The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil with the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of the Algarves, constituting a single state consisting of three kingdoms.
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed in 1815, following the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil during the Napoleonic invasions of Portugal, and it continued to exist for about one year after the court's return to Europe, being de facto dissolved in 1822, when Brazil proclaimed its independence. The dissolution of the United Kingdom was accepted by Portugal and formalized de jure in 1825, when Portugal recognized the independent Empire of Brazil.
During its period of existence the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves did not correspond to the whole of the Portuguese Empire: rather, the United Kingdom was the transatlantic metropolis that controlled the Portuguese colonial empire, with its other overseas possessions in Africa and Asia.
Thus, from the point of view of Brazil, the elevation to the rank of a kingdom and the creation of the United Kingdom represented a change in status, from that of a colony to that of an equal member of a political union. In the wake of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Portugal, attempts to compromise the autonomy and even the unity of Brazil, led to the breakdown of the union.
History
Establishment
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves came into being in the wake of Portugal's war with Napoleonic France. The Portuguese Prince Regent (the future King John VI), with his incapacitated mother (Queen Maria I of Portugal) and the Royal Court, fled to the colony of Brazil in 1808.
With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, there were calls for the return of the Portuguese Monarch to Lisbon. The Portuguese Prince Regent enjoyed life in Rio de Janeiro, where the monarchy was more popular and where he had more freedom, and he was thus unwilling to return to Europe. However, those advocating the return of the court to Lisbon argued that Brazil was only a colony and that it was not right for Portugal to be governed from a colony. On the other hand, leading Brazilian courtiers pressed for the elevation of Brazil from the rank of a colony, so that they could enjoy the full status of being nationals of the mother-country. Brazilian nationalists also supported the move, because it indicated that Brazil would no longer be submissive to the interests of Portugal, but would be of equal status within a transatlantic monarchy.
By a law issued by the Prince Regent on 16 December 1815, the colony of Brazil was thus elevated to the rank of a kingdom and by the same law the separate kingdoms of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves were united as a single state under the title of The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
This united kingdom included the historical Kingdom of the Algarves, which is the present-day Portuguese region of Algarve.
The titles of the Portuguese royalty were changed to reflect the creation of this transatlantic united kingdom. The styles of the Queen and of the Prince Regent were changed accordingly to Queen and Prince Regent of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The title Prince of Brazil, a title that used to pertain to the heir apparent of the Portuguese Crown, was dropped shortly afterwards, in 1817, being replaced by the title of Prince Royal of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, or Prince Royal for short. A new flag and coat of arms were also adopted for the new state.
Succession of John VI
On 20 March 1816 Queen Maria I died in Rio de Janeiro. Prince John, the Prince Regent, then became King John VI, the second monarch of the United Kingdom, retaining the numbering of Portuguese Sovereigns. After a period of mourning and several delays, the festivities of the acclamation of the new King were held in Rio de Janeiro on 6 February 1818.
On the date of his Acclamation, King John VI created the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, the only order of knighthood to be created during the United Kingdom era. This Order existed in the United Kingdom alongside the old Portuguese Orders of chivalry and the Order of the Tower and Sword, an ancient Order that had been dormant and that was revived by the Portuguese monarchy in November 1808, when the royal court was already in Brazil. After the dissolution of the United Kingdom, while Brazilian branches of the old Orders of chivalry were created, resulting in Brazilian and Portuguese Orders Saint James of the Sword, of Saint Benedict of Aviz, and of Christ (there was and is also a branch of the Order of Christ maintained by the Holy See: the Supreme Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ), paradoxically, the newer Orders (the recreated Order of the Tower and Sword and the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa) remained in existence as Portuguese Orders only.
John VI's return to Europe
After the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Portugal, the King left Brazil and returned to the European portion of the United Kingdom, arriving in Lisbon on 4 July 1821. Before his departure, the King, acceding to requests made by Brazilian courtiers, decided to leave behind his heir apparent, Prince Pedro, the Prince Royal of the United Kingdom. By a decree issued on 22 April 1821, the King invested Pedro with the title of "Regent of Brazil", and granted him delegated powers to discharge the "general government and entire administration of the Kingdom of Brazil" as the King's placeholder, thus granting the Kingdom of Brazil a devolved administration within the United Kingdom.
Accordingly, with the appointment of Prince Royal Pedro as Regent of Brazil, the Brazilian provinces – that in the colonial period were united under a vice-regal administration, and that during the stay of Queen Maria I and King John VI in the American Continent remained united directly under the royal Government – continued, after the return of the King and of the Portuguese court to Europe, united under a central Brazilian Government based in Rio de Janeiro.
Prince Pedro's Regency not only assured the unity of the Brazilian people under one government, but it also enjoyed a high degree of autonomy vis-à-vis the Government of the United Kingdom.
Attempts by the Government in Lisbon to terminate Brazil's home rule and to undermine Brazilian unity would lead to the proclamation of the independence of Brazil and the dissolution of the United Kingdom.
