Bandeirantes were participants in the Bandeiras, expeditions organised by the inhabitants of the then poor village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga together with allied Indians to enslave other Indians, recaptured runaway slaves, and mainly to find precious metals and stones.

The Bandeirantes expanded Portuguese America from the small limits of the Tordesilhas Line to roughly the same territory as current Brazil, besides finding minerals that made the fortune of Portugal during the 17th and 18th centuries.