A republican revolt begins in Pernambuco

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 28 February 1814, about 250 insurgents, many connected to the Quilombo do Sangradouro, attacked whale-fishing installations around Itapuã. Haussás joined Nagôs, Tapas, and Jejes in a movement...

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...

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...

On 7 September 1822, Prince Pedro’s declaration at Ipiranga became the symbolic date of Brazilian independence. Independence unfolded unevenly: armed conflict and political negotiation continued in...

On 25 March 1824, Pedro I imposed Brazil’s first constitution. It defined political membership and rights while leaving slavery intact; its language of citizenship did not make enslaved people free or...

On 23 November 1826, Brazil and Britain signed a convention committing Brazil to end the African slave trade after a three-year transition. The agreement became enforceable in 1830, but Brazilian...

On 17 December 1826, troops and militia attacked the Quilombo do Urubu, a community near Salvador that included fugitives, freed people, and Indigenous residents. Contemporary police correspondence...