# Timeline of Brazilian history

This is a timeline of Brazilian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Brazil and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Brazil.

## 10th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1000 | | Marajoara culture flourishes as an Amazonian center. |

## 15th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1492–1502 | | Voyages of Christopher Columbus: navigator Christopher Columbus, sailing in the employ of Castile and Aragon, departed from Palos de la Frontera in search of a westward route to the East Indies. |
| 1494 | 7 June | Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the New World between themselves. Even though the treaty was negotiated without consulting the Pope, a few sources call the resulting line the "Papal Line of Demarcation". |
| 1500 | | Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón lands in the coast of Brazil but is prevented from claiming it by the Treaty of Tordesillas. |
| 1500 | 22 April | Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral officially discovers Brazil and claims the land for the Kingdom of Portugal. He has 13 vessels with him. |
| 1500 | 18 July | Amerigo Vespucci Letter from Seville describes experiences on Alonso de Ojeda's May 1499 voyage. The letter is notable for its description of the Brazilian coast and its inhabitants. |

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1502 | 1 January | Portuguese explorers, led either by Gaspar de Lemos or Gonçalo Coelho, sail into Guanabara Bay, Brazil, which they name Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1502 | | Beginning of the exploitation of brazilwood. |
| 1502 | | The Trindade and Martin Vaz Islands are discovered in 1502 by Portuguese navigators led by Estêvão da Gama, and, along with Brazil, became part of the Portuguese Empire. |
| 1503 | 10 August | The Fernando de Noronha island is discovered by a Portuguese expedition, organized and financed by a private commercial consortium headed by the Lisbon merchant Fernão de Loronha. The expedition is under the overall command of captain Gonçalo Coelho and carries the Italian adventurer Amerigo Vespucci aboard, who writes an account of it. |
| 1516 | | The first sugar cane mills appear in Pernambuco. |
| 1527 | | Cristóvão Jacques imprisons three French galleons in Recôncavo, Bahia. But having acted with barbarity towards the prisoners, this gesture eventually caused him major problems with Dom João III. |
| 1530–1533 | | Martim Afonso de Sousa's expedition patrols the Brazilian coast, banishes the French, and creates the first colonial town: São Vicente. |
| 1531 | | Bertrand d'Ornesan tries to establish a French trading post at Pernambuco. |
| 1532 | 22 January | São Vicente is established as the first permanent Portuguese settlement in Brazil. |
| 1534 | | The Captaincies of Brazil are established by King Dom João III. Colonial Brazil is divided into fifteen captaincies |
| 1534–1536 | | Iguape War in the region of São Vicente. |
| 1537 | 12 March | The Portuguese establish Recife in Pernambuco, in the Northeast of Brazil. |
| 1539–1542 | | The first African slaves arrive in Pernambuco. |
| 1549 | 29 March | The city of Salvador, Brazil's first capital, is founded by Tomé de Sousa. |
| 1551 | | Portugal founds a sugar colony at Bahia. |
| 1554 | 25 January | Missionaries Joseph of Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega establish São Paulo, then named São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, in southeast Brazil. |
| 1557 | | German adventurer Hans Staden publishes a widely translated account of his detention by the Tupi people of Brazil, Warhaftige Historia und beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der Wilden Nacketen, Grimmigen Menschfresser-Leuthen in der Newenwelt America gelegen ("True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World, America"). |
| 1560 | 17 March | Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique. |
| 1565 | 1 March | Estácio de Sá founds Rio de Janeiro as São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1580 | 25 March | Iberian Union: King Philip II of Spain becomes King of Portugal under the name Philip I, following the death without heirs of King Henry of Portugal, in a personal union of the crowns, thus maintaining Portuguese independence (in Europe and throughout the Portuguese Empire, including Brazil). The Philippine Dynasty rule lasts until 1640. |
| 1588–1591 | | English privateer Thomas Cavendish loots Santos and São Vicente before losing most of the crew in a battle against the Portuguese at the village of Vitória. |
| 1595 | 30 March – April | Anglo–Spanish War: an English military expedition led by James Lancaster captures Recife. |

## 17th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1608 | | Thornton expedition: a Tuscan expedition under Captain Robert Thornton, sent by Ferdinando I of Tuscany to explore northern Brazil and the Amazon River and prepare for the establishment of a settlement in northern coastal South America, which would serve as a base to export Brazilian wood to Renaissance Italy. which would be colonised by France in 1630. The expedition was the only attempt by an Italian state to colonise the Americas. |
| 1612 | 8 September | São Luís is founded by the French, who intend to make it the center of the Equinoctial France. They build a fort named Saint-Louis de Maragnan after King Louis XIII and his Saintly ancestor Louis IX. |
| 1616 | | 6-year-old António Vieira arrives from Portugal, with his parents, in Salvador in Colonial Brazil where he will become a diplomat, noted author, leading figure of the Church, and protector of local indigenous peoples. |
| 1616 | | Physician Aleixo de Abreu is granted a pension of 16,000 reis for services to the crown in Angola and Brazil by Philip III of Spain, who also appoints him physician of his chamber. |
| 1616 | | A slave ship carries smallpox from the Kingdom of Kongo to Salvador. |
| 1616 | 12 January | The city of Belém, Brazil, is founded on the Amazon River delta by the Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco, who had previously taken the city of São Luís in Maranhão from the French. |
| 1624 | | The Dutch West India Company invades the Portuguese colony of Bahia in Brazil. |
| 1625 | 30 April | The Portuguese recapture Salvador from the Dutch, with the help of a combined Spanish and Portuguese force, consisting of 52 ships and 12,500 men. |
