Colonial Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil Colonial) comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil is elevated to a kingdom alongside Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

During the first three hundred years years of Brazilian colonial history, the economic exploitation of the territory is based first on brazilwood extraction (sixteenth century), sugar production (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries), and finally on gold and diamond mining (eighteenth century).

Slaves, especially those brought from Africa, provide most of the working force of the Brazilian economy.In contrast to the neighboring fragmented Spanish possessions, the Portuguese colony, built up by the Portuguese in Latin America, maintains its territorial unity and linguistic integrity after independence, giving rise to the largest country in the region.