In this text, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda analyzes what he sees as a fundamental aspect of the origin of Brazilian society: the effort to import Iberian culture to America. In the text, Holanda reminds us that Iberia was an “uncertain” region between Europe and Africa and therefore less charged with European character, which resulted in it exhibiting a weaker version of feudalism. This mild feudalism had many consequences, such as the lack of a new set of strong bourgeois values, a contemptuous attitude toward work, and an admiration for inherently inactive personal qualities in a land of fidalgos. Unlike Protestant countries that adopted a morality based on work, according to Holanda, there was an incentive to order and solidarity; in Iberia, solidarity only existed when linked to personal affinities, friends, or the domestic sphere. Without the organization required for the smooth functioning of work and production in Protestant societies, the unifying principle in countries linked to the Iberian Peninsula had to be exerted by external power. Therefore, the need for strong governments was reflected in frequent dictatorships and caudillismo. In his view, the only truly strong political principle in Iberian societies was “blind obedience,” exemplified most clearly by the Jesuit orders. For the author, this lack of an internal organizing principle in the Iberian society was the cause of the instability in Brazil. Holanda concludes that, based on all this evidence, Brazilians had much more in common with Portugal than his contemporaries were probably willing to admit.