| 1630 | | The Dutch West India Company invades the Portuguese colony of Pernambuco and founds Dutch Brazil. |
| 1631 | 12 September | Eighty Years' War: a Spanish fleet under the command of admiral Antonio de Oquendo defeats a Dutch fleet off the coast of Brazil in the Battle of Albrolhos. |
| 1641 | | The first Rio Carnival happens to celebrate Dom João IV's coronation as king of Portugal. |
| 1641 | 11 March | Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit missions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina. |
| 1642 | | Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas. |
| 1644 | 6 May | Johan Mauritius resigns as Governor of Dutch Brazil. |
| 1648 | 19 April | First Battle of Guararapes: the Portuguese army defeats the Dutch army in northeast Brazil. |
| 1649 | 19 February | Second Battle of Guararapes: decisive Portuguese victory against the Dutch in northeast Brazil. |
| 1654 | | After several years of open warfare, the Dutch withdraw from Brazil; the Portuguese paid off a war debt in payments of salt. |
| 1661 | | Treaty of The Hague: the Dutch Republic recognizes Portuguese imperial sovereignty over New Holland (Dutch Brazil). |
| 1684 | | Beckman Revolt in Maranhão. |
| 1693 | | Gold is found near modern-day cities of Sabará, Caeté and Ouro Preto, beginning of the Brazilian Gold Rush. |
| 1694 | 6 February | The runaway slave colony of Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. |
| 1694 | 8 March | The Casa da Moeda do Brasil is established by the Portuguese in Salvador. |
| 1695 | 20 November | Quilombo dos Palmares ruler Zumbi is captured and beheaded. |

## 18th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1707–1709 | | War of the Emboabas in modern-day Minas Gerais. |
| 1710–1711 | | The Mascate War pits merchants of Recife against the planters of nearby Olinda. |
| 1711 | | São Paulo officially becomes a city. |
| 1720 | 28 June | Vila Rica Revolt, also known as the Filipe dos Santos Revolt. |
| 1720 | 12 September | The Captaincy of Minas Gerais is established, after being separated from the Captaincy of São Paulo and Minas de Ouro. |
| 1722 | | Expedition led by the second Anhanguera discovers gold in present-day Goiás. |
| 1727 | | Lt. Col. Francisco de Mello Palheta smuggles coffee seeds to Brazil in a bouquet, starting a coffee empire. |
| 1750 | 13 January | The Treaty of Madrid between Spain and Portugal authorizes a larger Brazil than had the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which originally established the boundaries of the Portuguese and Spanish territories in South America. |
| 1756 | February | The Guaraní War takes place between the Guaraní tribes of seven Jesuit missions and joint Spanish-Portuguese forces. |
| 1759 | | Jesuits are expelled from Brazil by the Marquis of Pombal. Indians left without protection. |
| 1763 | | The capital of Colonial Brazil is transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, which is located closer to the mining region and provides a harbor to ship the gold to Europe. |
| 1772 | | The Kingdom of Portugal divides its colony of the State of Great-Pará and Maranhão into the State of Great-Pará (capital, Belém) and the State of Maranhão (capital, São Luis). |
| 1775 | | The Kingdom of Portugal reunites its South American colonies of the State of Brazil, the State of Great-Pará, and the State of Maranhão into the Colony of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is the capital. |
| 1788–1789 | | Inconfidência Mineira, conspiracy against the colonial authorities in Brazil. |
| 1792 | 21 April | Tiradentes, prime figure in the Inconfidência Mineira plot, is executed in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1798 | | Revolt of the Alfaiates in Bahia. |

## 19th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1807 | 29 November | The Portuguese Queen Maria I and the Court embark at Lisbon bound for Brazil. Rio de Janeiro becomes the capital of the Portuguese Empire. |
| 1808 | 22 January | The Braganza Royal Family arrives in Brazil, fleeing from the French army. |
| 1808 | 13 June | The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden is founded by King John VI of Portugal. |
| 1808 | 12 October | Banco do Brasil is founded by then prince regent John (later King John VI of Portugal) to finance the kingdom's public debt. |
| 1809 | 6–14 January | Napoleonic Wars: Brazilian and Portuguese forces conquer French Guiana. |
| 1812 | | The first official group of Chinese immigrants to Brazil for Tea planters in Rio de Janeiro during the period of the Portuguese Royal family in Brazil. |
| 1815 | | The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves is established under Queen Maria I. Brazil is elevated from the status of Portuguese colony to a constituent kingdom of the united kingdom. |
| 1817 | March | The French Artistic Mission in Brazil comes to Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1817 | 13 May | Prince Pedro is married by proxy to Maria Leopoldina of Austria. |
| 1817 | | The Pernambuco Revolt breaks out. |
| 1819 | 4 November | The first 1,400 non-Portuguese immigrants arrive from Switzerland. |
| 1821 | | Portugal enters a severe political crisis that obliges John VI and the royal family to return to Portugal. |
| 1822 | 9 January | Prince regent Pedro of Braganza refuses to comply with the Portuguese cortes order to return to Portugal (Dia do Fico). |
| 1822 | 7 September | Prince Pedro proclaims the Brazilian independence on 7 September. |
| 1822 | 1 December | Prince Pedro is crowned as emperor Pedro I of Brazil. |
| 1822–1825 | | War of Independence of Brazil. |
| 1824 | | Confederation of the Equator rebellion in the Northeast. |
| 1824 | | The Constitution of 1824 is adopted. |
| 1824 | 26 May | The United States become the first country to recognize the independence of Brazil. |
| 1825 | 13 January | Frei Caneca and other leaders of the Confederation of the Equator rebellion are executed in Recife. |
| 1825 | 25 August | Uruguay is declared independent of the Empire of Brazil by the Thirty-Three Orientals, a militant revolutionary group led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja. |
| 1826 | 11 December | Empress Maria Leopoldina dies after suffering a miscarriage. |
| 1828 | 26 April | Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed between Brazil and Denmark, establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. |
| 1828 | 9–11 July | Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' revolt rebellion breaks out. |
