Reddit user LustfulBellyButton, created a super detailed timeline of the various important events in Brazilian history based off the video and maps above:
1500-1580, Brazil before the Iberian Union
– 1492, Expedition of Christopher Columbus (Spain): the explorer “discovers” the Americas trying to reach India.
– 1493, Bull Inter Coetera (Holy See): the Pope establishes a meridian 100 leagues West from Cape Verde, dividing the unconquered and non-Christian lands of the world between Portugal and Spain; the meridian is rejected by Portugal, who wanted to extend the meridian further into the West.
– 1494, Treaty of Tordesillas (Portugal-Spain): Portugal and Spain establish a meridian 370 leagues West from Cape Verde; it was the first treaty negotiated and signed between two European powers without previous pontifical arbitration (a papal bull in 1506 confirms the legality of Tordesillas Treaty). (also see: The Two State Solution No One Is Talking About)
– 1498, Expedition of Vasco da Gama (Portugal): the explorer circumnavigates Africa and reaches India by Ocean.
– 1500, Expedition of Pedro Álvares Cabral (Portugal): in an official expedition to India, the explorer “discovers” the coast of Brazil after sailing West from the African shore; some Historians argue that Brazil had already been “discovered” by Portugal, which would justify Portugal’s claims for the expansion the previous meridian; the Portuguese start exploring “Pau-Brasil”, a red-dyed wood that was the only richness found until then on the Brazilian coast.
– 1530, Expedition of Martim Afonso de Sousa (Portugal): in an official expedition to Brazil, the explorer receives orders to explore the Rio de la Plata basin, whose estuary was located nearby the Tordesillas meridian, and colonize Brazil for the first time; during his expedition, he receives orders to create Hereditary Captaincies, large portions of land to be given to the Portuguese nobility as a way to colonize Portuguese America; the Portuguese Crown encourages the production of sugarcane within a system that had been proven successful in the Portuguese islands off the African coast.
– 1532, São Paulo village in the Captaincy of São Vicente: Jesuit priests found the innermost village in the Brazilian territory until then; the next years, the poor pioneers from São Paulo will try to escape hunger by exploring the interior of the continent, searching for precious minerals and indigenous slaves, (which were “available” in the many Jesuit Missions around), expanding Portuguese control westward.
– 1548, General Government of Brazil in Salvador, Bahia: with the failure of the majority of the Hereditary Captaincies due to lack of interest of the Portuguese nobility and indigenous resistance to slavery, the Portuguese Crown abandons the project of “outsourcing” colonization to the Portuguese nobility and takes on the task; sugarcane production starts to thrive in some Captaincies in the Northeast of Brazil.
– 1555, France Antarctique: French Huguenots settle a village in where is today Rio de Janeiro; the General Government of Brazil sends a military expedition to the region; the Portuguese ally with the Tupiniquim tribe to defeat the French, who were allied with the Tupinambá tribe; the French and the Tupinambás are completely defeated in 1567.
1580-1640, Brazil during the Iberian Union
– 1580, Iberian Union: King Sebastian of Portugal is killed in battle by the Moors, in Northern Africa, leaving no direct heirs; Portugal is annexed by Spain, whose king was a relative to king Sebastian; Portugal retains some autonomy, being able to manage its overseas territories; England, France and the Netherlands, enemies of Spain, attack and loot Brazil’s coastal cities and expand from the Guyannas into the Amazon basin.
– 1612, France Équinoxiale: French explorers settle a village in where is now São Luís do Maranhão; the General Government of Brazil sends a military expedition to the region, expelling the French and building the Fortress of Balém do Pará in 1616; the Fortress will be used as a military base to expel the remaining French, English and Dutch out of the Amazon basin the next years.
– 1624, Dutch Invasions in Brazil: the Dutch raid Salvador, headquarters of the General Government of Brazil; the Dutch use the looted money to finance a major invasion of Brazil; Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, leads the following invasions, taking up the whole Northeast of Brazil and boosting sugarcane production with capital inflow; the Dutch also invade the Portuguese colonies in Africa, securing slave supply to the plantations (the Dutch already controlled refinery and commerce of sugarcane in Europe).
– 1637, Expedition of Pedro Teixeira: Portuguese colonizers from the Fortress of Belém do Pará receive an order from the Spanish king to definitely expel the French from the estuary of the Amazon River; the explorer push French Guyana westward and establishes the North Cape Captaincy in the North of the mouth of the Amazon River; Pedro Teixeira ends up building Franciscana, a village in where is today Ecuador.
