Brazilian Independence
When King João VI returned to Portugal in 1821, he left his son Pedro as regent in Brazil. Portuguese pressure to reduce Brazil to its colonial status provoked a political crisis, and on 7 September 1822, beside the Ipiranga river near São Paulo, Pedro declared Brazilian independence with the famous 'Grito do Ipiranga': 'Independence or death!' Pedro was crowned Emperor Pedro I of Brazil in December 1822. Unlike Spanish American independence, Brazil's was achieved with minimal bloodshed and under a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic, and it preserved the institution of slavery until 1888.
- Year: 1822 CE
- Category: Political
