MONUMENT TO THE BANDEIRANTES

The first time I saw this monument I was under the age of five.

Since then through the years I haver re-visited or passed by car hundreds of times.

To a child this seemed gigantic!  As an adult, the monument remains enormous to the average man!

The Monument of the Bandeirantes is located in São Paulo Brazil near the entrance to the Ibirapuera Park in the Armanda de Salles Oliveira Square.  The history behind it is met with consternation at best.

Originally this was commissioned by the Government within São Paulo to commemorate the Seventeeth Century “Bandeiras” which were the settling expeditions to the interior of Brazil by the “Bandeirantes” which were the 17-century Portuguese Settlers.

The criticism received is due to the dark nature of history. Instead of celebrating the heroic deeds of man marching forward discovering new lands, it has been negatively pervaded by the killing and enslaving of the indigenous peoples of Brazil during their journey.
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Yearly enormous sums of money are spent removing the evidence of vandalism usually red paint signifying the spilled blood that protesters have flung.  Every country has a past that most decent people do not honor.  This is one, however good or bad it remains a part of my heritage, a part of my memories of my youth and in my heart for the treasured memories I have of my family when we were still together; before adulthood separated our households and our picnics on the ground beside it.