| 1828 | 2 August | Dom Pedro I is married by proxy to Amélie of Leuchtenberg. |
| 1828 | 27 August | Treaty of Montevideo: Brazil and Argentina recognize the independence of Uruguay. |
| 1831 | 7 April | Dom Pedro I abdicates in favor of his 5-year-old son Dom Pedro II, who will reign for almost 59 years. The regency period begins. |
| 1831 | 7 November | Slave trading is forbidden in Brazil, the law is largely ignored. |
| 1834 | 12 August | The Additional Act provides for the establishment of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies, extinction of the State Council, replacement of the Triumviral Regency, and introduction of a direct and secret ballot. |
| 1834 | 24 September | Former Brazilian emperor Pedro I dies in Lisbon. |
| 1835 | January | Malê revolt in Salvador. |
| 1835 | 20 September | Ragamuffin War begins in Rio Grande do Sul with the capture of Porto Alegre. |
| 1836 | 11 September | The Riograndense Republic is proclaimed in southern Brazil following the battle of Seival. |
| 1838–1841 | | Balaiada revolt in Maranhão. |
| 1840 | 23 July | Pedro II is prematurely declared "of age" and begins to reassert central control in Brazil. |
| 1840 | | Last remaining rebel group of the Cabanagem revolt, under the leadership of Gonçalo Jorge de Magalhães, surrenders. |
| 1841 | 18 July | Coronation ceremony of emperor Pedro II of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1842 | | Liberal rebellions of 1842. |
| 1843 | 20 January | Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, becomes de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil. |
| 1843 | 4 September | The Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil marries Dona Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies in a state ceremony in Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. |
| 1845 | 1 March | Ragamuffin War: peace negotiations led by Lima e Silva and Antônio Vicente da Fontoura conclude with the signing of the Ponche Verde Treaty between the two sides, in Dom Pedrito. |
| 1845 | 9 August | The Aberdeen Act is passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom empowering the British Royal Navy to search Brazilian ships as part of the abolition of the slave trade from Africa. |
| 1847 | 11 June | Afonso dies at age two, leaving his father Pedro II without a male heir. |
| 1848–1849 | | Praieira revolt in Pernambuco. |
| 1850 | 4 September | Eusébio de Queirós Law abolishes the international slave trade in the country. |
| 1851–1852 | | The Platine War ends and the Empire of Brazil has the hegemony over South America. |
| 1852 | 3 February | Platine War: Battle of Caseros, Argentina: the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes allied with Brazil and members of Colorado Party of Uruguay, defeat the Argentine Confederation under Juan Manuel de Rosas. |
| 1854 | 30 April | The first railway in Brazil is inaugurated by Pedro II in Rio de Janeiro, built by industrialist Irineu Evangelista de Sousa. |
| 1859 | 5 May | Border Treaty between Brazil and Venezuela: the two countries agree their borders should be traced at the water divide between the Amazon and the Orinoco basins. |
| 1862 | 26 June | Brazil adopts the Metric system. |
| 1864 | 7 October | American Civil War: Bahia incident: USS Wachusett illegally captures the CSS Florida Confederate raider while in port in Bahia, Brazil, in violation of Brazilian neutrality. |
| 1864–1865 | | Uruguayan War: forces of the Empire of Brazil invade Uruguay in support of Venancio Flores' Colorado Party. |
| 1865 | 1 May | The Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay is formally signed; the Paraguayan War begins. |
| 1865 | 11 June | Paraguayan War: Battle of Riachuelo: the Imperial Brazilian Navy squadron defeats the Paraguayan Navy on the Riachuelo stream. |
| 1867 | 27 March | The Treaty of Ayacucho is signed between the Empire of Brazil and Bolivia, Brazil assigns the land of Acre to Bolivia in exchange for 102,400 sq kilometers of territory further annexed to the Amazonas. |
| 1868 | 5 January | Paraguayan War: Brazilian Army commander Luís Alves de Lima e Silva enters Asunción, Paraguay's capital. Some days later he declares the war is over. Nevertheless, Francisco Solano López, Paraguay's president, prepares guerrillas to fight in the countryside. |
| 1868 | 6 December | Paraguayan War: Battle of Ytororó: Field-Marshal Luís Alves de Lima e Silva leads 13,000 Brazilian troops against a Paraguayan fortified position of 5,000 troops. |
| 1870 | 1 March | End of the Paraguayan War. Francisco Solano López is defeated and killed in the Battle of Cerro Corá. |
| 1871 | 7 March | José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, becomes Prime Minister of the Empire of Brazil, serving for 4 years. |
| 1871 | 28 September | Law of Free Birth, or Rio Branco Law, is passed by the Brazilian Parliament, intending to provide freedom to all newborn children of slaves, and slaves of the state or crown. |
| 1872 | 9 January | In the aftermath of the Paraguayan War, the new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, granting reparations and territorial concessions. |
| 1872 | | Brazil conducts its first official census, the population is 9,930,478. |
| 1873–1874 | | Revolt of the Muckers in Rio Grande do Sul. |
| 1876 | 28 April | Francisco, a slave, becomes the last person to be executed in Brazil, after murdering his masters, being hanged in Pilar, Alagoas. |
| 1877–1878 | | Grande Seca (Great Drought) in Northeastern Brazil. |
| 1882 | | Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition of 1882. |
| 1883 | 30 September | Mossoró, in the province of Rio Grande do Norte, is the first city in Brazil to abolish slavery. |
| 1885 | 28 September | Sexagenarian Law, or Saraiva-Cotegipe Law, which frees slaves over the age of 60, is passed. |
| 1888 | 13 May | The Lei Áurea abolishes the last remnants of slavery. |
| 1889 | 15 November | Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca organizes a military coup which deposes Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and abolishes the Brazilian monarchy. Deodoro da Fonseca proclaims Brazil a Republic and forms a Provisional Government. |
| 1889 | 17 November | The Brazilian Imperial Family is forced into exile in France. |
| 1889 | 19 November | The modern-day flag of Brazil is adopted by the Provisional Government of the Republic. |
| 1889 | 20 November | Argentina is the first country to recognize the abolition of the monarchy in Brazil. |
