Empire of Brazil

The Empire of Brazil was a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy of the nineteenth century that covered the areas of modern Brazil and Uruguay. Brazil was
originally a colony of the Portuguese Empire but became its center when the Prince Regent João VI fled the French invasion of Portugal in 1808. When João returned to Portugal he left his son Pedro as regent of the autonomous Kingdom of Brazil.
On 7 September 1822, Pedro declared Brazil to be an independent Empire and was acclaimed by the people as emperor. However, in 1831 he was able to return to Portugal. He abdicated the Brazilian throne and left his young son Pedro II as emperor. His reign saw three international wars and decades of economic prosperity and political stability.
Pedro I, Pedro II and the imperial family of Brazil wanted the abolition of slavery, and on 13 May 1888 the imperial princess regent, Isabel de Bragança and Bourbon signed the "Golden Law" on behalf of her father, ending slavery in Brazil. By that time, Brazil had become the last major nation to have slavery. Former plantation owners, dissatisfied with the abolition of slavery, joined the republican movement led by Deodoro da Fonseca, an elderly Marshal, to carry out a Coup d'etat and install a republic which became Brazil's first dictatorship on November 15, 1889. The imperial family was exiled, and the Republican government persecuted, tortured and killed all those who opposed the regime.