In a cold and dark morning, near Lisbon, the sounds of the horses galloping fast begin. They are going to the Royal Family's Queluz Castle. An old man from the castle opens the door and lets the two men on their horses in. "The king is waiting for you in his room, please follow me," says the old men. The messengers from the king left their horses out and they followed the old men. They passed by the beautiful gardens and the wonderful fountains while staring at the Baroque-Rococo architecture. They kept walking in the exuberant palace. Then, they passed by the Gateway of Fame, located at the main avenues of the radiant gardens.

Inside the room, there is a man.  He is sat in a sophisticated throne. He seems worried. He is King John of Portugal. The room has long north facing windows. The room is very spacious and there are marvelous statues that were brought from Italy and England. The room is cold, and on the desk there is a family picture in a elegant photo frame. In the picture, the king is with his wife Charlotte of Spain, and their children. They seem very happy. In the picture Charlotte was smiling, but she seems weak and frail. Despite the rumors that say that she is ambitious and violent, her features were ugly.

The two messengers arrive to the room. Because of their faces, the king realizes that there were not good news. Now the king seems even more worried than before. He quickly stands up, one of the messengers says: "The French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte is coming to Portugal. They are coming to invade us." The king is in shock. Now the room is even colder than before. It is quiet and the environment feels heavy and sad. For an instance, the king feels like his legs can't keep him up anymore. The king seats down, he takes a deep breath the only thing he could say after these is: "We are going to Brazil." This is how brazil's independence history begins.

It is 1808, the Portuguese royal family and 15,000 Portuguese commoners are preparing for their long trip. They approach the huge ship. There are British ships to escort them. John is obviously scared. After a long, very long time of navigation they finally see land, they see Brazil. The huge ship stops. They can't believe that they are finally in Rio de Janeiro. Years have passed, since the Royal family and the Court are in Brazil. King John decides with the Court to open colony's ports to trade freely with friendly nations.

It is July 15, 1815, British messengers come to Rio de Janeiro to talk with King John, they are telling him a wonderful new. "Napoleon surrendered himself to the British squadron at Rochefort." King John smiles. The Royal family decide to keep living in Brazil.

It is March 20, 1816, Maria I of Portugal, mother of John is dead, and everybody is sad, but at the same time they feel relive because they know Maria was suffering with her illness. Pedro, the second son of his parents is eighteen years old, and he become the heir to the both kingdoms, Brazil and Portugal. He received the title of Duke of Braganza. It is an early morning, Pedro decides to take a walk. Everything is quiet. The sun starts to shine, and Rio de Janeiro starts to wake up. Everybody knows Pedro, and when they see him they greet him really polite, maybe it is because they respect him or they are afraid of his power. He is passing by a ranch and Pedro is hearing shots, he keeps walking, but the sound was louder until he sees the owner of the ranch hitting a slave sadistically. The slave is bleeding in the floor. It looks like his head is broken. The image is awful. In his eyes you could see fear and hatred. "Stop" Pedro says, "don't hit him." "Dom Pedro, he was steeling food." the owner answer. Pedro couldn't say anything else and he just feels like running back home. He is feeling powerless, now these things are very normal. There is a lot of Africans slaves in Brazil. It is normal to see somebody hitting a slave. Dom Pedro cries silently.

One year has passed, it is 1817. Tonight Maria Leopoldina archduchess of Australia, who is Dom Pedro's fiancé and a really smart woman, highly cultured, fluent in six languages is arriving to Brazil to meet her future husband. Dom Pedro seems nervous. Charlotte comes to him and says: "Pedro Leopoldina is here." Pedro's hands are sweating as he comes to Leopoldina. She introduced herself, and they start to talk.

It has passed four days, today is Dom Pedro's wedding, everybody in Rio de Janeiro is talking about this. Today is a very happy day. The skies over Rio de Janeiro is of a deep oceanic blue, it is beautiful. The city's streets are gaily decorated. They are arriving to the chapel, and the ceremony stared.

Two years passed, today is Apri14, l8l9. Maria Leopoldina just had her first child.