| 1891 | November | First revolt of the Armada. |
| 1891 | 15 November | The constitution of the First Brazilian Republic is promulgated. |
| 1891 | 23 November | President Deodoro da Fonseca resigns as a consequence of the first revolt of the Armada, vice president Floriano Peixoto succeeds to the presidency. |
| 1891 | 5 December | Deposed emperor Dom Pedro II dies in Paris, France aged 66. |
| 1893 | | American James Harden-Hickey claimed the Trindade island and declares himself as James I, Prince of Trinidad. According to James Harden-Hickey's plans, Trinidad, after being recognized as an independent country, would become a military dictatorship and have him as dictator. He designed postage stamps, a national flag, and a coat of arms; established a chivalric order, the "Cross of Trinidad"; bought a schooner to transport colonists; appointed M. le Comte de la Boissiere as Secretary of State; opened a consular office at 217 West 36th Street in New York; and even issued government bonds to finance construction of infrastructure on the island. Despite his plans, his idea was ridiculed or ignored by the world. |
| 1893–1894 | November | Second revolt of the Armada. |
| 1894 | January | Rio de Janeiro Affair: a series of incidents during the Brazilian Naval Revolt. |
| 1894 | 27 June | Federalist Revolution: Battle of Passo Fundo in the state of Rio Grande do Sul |
| 1894 | 15 September | Inauguration of Prudente de Morais as president. |
| 1895 | | The Federalist Revolution comes to an end. |
| 1895 | July | The British again tried to take possession of the strategic Trindade island in the Atlantic. The British planned to use the island as a cable station. However, Brazilian diplomatic efforts, along with Portuguese support, reinstated Trindade Island to Brazilian sovereignty. |
| 1895 | 5 November | Japan establishes diplomatic relations with Brazil. |
| 1895 | 17 November | Flamengo, a well known professional football club in Brazil, is officially founded. |
| 1897 | 24 January | In order to clearly demonstrate sovereignty over the Trindade island, now part of the State of Espírito Santo and the municipality of Vitória, a landmark is built. Nowadays, Brazilian presence is marked by a permanent Brazilian Navy base on the main island. |
| 1897 | 5 October | Canudos War: after a long siege, Brazilian government troops take Canudos in Northeastern Brazil, crushing Antônio Conselheiro and his followers. |
| 1897 | 12 October | The City of Belo Horizonte, Brazil is created. The construction of the second Brazilian planned city is completed successfully. |
| 1898 | 1 March | In the presidential election, Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales of the Republican Party of São Paulo, is successful, with 90.9% of the vote. |
| 1899 | 14 July | The First Republic of Acre is declared. |
| 1900 | 25 April | The Republic of Acre is reincorporated into Bolivia, with Brazilian help. |

## 20th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1901 | 19 October | Aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont wins the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize with a flight that rounds the Eiffel Tower. |
| 1902 | 1 March | Presidential election: Rodrigues Alves of the Republican Party of São Paulo receives 91.7% of the vote. Francisco Silviano de Almeida Brandão is elected vice president, but dies suddenly before the start of his term of office. |
| 1902 | 26 October | The first season of competitive football in Brazil concludes with a victory for São Paulo Athletic Club. |
| 1902 | 3 December | José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco, is appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. His ten-year tenure would be the longest in the country's history. |
| 1903 | 11 November | The Treaty of Petrópolis ends tension between Brazil and Bolivia over the then-Bolivian territory of Acre (today the Acre state). |
| 1904 | 14 October | The National Congress of Brazil approves a large naval acquisition programme. |
| 1904 | 10–16 November | Vaccine Revolt in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1904 | | The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil is founded in Rio Grande do Sul. |
| 1904 | | Ford begin selling cars in Brazil. |
| 1905 | 30 December | Law no. 1452 is passed by the National Congress of Brazil, authorizing expenditure of £4,214,550 for new warship construction (£1,685,820 in 1906). |
| 1906 | 21 January | The Brazilian battleship Aquidabã sinks, after its powder magazines explode, near the Jacuacanga strait, in Angra dos Reis bay. A total of 212 people are killed, including three admirals and most of the ship's officers; 98 survive. |
| 1906 | 1 March | In the presidential election, Afonso Pena of the Minas Gerais Republican Party receives 97.9% of the vote. |
| 1906 | 5 May | The Treaty of Limits between Brazil and the Netherlands is signed in Rio de Janeiro, establishing the international boundary between Brazil and the Dutch colony of Suriname. |
| 1906 | 23 October | An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe. |
| 1906 | 9 November | The Brazilian Flag Anthem ("Hino à Bandeira Nacional"), with lyrics by Olavo Bilac and music by Francisco Braga, is performed for the first time. |
| 1907 | | Construction of the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad begins, linking the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim. |
| 1907 | 24 April | The Vásquez Cobo–Martins treaty between Brazil and Colombia is signed, establishing the border from the Rio Negro northwestward along the Amazon River-Orinoco watershed divide, "then generally southward along various river courses and straight-line segments to the mouth of the Apaporis River". |
| 1908 | 16 June | The Kasato Maru arrives at the Port of Santos with the first official group of Japanese immigrants to Brazil. |
| 1908 | 10 September | The first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes, is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne in England, catalysing the "South American dreadnought race". |
| 1908 | 30 October | Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, renounces his claim on the Brazilian throne in order to marry Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz. |
| 1909 | 8 September | The Velarde-Río Branco treaty [es] between Brazil and Peru is signed, establishing borders south of the Yavarí. |
