It was very interesting to read the Fausto readings and see the effects of shifts in European ideas directly affect their colonies and the colonies of their neighbors. Furthermore it was interesting to read the slow decline that Portugal faced during the time period and their attempts to maintain control over their colonies economics and the effects those attempts had. To better control their colonies(specifically Brazil)  and gain revenue from them they tried to forcefully collect their taxes which led to new and different problems in Brazil. The riots described in Minas uprising reading and their motivations are eerily similar to what was going on in the British North American colonies that would become the United States only a few decades later and seeing the different response to those activities was very interesting to see.