The imperial Constitution preserves a slaveholding order

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...

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 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...

The imperial law of 1 October 1828 reshaped municipal councils and assigned them responsibilities in local administration, including public works, markets, streets, and public order. In slaveholding...

The law of 13 September 1830 regulated written service contracts by free Brazilian and foreign workers, with penalties for breach and provisions that could compel performance. It belongs to a wider...

Rio’s municipal code of postures regulated street life, commerce, sanitation, and public order. Such rules shaped the conditions under which enslaved people hired out their labor, including porters,...