The rush began when bandeirantes discovered large gold deposits in the mountains of Minas Gerais.

Many bandeirantes were of mixed indigenous and European background who adopted the ways of the natives, which permitted them to survive in the interior.

Many people abandoned the sugar plantations and towns in the northeast coast to migrate to the gold region.

[5] The discovery of gold in the area caused a huge influx of European immigrants and the government decided to bring in bureaucrats from Portugal to control operations.

The lasting effect of the gold rush was to extend a finger of Portuguese settlement northwest from São Paulo to the current Bolivian border.

The discoverers were Pascoal Moreira Cabral Leme and Antonio Pires de Campos.

Miguel Sutil found half an arroba of gold in one day near the present town of Cuiabá.

The area soon had a population of 7000 including 2600 slaves and was producing 400 arrobas of gold a month.

The outbound journey, loaded with passengers and freight, started during high water from March to June and took from five to seven months.

Attacks declined as the gold ran out and because the Payagua quarreled with their Guayacuru or Mbayá neighbors, a horse people on both sides of Paraguay.