The Brazilian Empire

The royal family maintained in Brazil even after Napoleon ended the domination of Portugal, they stayed in Brazil for a total of 14 years. However, because of political pressures from Portugal, Prince Joao VI of Portugal yielded and returned to Lisbon, leaving the power to rule to his son, Dom Pedro.(6) The Cortes (parliament) back in Portugal was not pleased with Brazil's position, and wanted Pedro to restore Brazil to Portugal's colony.(1) They ordered Pedro to return to Europe, and under the support of the Brazilians, Pedro later gave the speech “Fico” (I am Staying), declaring his stay. Pedro announced the Independence in Ipiranga, Brazil on September 7, 1822, a year after his father, Joao VI, left Brazil the Brazilian Empire was born.(1)

The flag of the Brazilian Empire

The Rising of Brazil

The movement of the Royal Family could be said as the main factor that caused the Independence of Brazil in 1822. When Napoleon attempted to stop other countries to trade with Great Britain, Portugal continued the trade treaties with Britain. Napoleon, unhappy with the Portuguese, therefore signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau with Spain to divide Portugal. Not long after, Napoleon sent troops to attack Portugal, but before the troops could reach them, the royal family of Portugal left for Brazil.(6) The arrival of the royal family made some changes in the economic environment in Brazil. Prince Joao VI decided to invalidate some Portuguese laws such as prohibiting local manufacturing of textiles gunpowder and guns, as well as the building of wheat mills. Brazil later also had a higher level of autonomy(freedom from external control or influence) and modernization.(6)

When The Portuguese Takes Over Control

Brazil expanded westward in three groups. There were the Missionaries who went along Amazon and towards south and southeast, the Cattlemen which settled in the Northeast looking for pastures, and the Bandeirantes, who were explorers and hunters that moved westward to capture Indian slaves and look for precious stones such as gold. Although the method used for capturing the Indians were often violent and inhumane, it later helped Brazil unifying its subcontinent.(1)


The Portuguese made an effort on converting the Indians to Christians since the claiming of Brazil was based on requiring the conversion of the natives. The Indians who accepted to be Christianized were under the protection of the crown and treated well. However, the Indians who resisted to convert were forced to become slaves. (4)


Brought along with the Portuguese to Brazil were their slaves, cattle, seeds and their language.(2) The natives learned Portuguese instead of Spanish.(1) The language difference had no affect on the trade and activities with other Spanish colonies, in fact, it helped the bonding of the people and distinguished Brazil with other Spanish speaking lands in South America.(1)


One of Brazil's major income was sugar, in the 17th century, Brazil was the world's biggest source of sugar!(2) Sugar became the main source of wealth from the 16th - 18th century, which led to major investments in land, labor (slaves) and machinery. The sugar industry was mostly controlled by families that owned plantations.(1) Independent farmers also raised tobacco and cattle; cotton and coffee were produced by small landholders too! They also became major exports by the 18th century. In the late 17th century, Brazil encountered some competitions. The Dutch, English and French also established sugar plantations in their own colonies. Although Brazil's status in the sugar market descended, they discovery of large amount of gold in Minas Gerais.(3) People moved to the interior land from the coast, and more Portuguese immigrated to Brazil because of the discovery of the precious stones.(6) Since Rio de Janeiro is the port closest to the mines, the population grew rapidly and became the capital of the colony in 1763.(3) The large gold industry and sugar plantations required a huge amount of labor. Big amount of slaves were imported to Brazil, the Portuguese brought around 7000 slaves from Africa every year, and by the end of the 17th century, there were about 150,000 slaves in Brazil, which is almost half the population.(3)


The social structure in Brazil expanded in terms of the industries and the large human labor.(3) The head of the fewer white rich families controlled the land, cattle, slaves, mines and the sugar plantations(1). These rich Europeans controlled the local social and political life. The merchants and the Portuguese bureaucrats and officials belonged to the middle class, as they took care of the local institutions. The slaves, although composed almost half the population in Brazil, were at the bottom of the hierarchy.(3)


The Jesuits were also important in Brazil's colonial era. The intention of the Jesuits were to Europeanize the Indians, although the Jesuits later on ironically was "Brazilianized". Indian songs, dances and language were blended into the liturgy. The colonists had also developed interests in the native foods, women, language and customs.(4) But the first bishop wasn't very happy with this, he disagreed with integrating the two cultures. The bishop believed that there should only be two societies: the natives and the Portuguese that rule the natives. The Jesuits later shifted to the south in order to avoid conflicts with the bishop.(4) The Jesuits  also contributed to Brazil's education. They explored land, established schools and built European style buildings in different parts of Brazil, they built libraries wherever they set up schools as well. In schools they used the strict European teaching methods, and wore European style clothing.(5)

The Initial Conquest

On April 22, 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral was the first one to sight mainland South America. Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator sent off Cabral, along with his armada to sail the new sea route from Cape of Good Hope, Africa to India drew by Vasco da Gama. In order to avoid the calms off the Gulf of Guinea during the journey, Cabral sailed far east, thus discovered South America. According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, Brazil was located in the Portuguese zone, therefore Cabral claimed the land of Brazil for Portugal. (1)
The first Portuguese government established in Brazil in 1533. Since Portugal and Spain was united then, Spain's enemy often tried to attack Brazil. For a period of time the Spanish and the Dutch also controlled parts of Brazil, but they were driven out by the Portuguese force and the Brazilians themselves.(1)




*Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) - A treaty between Spain and Portugal, they established a line about longitude 46° 30′ W that divided the New World in to west, which belongs to Spain and east, to Portugal.(1)