822. Professor Boxer deals not only with the turbulent events of the 'golden age' but analyses the economic and administrative changes of the period. He examines the relationships of officials with colonists, of settlers with Indians, of colony with mother country. Professor Boxer's classic study of a critical period in the growth of Brazil (the world's fifth largest country) has long been out of print. It is here reissued with numerous illustrations.