| 1910 | 1 March | In the presidential election, Hermes da Fonseca receives 57.1% of the vote. Fonseca is supported by several of the most influential Republican parties, whilst his main opponent, Ruy Barbosa, is supported by the Civilist Campaign. |
| 1910 | 22 November | Revolt of the Lash: the mostly black crews of four Brazilian warships, led by João Cândido Felisberto, mutiny shortly after a sailor receives 250 lashes. The crews depose their white officers and threaten to bombard Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1911 | 10 January | The cargo ship 'SS São Luiz runs aground off the coast of Rio Grande do Norte. |
| 1912 | October | Beginning of the Contestado War, a dispute between settlers and landowners. |
| 1912 | 29 December | The federal government sends in 200 federal troops to deal with ongoing trouble in the State of Santa Catarina. |
| 1913 | 12 December | Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition: following a speaking tour in Brazil and Argentina, former US President Theodore Roosevelt meets up with Cândido Rondon to embark on a joint exploration of the "River of Doubt". |
| 1914 | 1 March | In the presidential election, incumbent Vice President Venceslau Brás, of the Minas Gerais Republican Party, receives 91.6% of the vote. |
| 1914 | 8 June | The Brazilian Football Confederation is founded, with Álvaro Zamith as its first president. The Brazilian Olympic Committee is founded on the same day. |
| 1914 | 14 September | The British Royal Navy auxiliary cruiser HMS Carmania fought the German SMS Cap Trafalgar off Trindade in the Battle of Trindade. Carmania sank Cap Trafalgar, but sustained severe damage herself. |
| 1915 | 29 January | Heitor Villa-Lobos gives the first in a series of chamber concerts; one of the new works he introduces during this year is his Cello Concerto no 1. |
| 1916 | 5 March | The liner Príncipe de Asturias runs aground in fog on the shoals out of Ponta do Boi, in the island of Sao Sebastião, while trying to approach the port of Santos. At least 445 people out of the 588 aboard are killed. |
| 1916 | 3 May | Brazilian merchant ship Rio Branco is sunk by a German submarine. Because the ship is in restricted waters and registered under the British flag, and most of its crew is Norwegian, it is not considered an illegal attack by the Brazilian government, despite public protests. |
| 1916 | August | Brazilian Naval Aviation is established, in preparation for the country's participation in the First World War. |
| 1916 | | The capture of rebel leader Deodato Manuel Ramos ("Adeodato") marks the effective end of the Contestado War. |
| 1917 | 5 April | The steamship Paraná, loaded with coffee and travelling in accordance with the demands made on neutral countries, is torpedoed by a German submarine; three Brazilians are killed. |
| 1917 | 11 April | Brazil breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany. |
| 1917 | 7 May | Foreign Minister Lauro Müller is obliged to resign because of his German origins. |
| 1917 | May–November | Several Brazilian vessels are torpedoed by the Germans. |
| 1917 | 26 October | World War I: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers. |
| 1917 | 1 November | A mob damages German property in Petrópolis, including the restaurant Brahma (completely destroyed), the Gesellschaft Germania, the German school, the company Arp, and the German Journal. |
| 1918 | 30 January | Ministerial Notice No. 501 is issued, establishing the Naval Division for War Operations (Divisão Naval em Operações de Guerra – DNOG). |
| 1918 | 1 March | Brazilian general election, 1918: former President Rodrigues Alves receives 99.1% of the vote. |
| 1918 | 18 August | The Brazilian Medical Mission, led by Dr. Nabuco Gouveia and directed by General Aché, is established with 86 doctors. |
| 1918 | 24 September | The Brazilian Medical Mission lands at Marseilles, France, and supports the local population during a flu outbreak, ensuring the continuity of logistical support to the troops at the front. |
| 1918 | 15 November | President-elect Rodrigues Alves, suffering from influenza, is unable to take office on the scheduled date, and is replaced by Vice President Delfim Moreira. |
| 1919 | 13 April | In the presidential election brought about by the death of Rodrigues Alves, Epitácio Pessoa of the Paraíba Republican Party receives 71.0% of the vote. |
| 1919 | 24 April | Ford Brasil, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company, is founded. |
| 1919 | 11–29 May | The 1919 South American Championship football tournament is held in Rio de Janeiro. It is won by the home country. |
| 1919 | 28 July | Epitácio Pessoa takes office as president, replacing acting President Delfim Moreira, who continues as vice president. |
| 1920 | 20 April | Opening ceremony of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, at which Brazil competes for the first time. Sport shooter Guilherme Paraense is the first Brazilian to win a gold medal. |
| 1921 | October | The government implements a new policy in defense of coffee, for the third time in the history of the Republic. |
| 1922 | 11–18 February | Modern Art Week is held in São Paulo, marking the beginning of Brazilian Modernism. |
| 1922 | 1 March | In the Brazilian presidential election, Artur Bernardes of the Mineiro Republican Party receives 56.0% of the vote. |
| 1922 | 5 July | The 18 of the Copacabana Fort revolt occurs in Rio de Janeiro, then Federal District of Brazil. It is the first revolt of the tenentista movement, in the context of the Brazilian Old Republic. |
| 1923 | 3 May | Brazil sign the Pan-American Treaty. |
| 1923 | | The Brazilian Society of Chemistry is founded. |
| 1923 | | Brazil's first radio broadcasting station, the Radio Society of Rio de Janeiro, is founded; it is still working under the name Rádio MEC. |
| 1924 | 5–28 July | Military revolt in São Paulo. |
| 1925 | 12 April | The Coluna Prestes movement is launched at a meeting in Foz do Iguaçu. |
| 1925 | 29 May | British explorer Percy Fawcett sent a last telegram to his wife, before he disappears in the Amazon. |
| 1926 | 1 March | In the presidential election, Washington Luís of the Republican Party of São Paulo, who received 98.0% of the vote. |
| 1927 | 11 June | The Brazilian submarine Humaytá is launched at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard at La Spezia, Italy. |
| 1928 | 10 August | The ETA – Empresa de Transporte Aéreo airline is founded; it remains in operation for only a year. |
