Ilha de Vera Cruz () (Portuguese for Island of the True Cross) was the first name given by the Portuguese navigators to the northeast coast of what later became Brazil. The name was changed to Terra de Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy Cross) in 1503, with another variation being Terra de Vera Cruz (Land of the True Cross).
When the Portuguese fleet, under Pedro ÃÂlvares Cabral, first officially touched land in South America on 22 April 1500, they thought they had found an island, as reflected in the chosen name. They took possession for the Kingdom of Portugal of what was believed to be an island of strategic importance on a western connection between Portugal and the Moluccas and other islands of the East Indies.
The first mention of the territory as Land of the True Cross is found on the Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha:
Four years later, on 1504, a letter of donation of the Island of Saint John (currently Fernando de Noronha) addressed to Fernando de Noronha still mentions the land as Land of the Holy Cross:
The arrival of Cabral's fleet marked the beginning of Portuguese colonization in South America. The name was officially changed to Terra de Santa Cruz when it was realized that it was not an island, but in fact part of a continent.
In 1534, the colonies of Terra de Santa Cruz became the Captaincies of Brazil, land grants to Portuguese captains General by King John III of Portugal.
The exchange of the land's name from Terra de Santa Cruz to Brazil was not officially done at first, but a product of diverse socioeconomic processes done by the Portuguese monarchy, with the pretext of spreading Christianity rapidly fading away in favor of economic exploitation of the territory. Note that "Brazil" is a contraction of the Portuguese term for Pau-Brazil, a valuable wood at the 16th and 17th centuries. This exchange motivated by economic exploitation becomes apparent in the works of chroniclers Damião de Góis and João de Barros.
With the creation of the State of Brazil by the Portuguese Crown on 1549, the name consolidated as the official name of the Portuguese claims in the American continent, even with the usage of Terra de Santa Cruz lasting for some years. An example of this usage would be the História da ProvÃÂncia de Santa Cruz (History of the Province of the Holy Cross), of Pero de Magalhães Gandavo, published on 1575.
In the modern day, Brazilian traditionalist Catholic groups like Centro Dom Bosco motivated a resurgence of the term with the goal of emphasize the so-called "Catholic vocation" of Brazil, a vocation that has been present since "the first instances of [the Portuguese] colonization".