Cuiabá mining company statutes require shareholders to supply enslaved workers

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 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...

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 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...