History of Portugal
Premodern history
The area that is now Portugal was ruled successively by the Celts, Romans, Goths, and Arabs until the independent County of Portugal was established in 1096 during the Reconquista. Spain recognized Portugal's sovereignty in 1143 and the Church in 1179. Portugal, under the Burgundy dynasty, conquered the Algarve in 1249, establishing the final form of its continental European territory.
The Treaty of Windsor in 1386 formed a strong alliance with England. King John I established the Portuguese empire in 1415 with the invasion of Morocco and the capture of Ceuta. In the 15th century, the Portuguese reached India, the Cape, Kongo, western Africa, and eventually the Americas. After the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, explorer Pedro Cabral arrived in Brazil in 1500.
Gilded Century (1656-1754)
Three Tragedies period (1755-1834)
Portugal in the Great Silesian War
During the Great Silesian War, Portugal took on a passive, supportive role, diplomatically supporting her longstanding ally, Britain.
Portugal during the French Revolution and Augustine Wars
The reign of Augustine Spiga threatened the stability of the Portuguese monarchy, leading to the country adopting more absolutist and defensive positions. Small Portuguese regiments and flotillas accompanied the Royal British Navy as well. In 1807, several counselors under King Afonso VII put forth a proposal to relocate the empire's capital to Rio de Janeiro in the event of a French invasion. However, this plan was never put into action.
Os Oitenta-Oito (1834-1922)
Constitutional Revolution
In the early 1830s, bourgeoisie and martial radicals inspired by the French Revolution and political turmoil in Spain began resisting absolutist rule in Portugal. The wealthy members of the bourgeoisie had monetary power and the soldiers possessed military power but lacked political representation, leading to the two groups forming an alliance in order to dismantle the status quo. In 1834, riots took place in several Portuguese cities. Several thousand soldiers disobeyed orders to suppress the rioters, leading to the monarchy fearing a civil war. In May, the royal court agreed to begin drafting a constitution.
By 1835, the new constitution was completed. It included the following terms;
- The Chancellor becomes the head of government, sharing executive powers with the monarch
- The independence of the judiciary and legislature and the legal codification of all Portuguese laws
- Suffrage granted to all literate males over 20 years old
- Limitations on the role of the Catholic Church in society and government
Collapse of colonial Brazil
After decades of revolts and tensions, the colony of Brazil began to fall apart. In 1845, Bahia gained independence, shortly followed by the Riograndense Republic in 1846. When Portugal abolished slavery in 1874, the plantation owners of Equador declared their sovereignty and achieved it in 1877.
By the late 19th century, only the southeast region encompassing Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, parts of Mato Grosso and Paraná were still under Portuguese colonial rule. In 1878, after the failure to end the revolt in Equador, Portugal feared that their last bit of Brazil would revolt as well. They elevated Brazil to the status of autonomous territory, granting it a legislature, a constitution, and local elections. The Governor of Brazil, the head of state and the most powerful office, was directly appointed by the Portuguese monarch.
Coffee empire
Coffee was first brought to Brazil in the early 18th century yet was not largely cultivated until the early 19th century. As the gold and mining industires had declined, Portugal sought to monopolize the importation of coffee beans into Europe by establishing coffee plantations throughout the colony. However, the coffee industry sharply declined in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of Brazilian nationalism and industrialisation.
Coimbra insurrection of 1875
In the 1870s, Europe was shaken by a wave of egalitarian revolutions. Revolutions in France and in Spain inspired the formation of the Communard Party of Portugal (Portuguese: Sociedade Comunarde de Portugal) in Coimbra. The communard revolutionaries despised the agrarian policies of the conservative Portuguese monarchy and strove to propagate Enlightenment values and industrialisation in Portugal with the establishment of a republic.
The government swiftly censored the media and suppressed public demonstrations. Several leading members of the Party, today known as the Coimbra 28, were arrested and persecuted. By the new year, the communards of Portugal were successfully extinguished.
The Luso-Brazilian Compromise
Carolina's achievement of home rule in 1914 and the European Economic Crisis of the 1920s stirred up republican sentiment in Brazil. Brazilian industries, most notably coffee, suffered overproduction and devaluation. Unemployment and civil unrest plagued the country, often being blamed on Lisbon's disproportionate and unjust political power over Brazilian affairs. In the second half of 1922, large scale riots and demonstrations began en masse.
On the second of November, 1922, the Governor of São Paulo declared a revolt. The province of Minas Gerais followed shortly, forcing the militarily weak Lisbon to accept the prospect of negotiations with the autonomous territory of Brazil.
On December 4th, the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro established a real union between Portugal and Brazil called the United Kingdom of Portugal-Brazil.
- The creation of a new, more progressive Brazilian constitution;
- The Kingdom of Brazil would encompass every Portuguese territory in the Americas;
- Disestablishment of the office of Governor of Brazil and the creation of the Chancellor of Brazil;
- Brazilians could be elected to all political offices within the empire;
- A common Ministry of Foreign Affairs and united diplomatic and foreign policies.
