Brazil Declares Independence Under Pedro I
A prince chooses a crown of his own with the cry Independence or Death
Quick facts
- Date
- September 7, 1822 (the Cry of Ipiranga)
- Ruler
- Pedro I, first Emperor of Brazil
- Motto
- Independence or Death
- Recognition treaty
- Britain and Portugal, August 29, 1825
What happened
After King Joao VI returned to Lisbon in 1821, the Portuguese parliament tried to reduce Brazil back to colonial status and recall his son, Prince Pedro. Pedro refused. In a famous scene at Ipiranga on September 7, 1822, the Library of Congress country study records, he had to choose between returning to Portugal in disgrace or opting for independence, and he chose independence: his motto, he said, would be Independence or Death. Pedro had already declared himself perpetual defender of Brazil in May. He was crowned Pedro I, first Emperor of Brazil, and Britain and Portugal recognized Brazilian independence by treaty on August 29, 1825.
Why it matters
Brazil became independent as a monarchy, not a republic, and did so with almost no war, sparing it the fragmentation that broke Spanish America into many states. A single prince of the Portuguese royal house crowning himself emperor of a New World country is one of the most unusual paths to independence in the Americas, and it kept Brazil territorially whole.
How we know
The Ipiranga declaration, the Independence or Death motto, and the 1825 recognition treaty are documented verbatim in the Library of Congress country study, with Pedro's status as first Emperor of Brazil confirmed in World History Encyclopedia.
Sources
- Library of Congress, Country Studies (Federal Research Division). Brazil: Independence (Country Studies) · General sourcecountrystudies.us · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Portuguese Brazil · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Part of a timelineHistory of Brazil24 events · A land of hundreds of nations before 1500, the destination of nearly half of all enslaved Africans brought to the Americas, and the only monarchy the New World's republics ever toleratedView all →