| 1928 | | The Liberator Party (Brazil) is founded for the first time, by members of the Rio Grande do Sul Federalist Party, notably Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil. |
| 1929 | August | Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraíba join the political opposition from several states, including the Democratic Party of São Paulo, to oppose the presidential candidacy of Washington Luís's nominated successor, Júlio Prestes, and form the Liberal Alliance. |
| 1929 | 20 September | The Liberal Alliance nominates its candidates for the presidential elections: Getúlio Vargas as president and João Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque as vice president. |
| 1929 | 29 October | The US stock market crash causes a fall in coffee quotations to 60%. |
| 1930 | 1 March | A general election is held; in the presidential elections, the result is a victory for Júlio Prestes of the Republican Party of São Paulo, who receives 57.7% of the vote. Vital Soares is elected vice president, but never takes office. |
| 1930 | 26 July | The assassination of João Pessoa Cavalcânti de Albuquerque, governor of Paraíba, by João Duarte Dantas, stirs up a wave of bad feeling toward the federal government and the outgoing president Washington Luís, who is accused of bearing the "moral responsibility". |
| 1930 | 13 August | 1930 Curuçá River event: the area of Curuçá River near latitude 5° S and longitude 71.5° W experiences a meteoric air burst (also known as the Brazilian Tunguska event). |
| 1930 | September | The state capital of Paraíba, formerly Parahyba, is renamed João Pessoa, in memory of its assassinated governor. |
| 1930 | 3 October | Brazilian Revolution of 1930. |
| 1930 | 24 October | Incumbent President Washington Luís is deposed. A military junta, led by General Augusto Tasso Fragoso, temporarily takes control of the country. |
| 1930 | 1 November | Beginning of the Vargas Era: the ruling junta hands power and the presidential palace to Getúlio Vargas. |
| 1930 | | The National Institute of Metrology Standardization and Industrial Quality (INMETRO) is founded. |
| 1931 | 16 September | Frente Negra Brasileira, Brazil's first black political party, is created. |
| 1931 | 12 October | The statue of Christ the Redeemer, overlooking Rio de Janeiro, is consecrated. |
| 1932 | 24 February | The Justiça Eleitoral do Brasil is created by Decreto nº 21.076. |
| 1932 | 24 February | Women win the right to vote. |
| 1932 | April | Peter Fleming joins the expedition to find missing Englishman Colonel Percy Fawcett; the following year he publishes an account of the expedition, entitled Brazilian Adventure. |
| 1932 | 23 May | Four protesting students (Martins, Miragaia, Dráusio and Camargo) are killed by government troops, sparking off the "Paulista War". |
| 1932 | June | São Paulo rebels take control of the state. |
| 1932 | 9 July | Constitutionalist Revolution: the population of the state of São Paulo revolt against the 1930 coup d'état. |
| 1932 | 2 October | The São Paulo rebels are defeated by government forces. |
| 1932 | October | Brazilian Integralism, a Fascist movement, is founded by Plínio Salgado. |
| 1933 | 10 October | The Anti-war Treaty of Non-aggression and Conciliation, an inter-American treaty, is signed in Rio de Janeiro by representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay. |
| 1934 | 16 July | The Vargas government introduces what will be the shortest-lived Constitution of Brazil, lasting only 3 years (until 1937). It is the first time a Brazilian constitution has been written from scratch by directly elected deputies in multi-party elections, and incorporates a number of improvements to Brazilian political, social and economical life. |
| 1934 | 17 July | In the presidential election, carried out by the Constituent Assembly, acting President Getúlio Vargas receives 175 of the 248 votes. |
| 1934 | | The University of São Paulo is established. |
| 1934 | | The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics is founded under the title of the National Institute of Statistics. |
| 1935 | November | A Communist insurrection, the "Red Revolt of 35", or the Intentona Comunista, fails to unseat President Vargas. Olga Benário Prestes and her husband Luís Carlos Prestes are among the conspirators arrested. |
| 1936 | 16 October | President Vargas signed the decree, which gives the name of the aviator Alberto Santos Dumont Airport, located in Ponta do Calabouço, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, named Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil's first civilian airport. |
| 1937 | 7 May | One of the leaders of the communist revolution, Luis Carlos Prestes, is sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison. |
| 1937 | 10 June | National Democratic Union, ahead of support for the candidacy of Armando Sales de Oliveira for president in the 1938 elections is created. |
| 1937 | 14 June | President Getúlio Vargas signed the decree establishing the Itatiaia National Park, the first national park in Brazil. |
| 1937 | 13 August | The National Union of Students is founded in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1937 | 10 November | The fourth Brazilian Constitution is granted by President Vargas, starting the Estado Novo. |
| 1937 | 21 December | President Vargas signs the ordinance which extinguishes all political parties in the country. |
| 1938 | May | The Brazilian integralist movement attempt a coup d'état, supported by the Axis powers. The failure of the "Pajama Putsch" leads to the dissolution of the AIB. |
| 1938 | 28 July | Folk hero Lampião and his band are ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angicos farm, in the state of Sergipe. |
| 1939 | 30 November | Serra dos Órgãos National Park is created. |
| 1939 | 5 December | The Imperial Mausoleum is officially inaugurated at the Cathedral of Petrópolis. |
| 1942 | 28 January | Brazil breaks diplomatic relations with the Axis countries. |
| 1942 | July–August | Several Brazilian vessels are torpedoed by the Germans. |
| 1942 | 22 August | President Getúlio Vargas signs the declaration of war against Germany and Italy. |
| 1942 | 1 November | The Cruzeiro "antigo" is adopted as the official currency. |
| 1943 | 11 June | The Order of Military Merit is established by President Getúlio Vargas. |
| 1943 | 13 July | On the recommendation of the National Petroleum Council, Brazil bans the use of private motorcycles throughout the nation in order to conserve fuel. Use of gasoline-powered automobiles had been prohibited the year before. |
