Brazil On 22nd April 1500, Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral landed at Porto Seguro on the coast of the State of Bahia. This date is celebrated as the day of the discovery of the country that was to be called Brazil, due to a flame-colored wood "pau-brasil" found along the coastline.

From 1549 onwards, the town of Salvador da Bahia was the nation's first capital, to be succeeded by Rio de Janeiro in 1763 and Brasilia in 1960. Pressured by the Napoleonic Wars, the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1808. In 1815 Prince Regent Dom Joao VI was crowned King of United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves, a historic fact that had a major effect on the future of the Brazilian nation. In 1820 the Royal Family returned to Portugal leaving behind, as Prince Regent, its son D.Pedro, married to Austrian archduchess Leopoldina von Habsburg.

On 7th September 1822 he declared Brazil's independence from colonial rule, and became Dom Pedro I, first Emperor of Brazil. In 1831 he abdicated in favor of his son D.Pedro II, who remained Emperor until the Republic was proclaimed in 1889.