# The Chronicle of Brazil: From the thousand nations of the forest and coast to a Portuguese colony built on sugar, gold, and the largest slave economy of the Americas, and on to an empire, a republic, and a modern democracy. History of Brazil: From the thousand nations of the forest and coast to a Portuguese colony built on sugar, gold, and the largest slave economy of the… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/BRA/chronicle Updated: 2026-08-22 Founding: Independence from Portugal — 7 September 1822. On 7 September 1822, on the banks of the Ipiranga brook near Sao Paulo, the prince regent Dom Pedro proclaimed Brazil's independence from Portugal in the act remembered as the Cry of Ipiranga, with the words Independencia ou Morte (Independence or Death). He was acclaimed Emperor Pedro I, and Portugal recognised the new nation by the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825. European presence had begun more than three centuries earlier, when Pedro Alvares Cabral made landfall on the Brazilian coast in April 1500 and claimed the territory for the Portuguese crown. The monarchy itself ended on 15 November 1889, when a military coup deposed Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed the Republic. Brazil's history begins with the diverse Indigenous peoples, perhaps two to four million strong, who inhabited the land for millennia before European contact. Claimed for Portugal after Pedro Alvares Cabral's landfall in 1500, it became a vast colony whose wealth rested first on sugar and later on gold, sustained by the transatlantic slave trade that brought more enslaved Africans to Brazil than to any other country. Independence came in 1822 with the Cry of Ipiranga, creating a singular monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, which abolished slavery only in 1888, the last nation in the Americas to do so, and gave way to a republic the following year. The twentieth century moved through the Old Republic, the Vargas era and its Estado Novo dictatorship, a long democratic interlude, and the military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985. The Citizen Constitution of 1988 restored democracy to what is today the largest nation in Latin America. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Indigenous Peoples Before Contact — Pre-1500 For thousands of years before any European sail appeared on the horizon, the land that would become Brazil was home to hundreds of distinct nations, from the Tupi and Guarani of the coast and forests to the riverine societies of Amazonia. - by c. 10,000 BCE: **Ancient settlement of the land** — Hunter-gatherer peoples occupy what is now Brazil over many millennia, leaving rock art and ancient sites across the interior and the northeast. [britannica-brazil, ibge-indigenous] - 1st millennium CE: **Tupi-Guarani expansion** — Tupi-Guarani-speaking peoples spread across the Atlantic coast and into the interior, developing the farming and village societies later encountered by Europeans. [britannica-brazil] - c. 1000 CE: **Complex Amazonian societies** — Riverine peoples of Amazonia sustain substantial settled populations, managing forests and soils on a scale long underestimated by outsiders. [britannica-brazil] - 1500 CE: **Some thousand nations at contact** — On the eve of European arrival, perhaps two to four million people in hundreds of distinct nations inhabit the territory of present-day Brazil. [britannica-brazil, ibge-indigenous] ## Portuguese Colony: Sugar, Slavery, and Gold — 1500 - 1822 Claimed by Portugal in 1500, Brazil became a colonial society built on the export of sugar and then gold, and on the labour of millions of enslaved Africans, the largest forced migration of the Atlantic slave trade. - April 1500: **Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal** — Pedro Alvares Cabral makes landfall on the coast near present-day Porto Seguro and claims the land for the Portuguese crown. [britannica-cabral, britannica-brazil] - 1530s onward: **The sugar economy** — Sugar plantations and mills worked by enslaved labour rise in Pernambuco and Bahia, making Brazil a leading producer and the colony's chief source of wealth. [britannica-brazil] - 16th-19th c.: **Transatlantic slave trade** — Brazil becomes the largest single destination of the Atlantic slave trade, receiving roughly 4.8-5 million enslaved Africans over more than three centuries. [slavevoyages, britannica-brazil] - 1690s: **Gold rush in Minas Gerais** — The discovery of gold in the interior sets off a vast rush, founding towns such as Ouro Preto and shifting the colony's centre southward. [unesco-ouro-preto, britannica-brazil] - 1808-1821: **The court moves to Rio** — Fleeing Napoleon, the Portuguese royal court relocates to Rio de Janeiro, which becomes the seat of the empire and is opened to wider trade. [britannica-brazil, britannica-pedro-i] Figures: - Pedro Alvares Cabral (c. 1467/68 - c. 1520) — Portuguese navigator. Commander of the fleet that reached the Brazilian coast in 1500 while bound for India, claiming the land for Portugal and inaugurating European colonisation of Brazil. - Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695) — Leader of the Palmares quilombo. The last leader of Palmares, the great community of people who had escaped slavery in the northeast. Killed in 1695, he endures as a national symbol of resistance to slavery; the date of his death is now Black Consciousness Day. ## Independence and the Empire of Brazil — 1822 - 1889 Brazil won its independence in 1822 not as a republic but as a monarchy, the only enduring empire in the Americas, ruled by the House of Braganza until slavery's abolition and a military coup brought the throne down. - 7 Sept 1822: **Independence and the Empire** — Dom Pedro proclaims independence at the Cry of Ipiranga and is acclaimed