Pedro I of Brazil
Pedro I declared Brazilian independence and ruled as its first emperor, then abdicated and went back to Portugal to fight a civil war for his daughter's throne. Born in Lisbon in 1798, he was a son of João VI, and fled with the Portuguese court to Rio de Janeiro in 1807 when Napoleon's armies invaded. Brazil, not Portugal, was where he grew up. When his father returned to Lisbon in 1821, Pedro stayed as regent. The Portuguese cortes then attempted to reverse Brazil's status as a kingdom and return it to colonial subordination, and ordered him home. On 9 January 1822 he announced he would remain — the day known as the Fico, from his statement that he was staying. On 7 September 1822, receiving fresh demands while riding near the Ipiranga brook in São Paulo, he declared independence. He was acclaimed emperor in December, and the war against Portuguese garrisons was largely settled within two years. He granted a constitution in 1824 after dissolving the constituent assembly that would not produce one to his liking. It was liberal in structure but gave the emperor a moderating power over the other three branches, and it lasted until 1889. His authority eroded steadily: the loss of Cisplatina to Argentina after a costly war, the suspicion that he cared more about Portuguese affairs than Brazilian ones, his affair with the Marquise of Santos, and press hostility. He abdicated in April 1831 in favour of his five-year-old son and sailed for Europe, where he raised an expedition, landed at Porto, and won the Liberal Wars for his daughter Maria II. He died of tuberculosis in 1834, aged thirty-five.
- Lived: 1798 CE – 1834 CE
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
