“…The vast Portuguese colony that was Brazil coexisted for over three centuries with Black Africans and in the process, 'her society and civilization became Africanized'. 27 It is also worth noting that the coast of Benin was open to Brazilian influences from the inception of the slave-trade and that some slaves were exposed to them before their forced migration to the New World. The Brazilian influence in so many areas such as diet, religion, popular festivals, and architecture is the product of this long and complex process of exchange and interaction.…”