Portuguese court flees to Brazil

On November 29, 1807, a Portuguese fleet escorted by British warships left Lisbon just before a French army under General Junot arrived. On board were Prince Regent Joao, who ruled for his ill mother Queen Maria I, the royal family, nobles, officials and many others, in all about ten thousand people or more. The fleet reached Salvador in January 1808 and Rio de Janeiro in March. In Brazil, Joao opened Brazilian ports to friendly nations, ending Portugal's monopoly on colonial trade.¹²³

Napoleon wanted to close Europe's ports to British trade, and Portugal was an old British ally. Joao chose to leave rather than submit or fight an unwinnable war, which also kept the monarchy and the empire out of French hands. Rio, then a port town, quickly turned into a capital: the court founded a national bank, a royal library, a printing press, a botanical garden and military schools. Joao VI, as he became, stayed in Brazil until 1821, when a liberal revolution in Portugal forced his return. He left his son Pedro behind, and in 1822 Pedro declared Brazil independent and became its emperor. Because the monarchy and the state apparatus arrived intact, Brazil's independence was far smoother and less bloody than Spanish America's, and the country stayed in one piece under a monarchy until 1889.¹²³