Brazzil

{mosimage}In 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte and his minions invaded the Iberian Peninsula.  The Peninsular War, which attempted to subjugate Portugal in a bid to tighten Napoleon's trade blockade of allied Britain, was probably the worst mistake Napoleon made during his lengthy reign over France. 

To escape capture, King João VI and his son Pedro negotiated with Great Britain for a naval escort of the Portuguese crown to Rio de Janeiro. 

The Napoleonic invasion is the single most important external event to affect not only Fernando Henrique Cardoso and his analysis of slavery in Brazil (1), but the entire course of Brazilian history.

The Fall of Portugal and the Ascent of British Imperialism
 
While the Napoleonic invasion fundamentally undermined the stability of Portugal and all but bankrupted its treasury, which João VI brought with him, Great Britain emerged from the invasion as the world's foremost imperial power after England defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1814. 

The price Portugal paid to Britain for saving the royal family was the trade treaty of 1810. 

This agreement brought foreign trade to Brazil by giving Britain control over all Brazilian ports.  Mercantilist controls were lifted and imported goods flooded the country, which had the effect of further dooming any efforts to stimulate manufacturing.  

Within months of his majesty's arrival, King João VI had used his treasury to establish a central bank in Rio that initially led to economic stability in Brazil.  Gold and silver were replaced by printed bank notes, and the King used the money to finance military actions against the Spanish in the south. 

Creation of the Brazilian National Debt

Thus, Rio de Janeiro became the seat of the Portuguese empire during her imperial demise until 1821, when João VI returned to Portugal and left his son Dom Pedro in charge. 

King João VI did, however, liquidate the central bank and take his treasury back with him, and the deficit that remained became Brazil's national debt.

By this time, the movement for Brazilian independence had already begun and was gaining momentum when young Dom Pedro refused his father's order to return to Portugal the following year. 

The Cry of the Ipiranga!

The arrival from Lisbon of dispatches revoking Dom Pedro's decrees and accusing Brazilian ministers of treason were met with contempt. 

Dom Pedro was in route from Rio to São Paulo on September 7, 1822, when he delivered the cry of the Ipiranga, "Independência ou morte!" (Independence or Death!), which formalized Brazil's independence. 

Birth of the Brazilian Military

Portuguese troops who refused to swear loyalty to Dom Pedro were obliged to leave Rio, and from that point on the Brazilian military began to be built. 

On December 1, 1822, the prince regent was crowned emperor of Brazil and received the title of Dom Pedro I at the age of 24. 

Brazil had become independent, but with a monarchical form of government and the backwardness that seems to come with Portuguese heritage intact. 

A Nation of Slaves in an Era of Enlightenment

In the year Brazil won its independence it is estimated that slaves constituted as much as half the nation's population (2:66).

Dom Pedro I created a new ministry that was made up of Portuguese but headed by a Brazilian, José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva. 

José Bonifácio was a central figure in politics at the time.  He came from one of the richest families in Brazil and had lived in Europe for many years where he was influenced by the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment ideals. 

He had worked both as a professor at the University of Coimbra and high-ranking administrator in the Portuguese government when he was called to preside over the provisionary junta of São Paulo in March, 1821. 

Monarchy v. Democracy in Brazil

Politically, José Bonifácio was a staunch adversary of democracy and believed the monarchical form of government was right for Brazil. 

Socially, however, José Bonifácio espoused progressive ideas such as agrarian reform, the free entry of immigrants and most notably, the gradual extinction of the slave trade and slavery (3:71). 

British Morality

The Portuguese dominated the Atlantic slave trade. 

Although José Bonifácio's efforts to ban the slave trade began as early as 1817, it only stopped after 1850 when the British forced the imperial government to end slave trading once and for all by threatening Brazil with a naval blockade. 

This newfound morality in British foreign policy may have ended the Portuguese slave trade, but successive economic cycles in which cheap labor fueled prosperity in Brazil - sugar, then cacao, then mining, then coffee - encouraged Brazilian elites to hold on to slavery for as long as possible.

The History of Economic Development in Brazil

To realize that this history is essential to understanding Brazil is obvious. 

What is more difficult to understand, however, is why so many seem to stop considering its significance when debating the course Brazilian economic development has taken in the decade since Fernando Henrique Cardoso became President. 

Next we will analyze how Brazil's former President drew from this history to inspire not only his role as an eminent Marxist sociologist, but also the political accomplishments that may one day place him among the greatest modernizers in Brazilian history.  

References

1. Cardoso, Fernando Henrique.  1962.  Capitalismo e Escravidão no Brasil Meridional (Capitalism and Slavery in Southern Brazil).  São Paulo:  Difusão Européia do Livro.

2. Levine, Robert.  1999.  The History of Brazil.  Westport, Connecticut:  Greenwood Press.

3. Fausto, Boris.  1999.  A Concise History of Brazil.  Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press.

This is the fourth part of a multi-part series on former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Richard F. Kane, from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Illinois State University, can be reached at rfkane@ilstu.edu.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Comments (7)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment Preview