1640-1822, Brazil as the Crown Jewel of Portugal
– 1640, Portuguese Restoration: the Portuguese, fearing to lose all its overseas territories, find a Duke to create a new Portuguese Dynasty, putting an end to the Iberian Union; John IV of Portugal, the new king, is isolated in Europe and will have to sign several disadvantageous treaties with the Stuarts and Cromwell to secure Portugal’s independence; in the 1661 Treaty of Whitehall, king John cements the alliance by marrying his daughter with the British prince, giving Bombay to Great Britain as a dowry, which will function as a spearhead to further British colonization in India; Portugal will gain an important ally in its eternal war against Spain, and the Anglo-Portuguese alliance will counter the Franco-Spanish alliance.
– 1648, Expedition of Correia de Sá: the Governor of Rio de Janeiro builds the biggest Galleon of the world until then to reconquer Angola from the Dutch and restore slave supply to Brazil.
– 1654, Expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil: the Luso-Brazilians win the war against the Dutch in the Northeast of Brazil.
– 1680, Sacramento Colony in Rio de la Plata: the Governor of Rio de Janeiro receives an order to found the village of Sacramento just in front of Buenos Aires, in the Eastern Bank (the Eastern section of the mouth of Rio de la Plata, in what today is Uruguay); the objective was to to defy the influence of the Spanish city, projecting the colonization of the the Eastern Bank in the future; the Spanish from Buenos Aires will successfuly attack Sacramento multiple times in the comming years (1680-1681, 1706-1715, 1735-1737, 1762-1763, 1777), always but once losing the right to possess the village in the diplomatic aftermatchs.
– 1713, First Treaty of Utrecht: with the defeat of France in the War of the Spanish Succession, Portugal secures a favorable borders between Brazil and the French Guyana.
– 1715, Second Treaty of Utrecht: with the defeat of Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession, Portugal reacquires Sacramento Colony, which was occupied by the Spanish since 1706.
– 1750, Treaty of Madrid (Portugal-Spain): Portugal and Spain sign the first border treaty regarding the Hispano-Portuguese territories in the Americas after the Treaty of Tordesillas; Portugal uses the principle of uti possidetis as the main negociating tool, accepting to give Sacramento Colony and the Maluku islands in the Pacific Ocean to Spain in exchange for the Spanish recognition of Brazil’s western borders, far away from the Tordesillas meridian.
– 1761, Treaty of El Pardo: the new kings in both Portugal and Spain nullify the 1750 Treaty of Madrid, creating a territorial limbo in the Hispano-Portuguese Americas; the situation is favorable to Portugal, which secures de facto possession of Brazil and Sacramento Colony; Spain plans to conquer Sacramento without recognizing Brazil’s western borders (succeeding at capturing Sacramento in the next year).
– 1763, Treaty of Paris: in 1763, the Anglo-Portuguese pull off a clear victory in Europe against the Franco-Spanish in the contexto of the Fantastic War, an episode of the Seven Years War, while in the Americas Portugal loses Sacramento Colony to the first military expedition of Pedro de Ceballos, governor of Buenos Aires; the 1763 Treaty of Paris recognizes the victory of the Anglo-Portuguese alliance, providing for the restitution of Sacramento to Portugal (Ceballos however violates it and invades Rio Grande de São Pedro, the southernmost part of Brazil, after giving Sacramento back to Portugal.)
– 1763, Rio de Janeiro becomes the capital of the General Government of Brazil: the capital is translated southward to better control the seemingly inexhaustible gold exploration in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais and protect the South from Buenos Aires; Brazil will soon be transformed into a powerful Viceroyalty, with Rio as its capital.
– 1777, Treaty of Santo Ildefonso: after being expelled from Rio Grande de São Pedro by the Luso-Brazilians in 1775, the Spanish from Buenos Aires organize the 1777 second military expedition of Pedro de Ceballos, now Viceroy of Buenos Aires, who occupies Santa Catarina and, once again, Sacramento (this time for good); unable to count with the help of Great Britain this time, who was hands full with the American War of Independence, Portugal ends up signing the 1777 Treaty of Santo Ildefonso, whereby Spain returns Santa Catarina to Portugal in exchange for Portugal’s recognition of Spanish possession of Sacramento.
– 1801, Treaty of Badajoz: with the defeat of Portugal during the 1801 War of the Oranges in Europe against Spain and Napoleonic France, Portugal loses the European city of Olivença; the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz is silent, however, about the borders in the Americas, favoring the de facto situation whereby the Luso-Brazilians maintain all Rio Grande de São Pedro (already reconquered in between 1777 and 1801, then renamed as Captaincy of Rio Grande do Sul); Portugal also signs two more treaties with France in recognition of the Portuguese defeat in the war, giving a part of the North Cape to French Guyana.
