Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil

by Domingos Sequeira. The portrait depicts a bust of his mother Maria I, who was judged incapable of handling state affairs due to mental instability in 1799. On 19 November 1807, French and Spanish forces invaded Portugal, which was one of Britain's last allies in Continental Europe. At the time, John, Prince Regent had been the de facto ruler of Portugal on behalf of his mentally unstable mother Maria I since 1799. Anticipating the invasion, John ordered the Portuguese court to be transferred to Brazil before he could be deposed. On 27 November, the court embarked on a joint Anglo-Portuguese fleet, whose Portuguese Navy contingent consisted of eight ships of the line, five frigates and four smaller warships led by the 90-gun Príncipe Real, and set sail for Brazil on 29 November. On 5 December, part of the fleet's Royal Navy contingent, under Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, returned to Europe halfway between Lisbon and Madeira; Britain's ambassador to Portugal Lord Strangford was among those who returned. Commodore Graham Moore continued escorting the Portuguese court to Brazil with the British ships of the line Marlborough, London, Bedford, and Monarch. Over a million of Brazil's inhabitants were slaves as a result of the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil. == The transfer ==

Arrival in Brazil and first transformations in 1808 by Geoff Hunt Stark Mad or More Ships Colonies & Commerce.'' 1808 political cartoon by Isaac Cruikshank on the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil. On 22 January 1808, Prince John and his court arrived in Salvador, Brazil. There, John signed a decree which opened Brazil's ports, allowing commerce between Brazil and "friendly nations". This was particularly beneficial for Great Britain and can be seen as one of many ways Prince John found to reward Britain for its assistance. This new law, however, broke the colonial pact that had forced Brazil to maintain direct commercial relations with Portugal only. This transformed the Brazilian economy, and subsequently, its demographics and society. Secret negotiations at London in 1807 by Portuguese ambassador Domingos António de Sousa Coutinho guaranteed British military protection in exchange for British access to Brazil's ports and to Madeira as a naval base. Sousa Coutinho's secret negotiations paved the way for John's law to come to fruition in 1808. This meant that Brazil would no longer only be an agricultural producer. In this decree, John said that in an attempt to promote national wealth and recognize that manufacturing, industrial labor, and multiplication of labor promote means of subsistence for subjects, Brazil should heavily invest in those sectors effective immediately. He abolished any prohibition to industrial development; which expanded the need for labor in the colony, along with attracting foreign investment. The court in the colony , around of the time of the transfer of the court to BrazilBetween 1808 and 1821, John of Braganza, serving as prince regent until 1816 and then as king from 1816 onwards, granted 145 titles of nobility. During the time that the court was located in Brazil, the Portuguese royal family collectively granted more titles of nobility than it had in its past 300 years of existence in Portugal. Much can be said about the motivations for ennobling so many people, and these titles had consequences for the political scene of Brazil, including the systematic isolation of Brazilians from politics. Between 1811 and 1821, a vast majority of noble titles were granted to those who had travelled with the court in 1807 or had fought the French in Portugal and somehow had made their way to Brazil. This drastically changed the demographics of Brazil and of Rio, where most of these enslaved individuals would arrive and remain. It is estimated that the enslaved population in Rio, at its height, was more than half of the total population. After the successful slave revolution that took place in Haiti a few years before, the court started to worry about the small elites regarding potential rebellion and revolution. This led to the creation of the Military Division of the Guarda Real de Polícia, or Royal Police Guard, in charge of urban policing that before the arrival of the royal family consisted of informal guards, watchmen, and sentinels. This further isolated and oppressed enslaved peoples and was the beginning of a phenomenon that proceeded in the 19th and 20th centuries of the criminalization of poverty. It reemphasized racial discrimination on an official level and associated disorder with lack of money and social ascension. This is also when King John VI decreed the establishment of a mounted guard. could be punishable with prison. Furthermore, while attempts to "civilize" the city were made, it also meant that the biggest difference between the old court and the one in Brazil was that half of it now consisted of enslaved peoples. Slavery was not legal in Portugal but allowed in the New World, and continued for several decades even after Brazil achieved independence from Portugal. Imperial relocation also meant the stratification of hierarchy. Those who were already rich, usually because of their connections to nobility, got richer (usually for the same reasons they had been rich in the first place) and the poorer got even poorer, now having to compete for resources, services, and physical space. With the Portuguese government now in Brazil, Portuguese immigration retention increased and this led to further disapproval of Cariocas (the term given to those native to the city of Rio de Janeiro). While the court and nobility wanted to portray itself as open to hearing the critiques and desires of the Brazilian population, only a select few could attend audiences with King John. He implemented the ceremony of beija-mão, a daily ritual where subjects got the chance to go to the royal residence, kiss the king's hand, and express their grievances. This practice to supposedly stay in touch with common people allowed for the social elites to voice their agendas, including white men, the nobility, and the clergy. == Brazil as a kingdom ==

