The independence of countries in Latin America is something that i find really quite interesting. Each different country has their own story of how the events leading up to separation happened, and what effects those events had in the overall identity and history of the country today.

The process of independence that I know the most about is the Brazilian one, since it was the one we learned in school growing up. Early Brazilian history was always my favourite topic in history class, especially the Brazilian empire, which later became a constitutional monarchy. I find the story of the Brazilian independence very interesting and quite different from many other countries in Latin America because of the parties involved in the process.

The fact that the Portuguese monarchy was forced to reside in Brazil for years and made Rio the capital of the empire definitely affected the relationship of colonizer-colony. The royal family brought with them many changes to Rio de Janeiro, they implemented roads, theatres, schools and the city became a centre of culture and wealth where all the important nobles resided. And so Brazil stopped being a colony and became a “United kingdom of Portugal”.

But it was also more than that. Dom Pedro, the young prince, having been raised in Brazil from a very young age, grew to be very attached to the country and when the royal family moved back to Portugal and were being pressured to make brazil bow down to Portugal, Dom Pedro refused and proudly declared independence on September 7th, 1822.

Brazil was no longer a colony, nor was it tied to the Portuguese Regime, But its king was still a Portuguese royal, who ruled the country based on the interests of the white aristocracy and the big coffee plantation owners.

So the whole process was kind of a singular one, in the sense that Brazil was now independent, yes, but in many aspects, things continued to be the same. It would not be until later that the need for a different kind of government would make people rebel against the old authority figures, and demand more equality for the citizens.