| 1943 | 31 July | The Brazilian passenger ship and freighter Bagé, largest commercial ship in Brazil's fleet, is torpedoed and sunk off the coast of the Sergipe state. The Bagé, carrying 129 passengers and 102 crew, was en route from Belém to Rio de Janeiro when it was struck by a German U-boat. Seventy-eight people (41 passengers and 37 crew) are lost. |
| 1944 | 1 January | The former Royal Military Academy expends into the city of Resende. |
| 1944 | 2 July | Second World War: the first five thousand Brazilian Expeditionary Force soldiers, the 6th RCT, leave Brazil for Europe aboard the USNS General Mann. |
| 1944 | September | Brazilian air-land forces go into action in Italy. |
| 1944 | 13 October | Brazilian pilots begin operations, as individual elements of flights attached to 350th FG squadrons. |
| 1944–1945 | 25 November 1944 – 21 February 1945 | Second World War, Battle of Monte Castello: the battle marks the Brazilian Expeditionary Force's entry into the land war in Europe. |
| 1945 | February | A fourth transport of troops of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force reaches Italy, in preparation for the Spring 1945 offensive. |
| 1945 | 12 May | Brazilian troops arrive in Turin on the same day that the cessation of hostilities is announced. |
| 1945 | May | Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa, an outspoken critic of the regime of President Getúlio Vargas and of the Vatican's alleged relationship with fascist regimes, gives newspaper interviews accusing Brazil's Papal nuncio of Nazi-Fascist spying, and accusing Rome of having aided and abetted Hitler. Shortly afterwards he establishes the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church. |
| 1945 | 29 October | President Vargas resigns. José Linhares becomes acting president, beginning the period known as the Fourth Brazilian Republic at the end of his term. |
| 1945 | 2 December | A general election is held, the first since the establishment of Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo. The presidential election is won by Eurico Gaspar Dutra of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which also wins a majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. |
| 1946 | 18 September | A new constitution is introduced, and the position of Vice President of Brazil is recreated; Nereu Ramos is selected as the first incumbent. |
| 1947 | 19 January | Parliamentary elections are held, for 19 vacant seats in the Chamber of Deputies, one additional Senator for each state (except Santa Catarina, which elected two), and for all state Governors and legislatures. The Brazilian Communist Party wins nearly 10% of the vote in the state elections, becoming the third party in the state of São Paulo (ahead of the UDN) and the single largest party in the federal capital, Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1947 | 6 August | The Brazilian Socialist Party is founded. |
| 1947 | 2 October | The São Paulo Museum of Art opens to the public. |
| 1949 | | The Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas is founded by Cesar Lattes, José Leite Lopes, and Jayme Tiomno. |
| 1950 | 16 June | The Maracanã Stadium opens in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1950 | 24 June – 16 July | Brazil hosts the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The local national team is beaten 1–2 by Uruguay in the final game. |
| 1950 | 18 September | First television broadcasting in Brazil by TV Tupi. |
| 1950 | 3 October | The Brazilian general election is won by the Social Democratic Party, who remain the largest party in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although they lose their majority in the former. The presidential election is won by former President Getúlio Vargas of the Brazilian Labour Party. |
| 1951 | | The Brazilian Medical Association is founded. |
| 1951 | | The Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing is founded in São Paulo. |
| 1952 | 4 March | Anchieta rail disaster: a crowded steam-powered passenger train derails while crossing a bridge over the Pavuna River near Anchieta station, sending two old wooden carriages broadside onto the adjacent line. A modern high-speed electric freight train, travelling in the opposite direction, ploughs into the wooden carriages, telescoping them upwards. The severity of the accident was compounded by the fact that the suburban train is overloaded, with passengers clinging to the sides, underneath and between the carriages. A witness says they saw "passengers flying in all directions when the crash occurred". 119 people are killed and the resulting outcry prompts major new investment in Brazilian railways. |
| 1952 | 28 April | Pan Am Flight 202 crashes in the Amazon Basin approximately 220 nautical miles (410 km) southwest of Carolina, Brazil. All 50 people on board are killed in the worst-ever accident involving the Boeing 377. |
| 1952 | 12 August | 1952 Transportes Aéreos Nacional Douglas C-47 mid-air explosion: a Douglas C-47A registered PP-ANH is destroyed after an in-flight fire causes it to crash near Palmeiras de Goiás. All 24 people on board are killed. |
| 1952 | | Bob's, Brazil's first fast food chain, opens in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1954 | 24 August | Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas commits suicide after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder his chief political opponent, Carlos Lacerda. |
| 1954 | 3 October | Brazilian legislative election, 1954 |
| 1955 | 3 October | The presidential election results in victory for Juscelino Kubitschek, who receives 35.7% of the vote. |
| 1955 | 3 November | Café Filho is forced to give up the presidency of Brazil on health grounds. Kubitschek does not take office until the following year. |
| 1955 | | The Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, is completed, a Modernist concrete museum building, designed by Affonso Eduardo Reidy, with gardens designed by Burle Marx. |
| 1956 | 31 January | Juscelino Kubitschek is inaugurated as the 21st President of Brazil. |
| 1957 | October | The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil. |
| 1957 | 16 October | Antônio Vilas Boas, a Brazilian farmer, claims to have been abducted by extraterrestrials; the first famous alien abduction case. |
