Haussás and other Africans rise in the Itapuã revolt

The alvará of 1 April 1808 revoked the 1785 restrictions on factories and manufacturing in Brazil. It opened legal space for workshops and industry during the transfer of the Portuguese court to Rio...

On 26 December 1808, groups of enslaved people from Salvador and the Recôncavo left plantations and rural estates together, seeking refuge in the forests and quilombos. The collective escape...

On 6 January 1809, troops under Captain Joaquim José dos Passos blocked a group of fugitives near Paripe, outside Salvador. A large escape had expanded through the Recôncavo, and some 140 people...

On 19 February 1810, Portugal and Britain signed commercial and alliance agreements whose tenth article committed the Portuguese prince regent to cooperate toward the gradual abolition of the...

An alvará extended privileges to small mines and protected mines, equipment, and enslaved workers from seizure by creditors under specified circumstances. Its language shows how the state secured an...

On 13 November 1814 tribunal ruling documented the Haussá-led revolt and imposed harsh punishment on survivors, including whipping, branding, forced sale, and deportation. The ruling is a state record...

On 22 January 1815, Portugal and Britain signed a treaty prohibiting Portuguese subjects from trading enslaved people along the African coast north of the Equator. The measure constrained a portion of...

A royal charter approved statutes for the Cuiabá Mining Company. Shareholders were required to supply the enslaved laborers they had promised, or provide substitutes under the company rules; a failure...

On 6 March 1817, a republican revolt broke out in Recife against Portuguese royal authority. Its leaders challenged imperial government and pursued regional independence, yet many belonged to...

The alvará of 8 July 1819 clarified that a mine’s protected productive property could include enslaved workers, homes, mills, food stores, and draft animals. This legal framing preserved the owner’s...