Portuguese Court’s Transfer to Brazil: 1799-1808
From July 15, 1799, the Prince of Brazil, D. John, became Prince Regent of Portugal. The events in Europe, involving Napoleon Bonaparte, unfolded rapidly.
Since 1801, the idea of transferring the Portuguese Court to Brazil was considered. However, factions within the Portuguese government were divided:
- Anglophile faction: favored preserving the Portuguese colonial empire and the kingdom by sea, supported by the old Luso-British alliance.
- Francophile faction: believed neutrality could only be achieved through a policy of rapprochement with France.
Both factions were supported by Masonic lodges of English and French origin. The ideas of the French Enlightenment circulated clandestinely in books, becoming more abundant.
The Continental Blockade in Berlin (1806) made Portuguese neutrality difficult. In 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau arbitrarily divided Portugal into three kingdoms. By October, Jean-Andoche Junot, a former French ambassador to Lisbon, was preparing to invade Portugal. Against this backdrop, D. John agreed with the UK government to transfer to Rio de Janeiro under British protection.
With the French invasion of Portugal underway, the Royal Family and the Portuguese Court began their journey to Brazil on November 29. Eighteen Portuguese warships, escorted by British ships and more than twenty-five merchant ships, sailed from Lisbon to the coast of Brazil. Over fifteen thousand Portuguese followed. The kingdom was ruled by a Board of Regency, which Junot soon dissolved.
With the Royal Family’s presence in Brazil from 1808, what some Brazilian historians call the “metropolitan inversion” began. The Portuguese state apparatus started operating from Brazil, which ceased to be a “colony” and effectively assumed the functions of the metropolis.
- Anglophile faction: favored preserving the Portuguese Colonial Empire and the kingdom itself, across the sea, supported by the old Luso-British alliance.
- Francophile faction: believed that neutrality could only be achieved through a policy of rapprochement with France.
Both were supported by Masonic lodges of English and French origin. The ideas of the French Enlightenment circulated clandestinely in books, becoming more abundant.
The Continental Blockade in Berlin (1806) made Portuguese neutrality difficult. In 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau arbitrarily divided Portugal into three kingdoms. By October, Jean-Andoche Junot, a former French ambassador to Lisbon, was preparing to invade Portugal. Against this backdrop, D. John agreed with the UK government to transfer to Rio de Janeiro under British protection.
With the French invasion of Portugal underway, the Royal Family and the Portuguese Court began their journey to Brazil on November 29. Eighteen Portuguese warships, escorted by British ships and more than twenty-five merchant ships, sailed from Lisbon to the coast of Brazil. Over fifteen thousand Portuguese followed. The kingdom was ruled by a Board of Regency, which Junot soon dissolved.
With the Royal Family’s presence in Brazil from 1808, what some Brazilian historians call the “metropolitan inversion” began. The Portuguese state apparatus started operating from Brazil, which ceased to be a “colony” and effectively assumed the functions of the metropolis.
From July 15, 1799, the Prince of Brazil, D. John, became Prince Regent of Portugal. The events in Europe, involving Napoleon Bonaparte, unfolded rapidly.
Since 1801, the idea of transferring the Portuguese Court to Brazil was considered. However, factions within the Portuguese government were divided:
- Anglophile faction: favored preserving the Portuguese colonial empire and the kingdom by sea, supported by the old Luso-British alliance.
- Francophile faction: believed neutrality could only be achieved through a policy of rapprochement with France.
Both were supported by Masonic lodges of English and French origin. The ideas of the French Enlightenment circulated clandestinely in books, becoming more abundant.
The Continental Blockade in Berlin (1806) made Portuguese neutrality difficult. In 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau arbitrarily divided Portugal into three kingdoms. By October, Jean-Andoche Junot, a former French ambassador to Lisbon, was preparing to invade Portugal. Against this backdrop, D. John agreed with the UK government to transfer to Rio de Janeiro under British protection.
With the French invasion of Portugal underway, the Royal Family and the Portuguese Court began their journey to Brazil on November 29. Eighteen Portuguese warships, escorted by British ships and more than twenty-five merchant ships, sailed from Lisbon to the coast of Brazil. Over fifteen thousand Portuguese followed. The kingdom was ruled by a Board of Regency, which Junot soon dissolved.
With the Royal Family’s presence in Brazil from 1808, what some Brazilian historians call the “metropolitan inversion” began. The Portuguese state apparatus started operating from Brazil, which ceased to be a “colony” and effectively assumed the functions of the metropolis.
From July 15, 1799, the Prince of Brazil, D. John, became Prince Regent of Portugal. The events in Europe, involving Napoleon Bonaparte, unfolded rapidly.
Since 1801, the idea of transferring the Portuguese Court to Brazil was considered. However, factions within the Portuguese government were divided:
- Anglophile faction: favored preserving the Portuguese colonial empire and the kingdom by sea, supported by the old Luso-British alliance.
- Francophile faction: believed neutrality could only be achieved through a policy of rapprochement with France.
Both were supported by Masonic lodges of English and French origin. The ideas of the French Enlightenment circulated clandestinely in books, becoming more abundant.
The Continental Blockade in Berlin (1806) made Portuguese neutrality difficult. In 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau arbitrarily divided Portugal into three kingdoms. By October, Jean-Andoche Junot, a former French ambassador to Lisbon, was preparing to invade Portugal. Against this backdrop, D. John agreed with the UK government to transfer to Rio de Janeiro under British protection.
With the French invasion of Portugal underway, the Royal Family and the Portuguese Court began their journey to Brazil on November 29. Eighteen Portuguese warships, escorted by British ships and more than twenty-five merchant ships, sailed from Lisbon to the coast of Brazil. Over fifteen thousand Portuguese followed. The kingdom was ruled by a Board of Regency, which Junot soon dissolved.
With the Royal Family’s presence in Brazil from 1808, what some Brazilian historians call the “metropolitan inversion” began. The Portuguese state apparatus started operating from Brazil, which ceased to be a “colony” and effectively assumed the functions of the metropolis.