little Pedro

When I recently attended a conference by the Brazilian ambassador to CPLP on the origins of Brasil I was quite impressed with a small detail that has to do with Portuguese history.

Contrary to the huge Spanish colony of Latin America which upon independence split in several countries like Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Perú, etc., the Portuguese colony kept its territorial unity so that Brasil is today the biggest country in South America. Why?

The reason is that after his departure back to Portugal in 1821, Portuguese king D. João VI left his successor in Brasil. It was the successor to the Portuguese throne, later king D. Pedro IV, who proclaimed the independence of Brasil, becoming Emperor D. Pedro I of the new country. This fact might be unique in history: the independence of the colony is proclaimed by the successor to the throne of the imperial power.

There is more to it, though. When D. Pedro IV returned to Portugal upon the death of his father he left his five-year old son Pedro in Brasil. As the mother of the child had already died this might have been a very difficult decision for his father to take. Neverthless he took it. When little Pedro got to the age of fourteen he was proclaimed Emperor D. Pedro II of Brasil and he ruled for fourty-nine years in a row. The unity of Brasil was granted thanks to Portuguese political ingenuity and sense of duty.