The transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil in 1808 was a significant step toward Brazilian independence. It elevated Brazil's status and made recolonization difficult. Brazilian independence was achieved in 1822 due to factors like British support, restrictions on Brazilian trade, and Dom Pedro's refusal to return to Portugal. After independence, Brazil experienced political turmoil but stabilized under Emperor Dom Pedro II. Slavery ended in 1888. The economy initially relied on exports like sugar, cotton, and coffee, with infrastructure and industry developing in the late 1800s. However, Brazil faced growing international competition in exports by 1900.

1. Brazilian Independence and
National Development
The Making of Brazil

2. Map of South America

3. Map of Brazil

4. The Establishment of Brazil
 In 1500 a Portuguese ship was blown off its
course and carried to the east coast of South
America.
 The Portuguese planted their flag and
proclaimed the entitlement of their king to this
new land and undertook to explore it.
 In the jungle they found trees with a wood as
red as that which they imported from the East
and became known as brasil (hence their
name).

5. The Establishment of Brazil
Cont’d
 Treaty of Tordesillas, divided the world between
Portugal and Spain
 Since the 1540s, Portuguese invaders set about
exploiting the riches of Brazil through cattle
ranching and sugar cane cultivation. The
indigenous people reluctantly provided the
labour.
 It is believed that the first black people imported
from Africa arrived in Brazil in 1850.

6. The Establishment of Brazil
Cont’d
 It is estimated that 3.5 million Africans arrived in
Brazil over three centuries of slavery (slavery ended in
1888).
 The major threat to Portugal in Brazil came from the
Dutch, who captured and occupied vast areas of Brazil,
including Pernambuco. The Dutch were eventually
expelled from Brazil.
 Brazilian society, like any other slave society saw a
high level of miscegenation between masters and
slaves and the creation of a large coloured class. (there
was a shortage of Portuguese women etc.)

7. Timeline of Brazilian History
 1500 22nd April: Pedro Alvares Cabral (1460-1526),
Portuguese explorer and master of the Nina in the Columbus
expedition of 1492, discovered Brazil and claimed it for
Portugal
 1540Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Vaca appointed
governor of the Brazilian province of Rio de la Plata
 1550African slaves were transported to Brazil to work sugar
plantations.
 1624The Dutch conquer Salvador.
 1636November 17: The great Brazilian general Henrique Dias
won a decisive battle against the Dutch.
 1661August 6: Holland sold Brazil to Portugal for 8 million
guildas.

8. Timeline Cont’d
 1763The Brazilian capital was changed from Salvador to
Rio de Janeiro
 1789Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier led the first Brazilian
rebellion against Portugal
 1792Jose da Silva Xavier was hung, drawn and quartered
by the Portuguese
 1808 Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil.
 1810Overthrow of the King of Spain by Napoleon
Bonaparte
 1821April the Portugal court returns to Portugal.
 1822September 7: Brazil declares its independence from
Portugal
 18221822-1889 Pedro I ruled Brazil starting the period of
the Brazilian monarchy

9. Cont’d
 1832April 8: Charles Darwin began a trip through
Rio de Janeiro
 1888May 13: Slavery was abolished in Brazil and
more than 4 million slaves were freed
 1889November 15: Brazilian monarchy was
overthrown and a republic was established

10. The Transfer of the Portuguese
Court to Brazil
 What was the significance of the
transfer of the Portuguese court to
Brazil?

11. Transfer of the Court
 Brazil took its first major step toward independence in
1808, when the Portuguese crown and court, fleeing
before a French invasion of Portugal, arrived in Rio
de Janeiro to make it the new capital of the
Portuguese Empire.
 Full national sovereignty came in 1822, when Dom
Pedro, who ruled Brazil as regent for his father, Joao
VI, rejected a demand that he return to Portugal and
issued his famous cry “Independence or Death”.

12. Cont’d
 With the transfer of the court Rio de Janeiro Brazil
became the centre of a world wide empire.
 Brazil now enjoyed greater imperial status as well as
more liberal trade and industrial policies.
 In 1815, Brazil was declared a kingdom, equal to
Portugal.
 Another significant development was that with the
transfer of the court, it was almost impossible to once
again turn Brazil into a “colony” of Portugal.
 The transfer of the Portuguese court, apart from
freeing up Brazil’s economy, also ended its cultural
and intellectual isolation from the wider world.

13. Factors that contributed to Brazil’s
achievement of Independence in
the 1820s

14.  The transfer of the Portuguese court to Rio
de Janeiro by Dom Joao. Brazil was later,
in 1815, was raised to the status of
Kingdom.
 British and U.S. recognition of Latin
American Independence.
 Brazilians were upset by the Portuguese
Parliament’s efforts to return Brazil to
colonial status.

15.  Dom Pedro’s decision to stay in Brazil
conferred legitimacy on the Brazilian state.
 The demand for greater political autonomy.
 Restrictions on production and trade
resulted in wide-scale criticism of
Portugal’s mercantilist policies.

16. Brazil after independence
 The rule of Dom Pedro was short lived, from
1822- 1831.
 There was some political turmoil in the following
years, but by 1850, Brazil was at peace with the
emperor presiding over a pseudo-parliamentary
regime that in reality was a royal dictatorship
exercises in the interests of a tiny ruling class.
(the emperor was Dom Pedro’s son, Dom Pedro
II (the boy emperor).
 Slavery ended in 1850 under pressure from
Britain.

17. Industrial Development
 The end of the slave trade saw large sums
formerly expended for the purchase of
slaves now being channeled to other uses,
partly into coffee agriculture, partly into
the building of an infrastructure for the
emerging national economy.
 The first telegraph lines in Brazil were
established in 1852 and the first railroad
line begun in 1854.

18. Cont’d
 In these years a pioneer of Brazilian
capitalism, Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, later
the barren Maua, laid the foundations of a
veritable industrial and banking empire.
 By the 1860s though a growing number of
Brazilians were anti-slavery (slavery ended
1888).
 - The age of sugar as the dominant export
ended rapidly during the 19th
century. By the
end of the century it was only 6% of the
country’s exports.

19. Cont’d
 There was some economic growth through the great
progress that was made in coffee production and
export: it rose from 60,000 tons per annum in the
1830s to 216,000 in 1871. In 1901 exports were
880,000 tons.
 Cotton was also exported- 10% of the world market,
but faced competition from the U.S.
 There was also cacoa and rubber production for
export, but by the 1880s these faced increasing
competition.
 Brazil also produced large quantities of staples such
as maize, beans, bananas and manioc meal for the
domestic market (internal).

20. Students need to read generally on the
topic focusing on:
 Factors that contributed to the success of the
independent movement.
 The pace of economic development in Brazil
in the post independence period
 Agricultural production and the development
of industry up to 1900.
 * Remember our cut off point is 1900*