Pedro holds his baby, "it's a beautiful baby" he says, and he starts to cry. "Everybody wants to know if your baby is a boy or a girl" John says. Dom Pedro: "father it is a girl."

It is 1820, the Portuguese army revolts against the British regent. Marshal William Carr Beresford, demanding a constitutional monarchy.

The Portuguese court is determined to rule the empire from Lisbon and lower Brazil to the status of a colony again. King John is disagree because he had worked really hard for Brazil. Pedro disagrees too.

It is January 1821, Portuguese officers and Brazilian liberals overthrew the governments in Bahía and Belém. King John is forced to agree that he would accept any constitution the Cortes might write. After some months, the Cortes demands King John to return to Portugal. He is very infuriated with this, but he obeys.

It is an early sunny morning of April. Today John is preparing to go back to Portugal. Before this, he wants to talk with Pedro and with José Bonifácio who is a scientist. "Pedro, break with Portugal if necessary to keep Brazil under our family's control. You are the regent of Brazil, and you Bonifácio are now the minister of Brazil." He paused. "Pedro, if Brazil becomes independent, 1 would rather have you, who respect me, in command than any adventurer" he continued.

King John left taking with him the Brazilian treasury, the Bank of Brazil and four thousand courtiers.

Some months later, the Cortes Gerais met in Portugal, including some Brazilian delegates. They order Pedro to return to Portugal. In all the streets of Brazil people are talking about this. Freemasons circulate a petition asking Pedro to remain. He just read it now he feels very confused. The Masons have liberal and conservative factions with Bonifácio leading the conservatives. These radical are united, however, Brazil is determined it's own destiny. Bonifácio talk with Pedro and he advised him to break with Portugal. Pedro has just done his replay. He send it to Portugal.

Two days after Pedro's officials answer is made public: "Considering that my presence here pleases the people and makes the nation happy, 1 am ready, let them know that 1 will stay." March 1822, thanks to the initiative of the freemasons, today the Brazilian senate give Dom Pedro the title of Protector and Perpetual Defender of Brazil.

He send a letter to his father telling him what happened and he added "I am honored with this title that the generous people of Brazil confer on me. But 1 cannot accept it. Brazil does not need protection. It can protect itself. 1 accept, however, the title of perpetual defender and I swear to give the last drop of my blood to deserve it." After two days, Pedro convoked a Brazilian constituent assembly. José Bonifácio drew support from large landholders, slaveholders, and merchants in Rio to oppose the principle of popular representation for the assembly, a condition radicals try to reverse, proposing direct popular elections.

August 14, Dom Pedro is traveling to São Paulo, leaving his wife as unofficial regent assisted by a group of ministers. Dom Pedro is visiting São Paulo cities and towns. São Paulo is the Brazil' s main coffee producer. In these state there are a lot of immigrants, and thanks to them São Paulo is a dynamic financial and cultural hub with people of all colors working together.

September 7, Dom Pedro is in his way back. He decides to stop near Santos, at the Ipiranga river. He is staring at the wonderful crystalline water of the river, in which he remained some moments of his infancy, and the desire that Brazil has to be an independent nation. Slowly a tear fell down. The galloping of two horses destroy the touching moment. The two men on their horses are coming to him. Dom Pedro recognize them. They are the messengers. "Dom Pedro, Leopoldina send us to tell you something. The government in Lisbon had reduce its powers." Dom Pedro is talking with the young soldiers of his honor guard. One of them, Padre Belchior Pinheiro is advising Dom Pedro to become the King of Brazil because otherwise he could lose his heritance or he could go to jail. hundreds of ideas are spinning in his head. Then, he remember that he is wearing the Portuguese colors in his hat, blue and red. He takes them out and with fury he throws them away. Everybody is cheering Pedro. Dom Pedro pronounce the words: "Independence or Death."

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Brazil-HISTORY.htmlBook: Dom Pedro:: the struggle for liberty in brazil and Portugal. http://psg.coml~walter/brasil.html http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/bat/brazil/fbrazil1821b.htm http://countrystudies.us/brazil/59.htm