Answer:
The events leading to Brazil’s independence started in Europe. Emperor
Napoleon of France invaded Portugal and Spain in 1807 and 1808. The
Portuguese rulers fled from Lisbon, Portugal, to Brazil. Brazil was a Portuguese
colony in the New World. The Spanish monarch1 was captured and temporarily
imprisoned.
All of Spain’s colonies in the New World were on their own. Though the
colonies officially belonged to Spain, they did not want the king always looking
over their shoulders and managing their affairs. The colonists wanted much
more freedom from Spain. They began to see the imprisonment of their monarch
as a chance to gain independence. Latin Americans started to rise up against
the lingering signs of Spanish power. Spain was determined to hold on to its
New World colonies. The two sides fought many bloody battles in Central and
South America. Spain’s colonies2 fought a long, hard war for independence.
In Brazil, it was different. The colony became independent more
peacefully. Prince John VI, the future Portuguese monarch, escaped Napoleon
and moved to Brazil. The colony became the seat of the grand Portuguese
Empire that covered parts of Africa, India, and Brazil. The future king of Portugal
stayed in Brazil for 13 years. He grew attached to Brazilians and the colony.
Brazilians did not feel removed from the Portuguese government. Instead, they
felt that the prince brought status3 and glory to their colony. Indeed, in 1815,
John VI announced that Brazil would be a kingdom, on equal footing in the
Portuguese Empire with the kingdom of Portugal itself.
Step-by-step explanation: