Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
was faced with a liberal revolt in Portugal and was unable to delay his return any
longer. In April 1822 he appointed his son,
Dom Pedro
(1798-1834), as prince regent
and governor of Brazil; when he sailed home his last words to his son were, “Get your
hands on this kingdom before some adventurer does.”
The Empire of Brazil
Dom Pedro, young and headstrong, grew increasingly irritated by the strident demands
of the Cortês (Portuguese parliament) that he return home to his father and allow
Brazil to be ruled from Portugal once again. On September 7, 1822, Pedro was out
riding on the plain of Ypiranga, near São Paulo. Buttoning himself up after an attack
of diarrhoea, he was surprised by a messenger with a bundle of letters from Lisbon.
Reading the usual demands for him to return, his patience snapped, and he declared
Brazil independent with the cry “Independence or death!”. With overwhelming popular
support he had himself crowned
Dom Pedro I
, Emperor of Brazil, on December 1, 1822.
The Portuguese, preoccupied by political crises at home, put up little resistance. Apart
from an ugly massacre of Brazilian patriots in Fortaleza, and some fighting in Bahia and
Belém, the Portuguese withdrawal was peaceful and by the end of 1823 none of its
forces remained. To seal the deal, the British helped negotiate a treaty in 1825 whereby
Brazil paid Portugal two million pounds for the loss of its colony - funded with a loan
arranged in London, of course. Indeed, Brazil's viability as an independent nation was
largely dependent on British support for several decades.
Imperial Brazil: wars and revolts
The early decades of independence proved much more di
cult than the break with
Portugal. Dom Pedro became increasingly estranged from his subjects, devoting more
attention to scandalous romances than affairs of state. In April 1831 he was forced to
abdicate and returned to Portugal (he died three years later). His son and heir,
Dom Pedro
II
(1825-91), would later prove an enlightened ruler but, as he was only five at the time,
his capacity to influence events was limited. With a power vacuum at the centre of the
political system, tensions in the provinces erupted into revolt. There were common threads
in all the
rebellions
that ranged in the provinces between the 1820s and 1840s: slaves
rebelling against masters, indigenous and mixed-race resentment of white domination,
Brazilians settling scores with Portuguese and the poor rising against the rich.
Rebellion
The first and most serious conflagration under Dom Pedro II's rule was the
Cabanada
or
War of Cabanos
(1832-35) in Pernambuco, where insurgents demanded the return of
THE CISPLATINE WAR
In 1816 Brazil invaded the area known as
Banda Oriental
(the land between the Río de la
Plata and Rio Grande do Sol), eventually defeating the nascent government of José Gervasio
Artigas, and making it Cisplatine Province in 1821. But just four years later a group of local
nobles proclaimed independence. The ensuing
Cisplatine War
(1825-28) was a disaster for
Brazil; after heavy military defeats the new nation of Uruguay gained its independence in 1828.
1808
1817
1821
1822
The Portuguese court,
fleeing Napoleon,
relocates to Rio
Pernambucan
revolution crushed by
Portuguese troops
João VI returns to
Portugal, leaving his son
Pedro in charge of Brazil
Brazil declares
independence from
Portugal; Dom Pedro I
becomes emperor