Emperor Pedro I, founding the Empire of Brazil. [britannica-pedro-i, britannica-brazil] - 1823 CE: **A capital inland, and a name** — In the Constituent Assembly of the Empire, Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva proposes moving the capital from the coast to the interior and suggests a name for the new city: Brasilia. [senado-brasilia-50] - 1840 CE: **Reign of Pedro II begins** — Pedro II assumes personal rule, beginning a long reign that brings political stability and the rise of the coffee economy. [britannica-pedro-ii, britannica-brazil] - 1864-1870: **War of the Triple Alliance** — Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay defeat Paraguay in the deadliest war in South American history, at enormous human and financial cost. [britannica-brazil] - 13 May 1888: **Abolition of slavery** — Princess Isabel signs the Lei Aurea, abolishing slavery without compensation; Brazil is the last country in the Americas to do so. [britannica-brazil] - 15 Nov 1889: **Proclamation of the Republic** — A military coup led by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca deposes Pedro II and proclaims the Republic, ending the monarchy. [britannica-deodoro, britannica-brazil] Figures: - Pedro I (1798-1834) — First Emperor of Brazil. Portuguese prince who proclaimed Brazilian independence in 1822 and became the country's first emperor. - Pedro II (1825-1891) — Second Emperor of Brazil. Reigning from 1831, under regency until 1840 and in his own right thereafter, he presided over decades of stability and growth. Respected as a learned and moderate ruler, he was deposed in the 1889 coup and died in exile. ## The Old Republic — 1889 - 1930 The first decades of the Republic were dominated by coffee, oligarchy, and the alternation of power between Brazil's wealthiest states, a system whose contradictions ended in the revolution of 1930. - 1891 CE: **First republican constitution** — The Constitution of 1891 establishes a federal republic with strong states, modelled in part on the United States. Its Article 3 reserves to the Union a zone of 14,400 square kilometres on the central plateau for a future federal capital; until then Rio de Janeiro remains the capital. [britannica-brazil, planalto-constituicao-1891] - 1892-1894: **The Cruls Commission marks out a capital** — President Floriano Peixoto sends a commission of scientists, led by the Belgian-born astronomer Louis Cruls, to explore the central plateau; it demarcates the 14,400-square-kilometre site for the future capital, known as the Cruls Quadrilateral. [senado-brasilia-50] - 1896-1897: **War of Canudos** — The army crushes a large millenarian community in the Bahian backlands, exposing the gulf between the republican coast and the impoverished interior. [britannica-brazil] - late 19th-early 20th c.: **Mass immigration** — Millions of immigrants, especially Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Japanese, arrive to work coffee and settle the south, reshaping Brazilian society. [britannica-brazil] - 1930 CE: **Revolution of 1930** — A disputed election amid the Depression brings down the Old Republic, and Getulio Vargas takes power, beginning a new era. [britannica-vargas, britannica-brazil] Figures: - Deodoro da Fonseca (1827-1892) — First President of Brazil. Army marshal who led the 1889 coup against the monarchy and became the Republic's first head of state, resigning in 1891 after a political crisis. ## The Vargas Era and Military Dictatorship — 1930 - 1985 Half a century shaped by two authoritarian experiences: the rule of Getulio Vargas, including the Estado Novo dictatorship, and the military regime of 1964 to 1985, a period of forced development, censorship, and state repression. - 1937-1945: **The Estado Novo** — Vargas imposes a centralised dictatorship, ruling by decree, banning parties, and censoring the press until his ouster in 1945. [britannica-vargas, britannica-estado-novo] - 19 Sep 1956: **A site and a builder for the new capital** — Law 2,874, sanctioned by President Juscelino Kubitschek, fixes the boundary of the future Federal District on the central plateau and creates Novacap, the state company that will build the city. In 1957 Lucio Costa's Pilot Plan is chosen, and a law of 1 October 1957 sets the transfer of the capital for 21 April 1960. [planalto-lei-2874, planalto-lei-3273, senado-brasilia-50] - 21 Apr 1960: **Inauguration of Brasilia** — The purpose-built modernist capital, created from nothing and designed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, is inaugurated in the interior by President Kubitschek after about forty-two months of construction, and the capital moves from Rio de Janeiro, shifting Brazil's centre of gravity inland. UNESCO inscribed the city as a World Heritage Site in 1987; it remains the seat of all three branches of government. [unesco-brasilia, planalto-lei-3273, senado-brasilia-50, cpdoc-jk-rumos] - 1 Apr 1964: **Military coup** — The armed forces overthrow President Joao Goulart and seize power, beginning twenty-one years of military dictatorship. [britannica-brazil] - 13 Dec 1968: **Institutional Act Number Five** — AI-5 suspends habeas corpus and civil liberties, opening the regime's most repressive phase of censorship, torture, and disappearances. [britannica-brazil] - 1985 CE: **Return to civilian rule** — After a gradual political opening, the military hands power back to civilians, ending the dictatorship. [britannica-brazil] Figures: - Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-1976) — President of Brazil, 1956-1961. Elected on the promise of fifty years of progress in five, he sanctioned the 1956 law that fixed the site of the new capital and inaugurated Brasilia on 21 April 1960, moving the seat of government from Rio de Janeiro to the central plateau. - Getulio Vargas (1882-1954) — President