– 1808, the Portuguese Crown flees to Brazil: King John VI of Portugal flees from the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal in 1807, escorted by the British, who didn’t want to lose access to the Brazilian market in the context of the Continental Blockade.
– 1809, Portugal occupies the French Guyanna: king John retaliates France and occupies the French Guyana in the northernmost part of Brazil; queen Carlota Joaquina, cousin of the Spanish king, claims the Regency of the Hispanic America in the name of her cousin, which is not accepted by the Spanish criollos, nor by the Spanish Crown, which was imprisioned by Napoleon, nor by Great Britain.
– 1810, Portugal occupies the Eastern Bank (Uruguay): king John is invited by the new Viceroy of Rio de la Plata, sieged in Montevideo, to send troops to the Eastern Bank and expel Artigas from Uruguay, the nationalist Uruguayan rebel; after Portugal succeeds at expeling the rebels, Great Britain intervenes in 1812 to secure Portuguese retreat from the Eastern Bank.
– 1815, Brazil becomes the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves: After a suggestion of Talleyrand, the French plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna, king John transforms Brazil into a United Kingdom to strengthen his position in Vienna, as he didn’t plan to return to Portugal.
– 1816, Brazil occupies the Eastern Bank: seeing the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata falling in the South, king John occupies the Eastern Bank, expeling Artigas once and for all from the region.
– 1817, Brazil returns French Guyanna to France: as agreed at the Congress of Vienna, France was to hold the same borders of pre-revolutionary France.
– 1821, Brazil annexes the Eastern Bank as Cisplatine Province: Brazil finally succeeds at conquering the Eastern Bank, the age-old Portuguese dream which started at the foundation of Sacramento Colony in 1680.
1822-1889, Empire of Brazil
– 1822, Brazil becomes independent from Portugal: after the liberal 1820 Porto Revolution in Portugal, which demanded the return of king John to Portugal, in which the Portuguese succeeded, and the recolonization of Brazil, in which they failed, Brazilians persuade prince Pedro, son of king John and regent of Brazil, to lead Brazil’s independence movement against Portugal and his father; in 1824, after some bloody battles in the North and Northeast, Pedro is crowned as emperor of Brazil
– 1825, Peace and Friendship Treaty between Brazil and Portugal: Portugal recognizes the independence of Brazil in exchange of large amounts of gold and the compromise of Brazil not annexing Angola, while both kings across the Atlantic secured mutual rights for the Crown in each kingdom.
– 1828, Brazil loses the Cisplatine Province: after centuries of war to possess the region, the Eastern Bank gains its independence from Brazil and becomes the Oriental Republic of Uruguay; Uruguayan nationalists were supported by Argentina, who had plans to annex the region in the aftermatch of the conflict; the UK intervened, however, to guarantee the independence of Uruguay as buffer state, “a piece of cotton between two crystal vessels”.
– 1831, emperor Pedro resigns from the Brazilian Crown: contested and criticized by the Brazilian elites, which soon saw the new emperor an incompetent despot (closing the National Assembly, losing the Cisplatine Province, signing disadvantageous treaties with the UK and Portugal, and leaving the country on the brink of bankruptcy), emperor Pedro leaved behind his son, little Pedro, as the new Prince Regent of Brazil, while he went to Portugal to fight for the right of his daughter to the Portuguese throne.
– 1835, Farroupilha Revolution: the gaúchos from Rio Grande do Sul rebel against the Regency elected to govern until little Pedro, the Prince Regent, had enought age to govern the country; fighting for more political autonomy and economical subsides for the region, they declared the independence of the Rio-Grandense Republic, and then the independence of Juliana Republic in the Province of Santa Catarina up north; many other regions rebeled against the elected Regency during these years, comprising the rebellions of Cabanos War, Cabanagem, Sabinana, Balaiada etc.
– 1840, little Pedro becomes the new emperor of Brazil: between his coronation and 1850, the country finally finds stability, defeating the Farroupilhas in the South and many other rebel groups around the country, such as the Praieira Revolution in the Northeast (or Revolution of the Beach).
– 1850, Border Treaty between Brazil and Uruguay: Brazil signs its first border treaty with a foreign nation; it guarantees full sovereignty of the river in between the Brazilian-Uruguayan border.
– 1851, Border Treaty between Brazil and Peru: Brazil signs its second border treaty with a foreign nation; it establishes the Brazilian doctrine for signing border treaties with the rest of the neighboring countries (uti possidetis, recourse to 1750 Treaty of Madrid when uti possidetis didn’t apply, cession of open navigation in shared river basins to upper riverines, and arbitration when everything else failed).
