On April 22 1500 the fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived in Brazil, which was initially called Vera Cruz. The voyage took 44 days and it is now thought it was a mere formality as the Portuguese already knew of the lands, albeit in a superficial way.

This claim stems from a reading of the Tordesillas Treaty signed between the two Iberian powers in 1494, in the town that gave the treaty its name. In that document Lisbon reserved for itself all the lands found to the East of a meridian that was 370 leagues, or around 2000 kilometers, to the West of the Cape Verde archipelago. This included Brazil.

Three hundred years later revolutionary France and the conservative European monarchies were at war. Napoleon was victorious against all but England. In order to tame the English lion he decreed a continental blockade. Portugal, whose economy was reliant upon the English, was reluctant to take part. Napoleon’s forces invaded Portugal.

In 1808 the Portuguese royal family moved itself to Brazil. It went under English protection, but that protection came at a price: Brazilian commerce, which had thus far been monopolized by the Portuguese. The English paid themselves so well that customs tariffs on their products were lower than on Portuguese products: In a Portuguese colony.

Despite King João VI having given economic freedom to Brazil on opening up the ports and designating the country as a kingdom united to Portugal and the Algarves, administrative corruption, fiscal oppression, and the contradictions of the King’s policies led to revolts, partly inspired by the illuminist and liberal movements of the time.

The regency of Portugal by Englishman Beresford after the defeat of the French and the refusal of King João VI to return to Portugal was the cause of the liberal revolution of 1820 in the northern Portuguese city of Porto. After the victory of the constitutionalists and with no other alternative, King João VI returned to Portugal leaving his son and heir Prince Pedro as regent of Brazil.

At the end of 1821 decrees from the Portuguese Court arrived in Brazil ordering the abolition of the regency and the immediate return of Prince Pedro, the obedience of the provinces to Lisbon and not to Rio and the extinction of the courts of Rio de Janeiro. A strong movement attempted to convince Prince Pedro to disobey the courts and stay in Brazil, in which it was successful.

On September 7, 1822, impelled by the circumstances, Prince Pedro definitively broke off political ties with Portugal. Thus the emancipation process begun in 1808 with the arrival of the royal family came to an end. On October 12, 1822 Prince Pedro was nominated and on December 1 of the same year was enthroned as the first emperor of Brazil.

These days Brazil is a republic. With its population of 186 million and 8.5 million square kilometers of land area, Brazil is the largest and most populous country in the South American continent. Average life-expectancy is of 71 years and the infant mortality rate stands at 29 deaths per 1000 births.

Brazil has had a civil government system since 1985 when military rulers

peacefully handed over power. The country has vast natural resources and a huge labor force, is the main economy of South America and a regional leader. One of the country’s most serious problems is the extremely unequal distribution of wealth.