Second Portuguese Empire: A Visual History

The second phase of the Portuguese Empire, roughly from the recovery of independence from Spain in 1640-1668 to Brazil's independence in 1822, was centred on the South Atlantic. Portugal had lost most of its Asian network to the Dutch, but Brazil's sugar plantations, the gold and diamond strikes of Minas Gerais after 1695 and the slave trade from Angola made it a wealthy Atlantic empire. The court's flight to Rio in 1808 elevated Brazil to a kingdom, and its separation in 1822 closed the era.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Second Portuguese Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Brazilian gold output

Registered output; smuggling was significant.

Timeline of the Second Portuguese Empire

1. 1640
   RestorationPortugal breaks from Spain.
2. 1654
   Dutch expelled from Brazil
3. 1663
   Peace with the DutchThe Asian losses are confirmed.
4. 1695
   Gold in Minas Gerais
5. 1703
   Methuen TreatyPort wine for English cloth; gold flows to Britain.
6. 1755
   Lisbon earthquakePombal's reforms follow.
7. 1808
   Court arrives in Rio
8. 1822
   Brazil independent

Recovering from the Iberian Union

Sixty years of union with Spain (1580-1640) had exposed Portugal's empire to Spain's enemies; the Dutch took Malacca, Ceylon, the Malabar coast and, for a time, north-east Brazil and Angola. Portugal recovered Brazil and Angola by 1654 and made peace with the Dutch in 1663, but the Estado da India was reduced to Goa, Macau, Timor and a few outposts.

Brazil's gold and the Atlantic system

Gold was found in Minas Gerais in the 1690s and diamonds in the 1720s, triggering the eighteenth century's greatest gold rush. Bullion flowed to Lisbon and on to Britain under the Methuen Treaty of 1703. Angola and Mozambique became slave-exporting colonies feeding Brazilian plantations and mines. The Marquis of Pombal, after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, centralised administration, expelled the Jesuits and created chartered trading companies.

The court in Rio and separation

When Napoleon invaded in 1807 the royal family sailed to Brazil under British escort. Rio became the capital of a united kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves in 1815. King Joao VI returned to Lisbon in 1821 under pressure from liberals; his son Pedro stayed and declared Brazil independent in 1822. Portugal kept its African and Asian possessions and turned to a third empire in Africa.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• First Portuguese Empire (1415 to 1663)
• Third Portuguese Empire (1822 to 1999)
• Empire of Brazil (1822 to 1889)
• Dutch Empire (1602 to 1975)
• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• Maratha Empire (1674 to 1818)

Wars of the same era and region

• War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714)
• Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763)
• Deccan wars (1680 to 1707)
• Maratha invasions of Bengal (1741 to 1751)
• Rebellion of Tupac Amaru II (1780 to 1783)
• Colombian War of Independence (1810 to 1825)

8 surprising things about the Second Portuguese Empire

1. The Portuguese royal family's flight to Brazil in 1807 was the first time a European monarch set foot in the Americas.
2. Brazil produced around 80 percent of the world's gold in the eighteenth century.
3. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, tsunami and fire killed tens of thousands and shook Enlightenment faith in a benevolent order.
4. Portugal expelled the Jesuits in 1759, before France or Spain.
5. The Portuguese were the largest slave traders in the Atlantic, carrying nearly half of all Africans shipped to the Americas.
6. The Treaty of Madrid in 1750 gave Portugal most of the Amazon basin, tearing up the old Tordesillas line.
7. Rio de Janeiro was the capital of a European empire from 1808 to 1821.
8. Goa remained Portuguese until India invaded it in 1961.

Sources

• Portuguese Empire Wikipedia
• Portugal: The 18th century Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Brazil: Colonial Brazil Encyclopaedia Britannica
• A. J. R. Russell-Wood, The Portuguese Empire 1415-1808 (1998) Johns Hopkins University Press

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