– 1859, Border Treaty between Brazil and Venezuela: Brazil guarantees the uti possidetis and establishes the border in the Cabeça de Cachorro (Dog’s Head) region.
– 1867, Treaty of Ayacucho (Brazil-Bolivia): Brazil guarantees the uti possidetis and expands into the Amazon, ceding open navigation of the Amazon river to Bolivia and promissing to build a railroad in the Amazon to help Bolivia shipping its goods by the Amazon river; Brazil secures that Bolivia won’t intervene in the 1864-1870 Triple Alliance War against Paraguay; the treaty would become important to Bolivia after it loses the 1879-1883, War of the Pacific to Chile.
– 1872, Loizaga-Cotegipe Treaty (Brazil-Paraguay): Brazil guarantees the independence of Paraguay after the Triple Alliance War and solves favorably its border dispute with Paraguay.
1889-2022, Republic of Brazil
– 1889, Republican Coup: Brazilian elites and the military rebel against the Brazilian Crown after several issues concerning religion, the military and the abolishment of slavery in Brazil, in 1888; the Conservative Party of the old pro-slavery farmers ally with the young radical republicans to establish an oligarchic republic to substitute an already anachronical and moribund monarchy in the Americas.
– 1900, Arbitration Award of Amapá-French Guyanna: the Swiss president, mr Hauser, concedes to Brazil full sovereignty of the disputed area between France and Brazil in the northernmost region of the country, securing the border established by the 1713 First Utrecht Treaty.
– 1903, Acre Purchase: Brazil buys Acre from Bolivia after Bolivia set plans to privatize the region under the name of Bolivian Syndicate and selling it to the US; Bolivia’s move was a reaction to the Brazilian pioneers in the region, who occupied the Bolivian region to explore its rubber trees, rebeling against the export taxes imposed by Bolivia and declaring the independence of the Republic of Acre at least three times between 1899 and 1903 (the two first times without the support of the Brazilian government).
– 1904, Border Treaty between Brazil and Ecuador: although not sharing borders nowadays, Ecuador claimed sovereignty of some Peruvian lands which today borders Brazil; Brazil set a favorable border treaty with Ecuador as a way to strenghten its position when negotiating a border treaty with Peru, which would be forced to accept the border stipulated by Brazil with Ecuador if it wanted to secure its own borders with Brazil later on.
– 1904, Arbitration Award of Pirara-British Guyanna: the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, decides to divide the region of Pirara, disputed between Brazil and the UK, giving the UK 2/3 of the region, going against the expectations of the Brazilian government; Brazil abandons arbitration as a means to solve border disputes, unless it was done by arbitratoers from the American Hemisphere.
– 1905, Arbitration Award of Palmas: the American president, mr Grover Cleveland, conceded to Brazil full sovereignty of the disputed area between Argentina and Brasil in between the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná.
– 1907, Border Treaty between Brazil and Colombia: Brazil guarantees the uti possidetis with the last South American nation with whom Brazil had not signed a border treaty still, since Colombia rejected uti possidetis claiming it to be largely favorable to Brazil.
– 1909, Acre Border Treaty between Brazil and Peru: Peru accepts the border set by Brazil with Ecuador in 1904 in exchange of a cession of a part of the Brazilian Acre to Peru claimed by the country, following the spirit of uti possidetis.
– 1909, Cession of the condominion of the river in between Uruguay and Brazil: Brazil abandons unilaterally the full sovereignty of the bordering river and creates a shared condominium of the river with Uruguay, as a way to improve its relations with the country and to diminish accusations of other South American countries towards a potential Brazilian imperialism in the region.
– 1943, First regionalization of Brazil: after joining the WWII at the side of the Allies, Brazil’s government establishes 6 Federal Territories to help managing some empty bordering regions in a time of war; the government also divides Brazil into 5 Macro-regions (North, Center, Northeast, South, and East) to help focusing public policy, using Roosevelt’s plans during Depression as a model.
– 1960, Inauguration of Brasília, the new capital: the Brazilian government finish building the new capital after 5 years since the beginning of the construction; Brazil fulfills its age-old plan to establish the capital near the geodesic center of Brazil and South America; Brazil uses the interiorization of the capital to occupy the mostly empty outback of the country.
– 1988, Contemporary states of Brazil: the latest 1988 Constitution of Brazil established the modern day appearance of the states inside Brazil, setting another 5 Macro-regions division among them (North, Northeast, Center-West, Southeast and South).
You can see the maps for each year here on Google Drive.
What do you think about the evolution and growth of Brazil?
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