Brazil

3 posts tagged with this keyword.

Brazilian army entering Salvador after the siege, 1823

Eighty-Three Ships in the Dark

Jul 2, 2026By Andy Barca

On 2 July 1823, a Portuguese garrison slipped out of Salvador aboard 83 ships after a 16-month siege, ending three centuries of colonial rule in Brazil. The war that actually won Brazil's independence looked nothing like the schoolbook version.

Oscar Pereira da Silva's painting of Pedro Álvares Cabral's landing at Porto Seguro in 1500.

The Line Before the Land

Apr 22, 2026By Andy Barca

On 22 April 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral sighted a mountain on the Brazilian coast and claimed it for Portugal. The territory had already been assigned to his king six years earlier, by a line drawn through an ocean that no one could accurately locate.

Portrait of John VI of Portugal, prince regent who led the court's transfer to Brazil in 1808.

The Court That Sailed Too Well

Jan 22, 2026By Andy Barca

On 22 January 1808, the Portuguese royal court arrived in Brazil after fleeing Napoleon. The colony became the empire's capital, Britain got the trade access it had always wanted, and Portugal spent a decade governing itself from the wrong continent.