Brazilian independence

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.

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.