and dictator. The dominant figure of twentieth-century Brazilian politics. He led the 1930 revolution, ruled as dictator under the Estado Novo, championed labour rights and industry, returned by election in 1951, and took his own life in office in 1954. - Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) — Architect of Brasilia. The master of Brazilian modernist architecture who designed the principal public buildings of the new capital, Brasilia, giving form to a national project of the mid-twentieth century. ## Modern Democratic Brazil — 1985 - present Since 1985 Brazil has been a democracy under the Citizen Constitution of 1988, navigating hyperinflation and stabilisation, the rise of mass social programmes, corruption scandals, and sharp political polarisation as the largest nation in Latin America. - 1988 CE: **The Citizen Constitution** — A new constitution restores full democracy and enshrines an expansive charter of civil, political, and social rights. [constitutionnet-brazil, britannica-brazil] - 1994 CE: **Plano Real ends hyperinflation** — A new currency and stabilisation plan tame runaway inflation, reshaping the economy and politics of the 1990s. [britannica-brazil] - 2003-2010: **Lula and social inclusion** — Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's governments expand social programmes during a commodities boom, lifting millions out of poverty. [britannica-lula] - 2016 CE: **Impeachment amid Lava Jato** — President Dilma Rousseff is impeached as the sweeping Car Wash corruption investigation reshapes Brazilian politics. [britannica-brazil] - 8 Jan 2023: **Brasilia attacked, democracy holds** — Supporters of the defeated president storm the Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court; the institutions withstand the assault. [britannica-lula, britannica-brazil] Figures: - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (born 1945) — President of Brazil. Former metalworker and union leader who rose to the presidency in 2003, expanded social programmes, was imprisoned and later cleared in the Lava Jato affair, and returned to office after the 2022 election. - Fernando Henrique Cardoso (born 1931) — President of Brazil. Sociologist and statesman associated with the Plano Real that conquered hyperinflation, and president from 1995 to 2002 during a period of stabilisation and reform. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:BRA:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/BRA/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [britannica-brazil] Brazil — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil - [britannica-cabral] Pedro Alvares Cabral — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pedro-Alvares-Cabral - [britannica-pedro-i] Linha do Tempo da Independência — Governo Federal do Brasil · https://www.gov.br/pt-br/campanhas/bicentenario./linha-do-tempo-da-independencia - [britannica-pedro-ii] Dom Pedro II, Imperador do Brasil — Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão, Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs · https://funag.gov.br/biblioteca-nova/produto/1-211-dom_pedro_ii_imperador_do_brasil - [britannica-deodoro] Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Manuel-Deodoro-da-Fonseca - [britannica-vargas] Getulio Vargas — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Getulio-Vargas - [britannica-estado-novo] Estado Novo (Brazilian history) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Estado-Novo-Brazilian-history - [britannica-lula] Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luiz-Inacio-Lula-da-Silva - [slavevoyages] Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database — SlaveVoyages, Emory University · https://www.slavevoyages.org/ - [unesco-ouro-preto] Historic Town of Ouro Preto — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/124/ - [unesco-brasilia] Brasilia — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/445/ - [planalto-constituicao-1891] Constituicao da Republica dos Estados Unidos do Brasil (24 de fevereiro de 1891) — Presidencia da Republica, Casa Civil (Planalto) · https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao91.htm - [planalto-lei-2874] Lei n. 2.874, de 19 de setembro de 1956 (mudanca da Capital Federal) — Presidencia da Republica, Casa Civil (Planalto) · https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/1950-1969/l2874.htm - [planalto-lei-3273] Lei n. 3.273, de 1 de outubro de 1957 (fixa a data da mudanca da Capital Federal) — Presidencia da Republica, Casa Civil (Planalto) · https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l3273.htm - [senado-brasilia-50] Do quadrilatero Cruls ao patrimonio historico e cultural da humanidade (50 anos de Brasilia) — Senado Federal do Brasil · https://www.senado.gov.br/noticias/especiais/brasilia50anos/not02.asp - [cpdoc-jk-rumos] O homem que fez o Brasil crescer 50 anos em 5 (Rumos) — FGV CPDOC archive · https://cpdoc.fgv.br/sites/default/files/brasilia/revistas/A_revista_rumos.pdf - [constitutionnet-brazil] Constitutional history of Brazil — ConstitutionNet, International IDEA · https://constitutionnet.org/country/constitutional-history-brazil - [ibge-indigenous] Indigenous Peoples (Indigenas) — IBGE, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics · https://www.ibge.gov.br/en/ - [wikipedia-independence-brazil] Independence of Brazil — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_Brazil - [nwe-brazil] Brazil — New World Encyclopedia · https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Brazil Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Brazil: From the thousand nations of the forest and coast to a Portuguese colony built on sugar, gold, and the largest slave economy of the Americas, and on to an empire, a republic, and a modern democracy.", terralore.co/country/BRA/chronicle, retrieved .