There is no recorded history of Brazil before the Portuguese conquest and colonization. The evidence available is mainly archeological and anthropological and the records of the Europeans. Portugal’s claim to Brazil was based on a Papal Bull of 1493, which following Columbus’ exploration divided all newly discovered land between Spain and Portugal.
2. Brazil’s discovery is officially attributed to Pedro Alvares Cabral in 1500. Cabral is reported to have been blown-off course on his way to India where he had been dispatched by Portugal soon after Vasco de Gama’s return. Portugal’s claim to Brazil was disputed by many European countries and it had to ward off raids from the French, Dutch and British as also the Spanish to maintain its hold over the vast territory. Gold was found in 18th century and became Brazil’s leading export item. Brazil’s main exports through its history have been agricultural; sugar, coffee, rubber, coco, cotton and tobacco. These were grown in vast plantations and exported to Europe and US. There was perpetual shortage of labour in the country. It was mainly Africa that was to provide the labour to exploit the land.
3. Brazil’s importance in the Portuguese empire rose suddenly in 1808 when the Lisbon Court took shelter in Rio de Janeiro following Napoleon’s invasion. The Portuguese King, Don Joao VI returned to Portugal in 1821 leaving behind his son Don Pedro who declared himself independent in 1822. He and his son Pedro II ruled Brazil till 1889. The country’s first constitution, promulgated in 1824, established a constitutional monarchy. The Monarchy helped the colony develop as a single nation. A prolonged border war with Paraguay (1864-70) led to the formation of a large army in Brazil. After the war, the army became a major force in the country’s politics. The army seized power in 1889 and remained the principle arbiter of power in Brazil for a century though it did not always control power directly. The most recent phase of military rule in Brazil was between 1964 and 1985. It handed over power to President Jose Sarney after elections in 1985 when the deteriorating economy led to mass demonstrations. President Sarney (1985-89) introduced the Cruzado Plan in 1986 to stabilize the economy and had a new Constitution drafted in 1988. In July 1994, President Itamar Franco and his Finance Minister, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, introduced the “Real Plan” to stabilize the currency and to control the inflation. Later in 1994, Mr Cardoso won the Presidential elections. He was re-elected in 1998 by a comfortable margin.
A chronology of key events:
1500 - Portuguese land in the area and claim it to the Portuguese crown.
1822 - Son of Portuguese king declares independence from Portugal and crowns himself Peter I, Emperor of Brazil.
1888 - Slavery abolished. Large influx of European immigrants over the next decade.
1889 - Monarchy overthrown, federal republic established with central government controlled by coffee interests. Brazil produces 65% of world's coffee by 1902.
1930 - Revolt places Getulio Vargas at head of provisional revolutionary government.
1937 - Vargas leads coup, rules as dictator with military backing. Economy placed under authoritarian state control, start of social welfare revolution and reform of laws governing industry.
1939-45 - Brazil initially declares itself neutral but in 1943 joins Allies in World War II.
1945 - Vargas ousted in military coup. Elections held under caretaker government. New constitution returns power to states.
1951 - Vargas elected president, but faces stiff opposition.
1954 - Vargas commits suicide after military gives him the options of resigning or being overthrown.
1956-61 - Juscelino Kubitschek is president, helping Brazil achieve rapid economic growth.
1960 - Kubitschek moves capital to Brasilia.
1960 - Janio Quadros elected president, but resigns after several months, plunging country into constitutional crisis. Succeeded by left-wing vice-president Joao Goulart.
Military rule
1964 - Goulart ousted in bloodless coup, flees into exile. Military rule associated with repression but also with rapid economic growth based on state-ownership of key sectors.
1974 - General Ernesto Geisel becomes president, introduces reforms which allow limited political activity and elections.
1982 - Brazil halts payment of its main foreign debt, which is among the world's biggest.
1985 - Tancredo Neves elected first civilian president in 21 years under the electoral college system set up by the military, but falls ill before he can be inaugurated and dies shortly afterwards. His vice president Jose Sarney becomes president at time of economic crisis.
