2022Joint Issue Brazil-Portugal, 200 Years of Brazilian Independence - Special Folder

On 7 September 1822, on the banks of the river Ipiranga, near São Paulo, the famous cry rang out: “Independence or Death”. This was the symbolic announcement of the decisive step in the construction of Brazil as an independent nation. Under the aegis of the still reigning House of Bragança, Pedro, until then Prince Regent, assumed the political leadership that had been implicitly bestowed on him by the Brazilian nation, which, in January that year, had heard and echoed his no-less famous cry of “I will stay.” By declaring his intention to stay, thus opposing the appeal of the Constituent Courts gathered in Lisbon, Pedro adopted Brazil as his home, ready for his natural ascent to leadership of a new empire separated from its motherland. His proclamation as emperor took place soon after, on 12 October 1822. As a tutelary figure, he was fundamental in maintaining the political unity of a vast territory, as well as in shaping the social and political institutions of the Brazilian state under construction. Pedro I of Brazil returned to Portugal in 1831 as Pedro IV to support the liberal cause, which was close to his heart, at a time when the turmoil inherent in the return to an absolute monarchy was far greater than the slight disturbance felt in Brazilian political life as it searched for its horizons.