Origins , 1904. In April 1500, Brazil was claimed by Portugal on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by
Pedro Álvares Cabral. Until 1530 Portugal had yet to establish their first colony in Brazil. In the first century of settlement, the Portuguese realized it would be difficult to use the
natives as
slave labor. They were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to Western diseases and could run away and hide rather easily. So Portugal turned to imported
African slaves for manual labor. The economic activity was concentrated on a small population of settlers engaged in a highly profitable export–oriented
sugarcane industry in the
Northeast. In the 1690s, the
discovery of gold, and in the 1720s diamonds further south in
Minas Gerais, opened new opportunities. The gold industry was at its peak around 1750, with production around 15 tons a year, but as the best deposits were exhausted, output and exports declined. In the first half of the 18th century profit remittances from gold averaged 5.23 million mil reis (£1.4 million) a year, of which the identifiable royal revenues were around 18 per cent. Total Brazilian gold shipments over the whole of the 18th century were between 800 and 850 tons.
Inconfidência Mineira The of 1788–1789, led by the patriot and revolutionary
Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (popularly known as
Tiradentes), was the first major movement against Portuguese rule in Brazil. It was triggered by taxes, including the detested or "
royal fifth," a 20% tax on the gold produced. as well as the , an annual tax quota of 100
gold bars imposed on the state of Minas Gerais; if it was unmet, the
Portuguese crown could force the Brazilian people to pay the remaining balance. The uprising failed and the conspirators were arrested. For 13 years, Rio de Janeiro functioned as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal in what some historians call a "metropolitan reversal"—i.e., a former colony exercising governance over the entirety of the Portuguese empire. In 1815, during the
Congress of Vienna, John VI created the
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, elevating Brazil to the same rank as Portugal and increasing the administrative independence of Brazil. Brazilian representatives were elected to the Portuguese Constitutional Courts. In 1816, with the death of
Queen Maria, John VI was crowned King of Portugal and Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.
John VI faced a
political crisis when groups in Portugal tried to reverse the metropolitanisation of their former colony. With the end of the
Napoleonic Wars came calls for John to return to Lisbon and for Brazil to return to its previous colonial condition. By late 1821 the situation was becoming unbearable and John VI and the royal family returned to Portugal.
Independence of Brazil '', 1888. The Portuguese Courts then demanded that Prince
Pedro return to Portugal. As his father had advised him to do, the prince instead declared his intention to stay in Brazil in a speech known as the
"Fico" ("I am staying"). Pedro proclaimed
Brazilian independence on September 7, 1822 and subsequently became the first emperor of the country. There was some armed resistance from Portuguese garrisons in Brazil, but the struggle was brief. Diplomatic relations were re-established in 1895 by the
Prudente de Morais administration. ==Political ties==