Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil

Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil

Part of the French invasion of Portugal
Embarkation of the Portuguese Royal Family to Brazil in 1807 19th-century painting attributed to Nicolas-Louis-Albert Delerive National Coach Museum, Lisbon
Date	27 November 1807; 216 years ago (27 November 1807)
Participants	Maria I of Portugal John of Braganza Graham Moore Pedro of Braganza
Outcome	The Portuguese royal family and court move to Brazil

The Portuguese royal court transferred from Lisbon to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in a strategic retreat of queen Maria I of Portugal, prince regent John, the Braganza royal family, its court, and senior officials, totaling nearly 10,000 people, on 27 November 1807.^[1] The embarkment took place on the 27th, but due to weather conditions, the ships were only able to depart on 29 November. The Braganza royal family departed for Brazil just days before Napoleonic forces invaded Portugal on 1 December 1807. The Portuguese crown remained in Brazil from 1808 until the Liberal Revolution of 1820 led to the return of John VI of Portugal on 26 April 1821.^[2]: 321

For thirteen years, Rio de Janeiro functioned as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves in what some historians call a metropolitan reversal (i.e., a colony exercising governance over the entirety of an empire). The period in which the court was located in Rio brought significant changes to the city and its residents, and can be interpreted through several perspectives. It had profound impacts on Brazilian society, economics, infrastructure, and politics. The transfer of the prince regent and the royal court "represented the first step toward Brazilian independence, since the prince regent immediately opened the ports of Brazil to foreign shipping and turned the colonial capital into the seat of government."^[3]