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Chapter Reference: Independence; Postcolonial Blues; Progress
Only Brazil, in all of American history, had a durable monarchy. Brazil was ruled from a New World throne from the time that Portugal's mad queen Maria arrived in Brazil in 1808, along with her son João, the prince regent. When Maria died in 1816, the prince regent became João VI, and he ruled both Brazil and Portugal from Rio de Janeiro. João was succeeded on the Brazilian throne by his son, Pedro I, and then by his grandson, Pedro II. The independent Brazilian Empire ended after eighty years in 1889, when Brazilian republicans took power with a military coup. The Brazilian Empire chalked up a record of stability that contrasted remarkably with the tumultuous political history of the Spanish American republics. On the other hand, this stability was built on the backs of African slaves who composed as much as a third of the population in the early 1800s. Still, Brazil's emperors were interesting and, occasionally, admirable people. Biographies are the natural medium for approaching the history of a monarchy, and fortunately there are some good ones in English. A paper on the Brazilian Empire should note the stability that characterized Brazilian history of the 1800s in contrast to that of Spanish America. Students could focus on how the emperors ruled, then consider the fall of the empire as the march of progress gathered force throughout Latin America.
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What are the broad outlines of the story of Brazilian independence, and what role did the monarchy have in it?
- Were Pedro I and his son Pedro II comparable as emperors?
- What brought down the Brazilian Empire despite its record of impressive stability?
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
Barman, Roderick J. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825—91.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
An exhaustive scholarly life-and-times biography.
** ________. Princess Isabel of Brazil: Gender and Power in the Nineteenth Century.
Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2002.
Beattie, Peter M., ed. The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil. The Human Tradition Around
the World, 7. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2004.
The first two parts of this book of essays will introduce students to individual Brazilians of the imperial period.
** Bethell, Leslie, ed. Brazil, Empire and Republic: 1822—1930. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1989.
A scholarly overview excerpted from the Cambridge History of Latin America.
Macaulay, Neill. Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798—1834.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986.
Macaulay provides a biography of Dom Pedro and an account of Brazil's early period of independence.
Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. The Emperor's Beard: Dom Pedro II and His Tropical Monarchy of Brazil. Translated by John Gledson. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.
A lengthy but interesting and readable cultural history of the empire.
** Viotti da Costa, Emilia. The Brazilian Empire: Myths & Histories, rev. ed. Chapel Hill:
The University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
Collected essays.
Other Resources:
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