1986 - Sarney introduces Cruzado Plan, freezing prices and wages in effort to control inflation. But inflation explodes when freeze is lifted.
1988 - New constitution reduces presidential powers.
Economic woes
1989 - Fernando Collor de Mello becomes first directly elected president since 1960. Introduces radical economic reform but promised economic improvements fail to materialise, and inflation remains out of control.
Foreign debt payments are suspended.
1992 - Earth Summit in Rio.
Collor resigns after being accused of corruption. He is later cleared. Replaced by vice president Itamar Franco.
1994 - Fernando Henrique Cardoso elected president after helping to bring inflation under control. Makes controversial moves on land issue, seizing land for distribution among poor, and allowing indigenous land claims to be challenged.
1995 - President Cardoso acknowledges the existence of slavery in Brazil and pledges to tackle the problem.
1996 - Police kill 19 Amazon peasants in town of Eldorado dos Carajas.
PRESIDENTS OF THE 90's
Fernando Collor de Mello (left) stepped down in disgrace; Fernando Henrique Cardoso served two terms
1997 - Constitution changed to allow president to run for re-election.
1998 - Cardoso re-elected. IMF provides rescue package after economy hit by collapse of Asian stock markets.
2000 - Celebrations to mark Brazil's 500th anniversary marred by protests by indigenous Indians, who say that racial genocide, forced labour and disease have dramatically cut their population from an estimated 5 million before the Portuguese arrived in 1500 to the current 350,000.
2001 - Government says it is prepared to amend a development programme which critics say will have a catastrophic impact on the Amazon. Government expects to spend $40 billion over seven years on roads, railways, hydroelectric projects and housing in the Amazon basin.
2001 May - President Cardoso abolishes two development agencies for the Amazon and the north-east. The authorities say the agencies set up bogus projects to steal development funds estimated at more than $1 billion.
2002 March - Members of the Landless Workers Movement, demanding land reform, occupy President Cardoso's family ranch.
2002 June - Fans jubilant as Brazil triumphs in World Cup - the football-mad country's fifth such victory.
2002 July - Currency hits all-time low and financial markets panic over the prospect of left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva winning October's presidential elections.
Lula elected
2002 October - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, wins presidential elections. The former shoeshine boy heads Brazil's first left-wing government for more than 40 years. At his inauguration in January 2003 he promises political and economic reforms and pledges to eradicate hunger.
2003 August - Space rocket explodes on the ground at the Alcantara launch base, killing 21 people.
2004 April - Wave of land invasions, dubbed "Red April" by activists.
2004 September - Brazil, along with Germany, India and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
2004 October - Brazil launches its first space rocket.
2005 February - Murder of US-born missionary and campaigner for Amazon peasant farmers Dorothy Stang throws conflict over land and resources in Amazon into spotlight. Government unveils plan to protect part of region from encroachment.
2005 March - Death squad kills at least 30 people on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, the city's worst massacre in over a decade. It is suggested that rogue police are responsible.
2005 June-August - Corruption allegations rock the governing Workers' Party. A wave of resignations ensues. The president makes a televised apology.
2005 October - Voters in a referendum reject a proposal to ban the sale of firearms.
2006 May - Scores of people are killed in gang attacks and a police backlash in Sao Paulo state. The violence is sparked by a series of prison uprisings.
2006 October - President Lula is re-elected.
2007 July - Anti-slavery team frees more than 1,000 people from a sugar-cane plantation in the Amazon.
Country's worst air crash in Sao Paulo and a major radar failure a few days later, highlight shortcomings of Brazil's air travel system.
2007 August - Government officially recognizes for first time human rights abuses carried out under military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985. More than 500 people are believed to have been killed or "disappeared".
2007 November - Reports that a young woman was left in a police cell with some 20 men for a month and repeatedly sexually abused cause shock and considerable public anger.
2007 December - The speaker of the Brazilian Senate and a key ally of President Lula, Renan Calheiros, resigns in order to avoid an imminent impeachment hearing following a long-running corruption scandal.
SOURCE: TIMELINE, BRAZIL, BBC NEWS |
