In his letter to Manuel I of Portugal, Pero Vaz de Caminha gives what is considered by many today as being one of the most accurate accounts of what Brazil used to look like in 1500. "[...] Esse arvoredo, que é tanto, tamanho, tão basto e de tantas prumagens, que homens as não podem contar.", which roughly translates as "Such vastness of the enormous treeline, with abundant foliage, that is incalculable", is one of Pero's most famous descriptions. He describes in a diary from the first journey from Portugal to Brazil and their arrival in this country. This letter is considered to be the first document of Brazilian history as much as its first literary text. The original of this 27-page document can be found in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon. Contextual Information Manuel I ascended the throne at a time when Portugal was discovering wealth in Africa and the East; he was keen on ensuring Portugal maintained dominance in trade with the East. Portugal has established their presence with enclaves, forts and fortified trading posts. Pedro Álvares Cabral led the largest fleet in Portuguese fleet on a mission to Calicut, India where Vasco da Gama has opened a sea route to two years prior. Many historians have debated on the authenticity of this discovery; some have reason to believe that Portugal had prior knowledge of Brazil's existence. Pero Vaz de Caminha was the secretary of this fleet; he had been appointed to be the administrator of a trading post to be created in Calicut. Once Cabral had gathered basic facts and had encountered the native people, he took this information and Caminha's letter on a smaller ship back to Lisbon. Contents General description of the native people Comments on the native women, comparing them to European women Other The admiral of the ship that sailed to Brazil sent Nicolau Coelho out to interact with the natives. The people they encountered when they arrived in Brazil lived by a mix of hunting-gathering and agriculture. They were brown and reddish-skinned and completely unclothed. Their languages were divided into four major families with many isolates, and even related languages and dialects were likely to not be mutually intelligible, so they had to communicate through actions and sign languages. They tried to give the natives things to eat such as bread, fish, cakes, honey and even wine. The natives took