On 16 December 1815, John created the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (Reino Unido de Portugal, Brasil e 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 (Cortes Constitucionais Portuguesas). In 1815, in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat and the meeting of the Congress of Vienna, convened to restore European political arrangements, the Portuguese monarch declared Brazil a co-equal to Portugal to increase Portugal's bargaining power. In 1816, with the death of Queen Maria, Prince John became king of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. After several delays, the ceremony of his acclamation took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1818. Beyond having to go through infrastructural expansion to accommodate for the arrival of 15,000 people, Rio continued to be modified and upgraded in the early stages of the transferring of the court. The city lacked basic sanitation and structured sewer systems. There were very few roads. The goal was to "construct an ideal city; a city in which both mundane and monumental architecture, together with its residents’ social and cultural practices projected an unequivocally powerful and virtuous image of royal authority and government." The city had to reflect the flourishing of the empire and institutions like public libraries, botanic gardens, opera houses, palaces and government buildings were created. Rio was to be modern and secure. Architecture physically changed to reflect modern times. Furthermore, before the arrival of the royal family and court, Brazil consisted of very disconnected conglomerates of people. Vast amounts of empty land and dense tropical forest separated cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Pernambuco, Rio Grande, and Porto Alegre. Needing to create a unified way to control the state and effectively manage territory, the government put in efforts to connect city centers through road development. The monarchy also encouraged internal trade. The isolation of cities had once been used by the Portuguese Empire to keep Brazilians subordinate and unable to organize against the crown. Now, having to manage the territory directly, that was no longer useful. All of these infrastructural developments came at the cost of slaves’ hard work and lives. It is estimated that between 1808 and 1822, "Rio’s slave population increased by 200 percent. As a consequence, remaking Rio de Janeiro into the court meant reconciling the larger quest to metropolitanise the city with slavery and with the African and African-Brazilian residents who made up the majority of its population." Among the important measures taken by John VI (in attempts to Europeanize the country) were creating incentives for commerce and industry, allowing newspapers and books to be printed, even though the Imprensa Régia, Brazil's first printing press was highly regulated by the government, establishing two medical schools, establishing military academies, and creating the first Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil). In Rio de Janeiro, he also established a powder factory, a botanical garden, an art academy, and an opera house. All these measures advanced Brazil's independence from Portugal. Less beneficial were the crown's policies continuing the Atlantic slave trade, attacks on indigenous peoples, and land grants to court favorites. He blocked the entry of ideas of political independence expressed in the U.S. and the former Spanish American colonies, now independent republics. Britain's influence in Brazil increased, with favorable terms of trade, but also extraterritoriality for British merchants. Owing to the absence of the King and the economic independence of Brazil, Portugal entered a severe political crisis that obliged John VI and the royal family to return to Portugal on 25 April 1821; otherwise he risked loss of his Portuguese throne. The heir of John VI, Pedro I, remained in Brazil. The Portuguese Cortes demanded that Brazil return to its former status as a colony and the return of the heir to Portugal. Prince Pedro, influenced by the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Senate (Senado da Câmara), refused to return to Portugal during the Dia do Fico (9 January 1822). Brazil declared its independence on 7 September 1822, forming the Empire of Brazil and ending 322 years of colonial dominance of Portugal over Brazil. Pedro was crowned the first emperor in Rio de Janeiro on 12 October 1822, taking the name Dom Pedro I. == Aftermath ==

The Portuguese court's tenure in Rio de Janeiro created the conditions which led to Brazil's independence. With the court's arrival, Rio de Janeiro saw an immediate increase in its population. This, coupled with increases in trade and subsequent immigration, transformed the city into a major economic center in the New World. In 1815, this resulted in Brazil being declared a co-kingdom with Portugal, raising it from its former colonial status. This was an embodiment of Brazil's growing independence from Portugal, which intensified after the royal family's return to Europe in 1821. Due to his position as heir of the Portuguese crown, Pedro was able to prevent any serious efforts on the part of the Portuguese to retake Brazil. The relatively smooth transition into independence, along with the economic and cultural strides made since the royal court's first arrival, resulted in a thriving time for the young nation. Throughout the royal court's stay in Rio de Janeiro and during the early part of its independence, Brazil saw a huge influx of immigrants and imported slaves. The immigrants were largely young Portuguese, the majority of whom elected to stay in Brazil permanently, rather than return to Portugal. This migration also mirrored a period of political upheaval in Portugal, wherein the loss of Brazil started a series of revolts. The retention of immigrants demonstrated the newfound economic opportunities of the newly independent Brazil, while waves of anti-Portuguese sentiment among the masses of Rio de Janeiro revealed the nation's lingering resentment towards its former rulers. ==See also==