Dissolution of the United Kingdom
Lead-up to the dissolution
The Cortes (the Parliament) assembled in Lisbon in the wake of the Constitutional Revolution of 1820 to draft a Constitution for the United Kingdom was composed of mostly Portuguese delegates. This was so because the Revolution was Portuguese in origin, so that the members of the Cortes were elected in Portugal, and only later a Brazilian delegation was elected and the Brazilian delegates crossed the Atlantic to join the ongoing deliberations. Also, Brazilian representatives were often mistreated and persecuted in the streets by Portuguese citizens who resented the end of colonial rule. On top of that, Brazilians were under-represented in the Cortes.
As for the King, upon his arrival in Lisbon, he behaved as though he accepted the new political settlement that resulted from the Liberal Revolution (a posture he would maintain until mid-1823), but the powers of the Crown were severely limited. A Council of Regency that had been elected by the Cortes to govern Portugal in the wake of the Revolution – and that replaced by force the previous governors that administered the European portion of the United Kingdom by royal appointment – handed back the reins of government to the Monarch on his arrival in Lisbon, but the King was now limited to the discharge of the Executive branch, and had no influence over the drafting of the Constitution or over the actions of the Cortes.
The Constituent Cortes, dominated by a Portuguese majority, included provisions in the Constitution being drafted that referred to the people of the United Kingdom as "the Portuguese Nation". The draft Constitution spoke of "Portuguese citizens of both hemispheres". Apart from including language in the Constitution that was seen as hostile and offensive to Brazilians, the United Kingdom Cortes assembled in Lisbon included in the proposed Constitution provisions that would undermine and potentially lead to the dissolution of the central Brazilian government based in Rio de Janeiro. The draft Constitution would have maintained the Regency of the Kingdom of Brazil, but it contained provisions allowing the United Kingdom Legislature to exclude Brazilian provinces from the jurisdiction of the Regency. Thus, the government of the United Kingdom in Lisbon would have the power to sever the links between a Brazilian province and the central Brazilian government, submitting this province directly to the Lisbon Government. If enacted, those deliberations of the Cortes would not only undermine Brazilian home rule, but they would also endanger the unity of the Brazilian people, as Brazilians would no longer have a central government, a situation that did not even exist in the last centuries of the colonial period. Portuguese deputies in the Cortes even introduced draft legislation that would concretely sever the ties between the central devolved government of the Kingdom of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro and some provinces in Northeastern Brazil. The Portuguese Cortes also demanded the immediate return of the Crown Prince to Europe.
Brazilian Nationalists reacted, interpreting the actions of the Cortes as an attempt to "divide and conquer". They alleged that once the provisions approved by the Cortes were enacted and enforced, Brazil, although formally remaining a part of the transatlantic monarchy, would be in reality returned to the condition of a Colony. Brazilians feared the breakup of Brazil, with the creation of provinces directly subject to the Lisbon Government.
Also, language in the draft Constitution that would have the effect of including colonies of the Portuguese colonial empire in Africa and Asia as part of the territory of the United Kingdom seemed to confirm that the intention of the Cortes was indeed to reduce Brazil to the position of a colony once again: it was clear that the territories in Africa and Asia would continue to be colonies, and to be subject to economic exploitation and domination by means of restrictions in foreign trade, etc.; but those colonies would now be declared parts of the United Kingdom, meaning that, with the inclusion of the whole of the Portuguese Empire in the United Kingdom, the definition of the United Kingdom itself would change: the United Kingdom would cease to correspond to a transatlantic State that included no colonies but that controlled colonies overseas, and would instead become a State that included colonies in its bosom. This would provide the legal framework for the reintroduction of trade restrictions in Brazil that had been lifted since the arrival of the Royal Family in Brazilian shores.
Notably, several Portuguese politicians wanted to re-introduce to Brazil restrictions in foreign trade that in the previous colonial era had been dubbed euphemistically as the colonial pact: a mercantilist system in which Brazilian products could only be exported to Portugal, and in which Brazilians could only import products from Portugal. This system, which enabled the economic exploitation of the Portuguese Colonies by Metropolitan Portugal, had been abolished in Brazil even before the creation of the United Kingdom. Indeed, the abolition of all the restrictions on foreign trade, and the exclusion of Brazil from the imperialist policy of the colonial pact, had taken place already in 1808, as soon as the Royal Family arrived in Brazil: the first act signed by the Prince Regent after his arrival in Brazil was the decree on the opening of the Brazilian ports to friendly Nations, that enabled Brazilians to import goods from Nations other than Portugal, and to export Brazilian products to the foreign Nations maintaining diplomatic ties with the Portuguese Empire. Now, with the measures being voted by the Cortes assembled in Lisbon, that economic freedom was under threat.
Faced with that scenario, Brazilian independentists managed to convince Prince Pedro to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Cortes, that demanded his immediate return. He thus continued leading a central Brazilian Government as Regent, and further established that no laws, decrees or instructions issued by the Portuguese Cortes or by the central government of the United Kingdom would be obeyed in Brazil without his fiat.