| 1958 | 29 June | Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game to win the football World Cup in Sweden. |
| 1960 | 21 April | The country's capital (Federal District) is relocated from the city of Rio de Janeiro to the new city, Brasília, in the highlands. The actual city of Rio de Janeiro becomes the State of Guanabara. |
| 1960 | 3 October | Jânio Quadros is elected President of Brazil for a five-year term. |
| 1961 | 25 August | João Goulart replaces Jânio Quadros as President of Brazil |
| 1961 | 17 December | A circus tent fire in Niterói, Brazil, kills 323. |
| 1962 | 17 June | Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3–1 to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup. |
| 1962 | | The first official group of Korean immigrants to Brazil. There has been a large flow of documented Korean migrants to Brazil. |
| 1964 | 31 March | The military overthrows Brazilian President João Goulart in a coup, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil. |
| 1964 | 1 April | Deployed military rule in Brazil ended the then government of President João Goulart. |
| 1964 | 11 April | Brazilian presidential election, 1964: the Brazilian Congress elects Field Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco as President of Brazil. |
| 1965 | 26 April | Rede Globo, the 3rd largest TV broadcaster of the world, is founded, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| 1965 | 27 October | Brazilian President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and opposition parties. |
| 1966 | 5 March | A massive theft of nuclear materials is revealed in Brazil. |
| 1967 | 24 January | New constitution is promulgated. |
| 1967 | 1 March | Brazilian police arrest Franz Stangl, ex-commander of Treblinka and Sobibór extermination camps. |
| 1967 | 15 March | The Republic of the United States of Brazil is renamed the Federative Republic of Brazil. |
| 1968 | 28 March | Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the military dictatorship. |
| 1968 | 13 December | Faced with growing discontent and the proliferation of actions by groups considered subversive, Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva enacts the Institutional Act Number Five "AI-5". AI-5 grants broad powers to the government, allowing the suspension of constitutional guarantees, the closure of the National Congress, and censorship of the press, beginning the most repressive period of the 21-year Brazilian Military Dictatorship. |
| 1969 | 31 August – 30 October | Brazilian Military Junta of 1969 rules the country following sudden illness and resignation of President da Costa e Silva. The junta consists of Army General Aurélio de Lyra Tavares, Navy Admiral Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grunewald and Air Force Brigadier Márcio de Souza e Mello. |
| 1969 | 19 November | Playing for Santos against Vasco in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his 1,000th goal. |
| 1970 | 11 March | Japanese consul-general in São Paulo Nobuo Okuchi is kidnapped by the leftist guerrilla group Vanguarda Popular Revolucionária. |
| 1970 | 15 March | Japanese consul-general in São Paulo Nobuo Okuchi is ransomed by the Brazilian government, he is released in exchange for five political prisoners. |
| 1970 | 11 June | West German ambassador Ehrenfried von Holleben is kidnapped by the Vanguarda Popular Revolucionária and by the Ação Libertadora Nacional. |
| 1970 | 21 June | Brazil defeats Italy 4–1 to win the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. |
| 1970 | 1 December | Giovanni Enrico Bucher, the Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped by the Ação Libertadora Nacional in Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demand the release of 70 political prisoners. |
| 1971 | 14 January | Seventy Brazilian political prisoners are released in Santiago, Chile; Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released 16 January. |
| 1971 | 16 January | Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released by the Ação Libertadora Nacional. |
| 1971 | 20 November | A bridge still in construction, called "Elevado Engenheiro Freyssinet", falls over the Paulo de Frontin Avenue, in Rio de Janeiro; 48 people are killed and several injured. Reconstructed, the bridge is a part of the Linha Vermelha elevate. |
| 1974 | 1 February | Fire breaks out in the Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil; 177 die and 293 are injured; 11 die later of their injuries. |
| 1974 | 4 March | The Rio–Niterói Bridge opens. |
| 1975 | 15 March | Guanabara State merges into the state of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1977 | | President Geisel closed Congress briefly to control presidential succession as conflict erupted between Geisel, the duristas, Congress, the Church, and the media. |
| 1977–1978 | | Operação Prato. |
| 1979 | 7 February | Nazi criminal Josef Mengele suffers a stroke and drowns while swimming in Bertioga, Brazil. His remains are found in 1985. |
| 1980 | 1 June | Mauro Milhomem, a pilot, attempted to crash his Sertanejo-721 into the Hotel Presidente owned by his mother-in-law, after he had an argument with his wife the previous day after he discovered that she cheated him. The plane failed to hit the target and hit into several objects and ultimately crashed into an accounting office in front to a forum. Six people were killed and four were wounded. |
| 1980 | 9 July | Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd meeting him. |
| 1981 | 20 September | The Brazilian river boat Sobral Santos capsizes in the Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300. |
| 1983 | 19 December | The Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen from the Brazilian Soccer Confederation building in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1984 | 16 April | More than one million people, led by Tancredo Neves, occupy the streets of São Paulo to demand direct presidential elections during the Brazilian military government of João Figueiredo. It is the largest protest during the Diretas Já civil unrest, as well as the largest public demonstration in the history of Brazil. The elections are granted in 1989. |
| 1984 | May | The Itaipu Dam is inaugurated on the border of Brazil and Paraguay after 9 years of construction, making it the largest hydroelectric dam in the world at the time. |
| 1985 | 15 January | Tancredo Neves is elected President of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule. |
| 1985 | 15 March | Vice President José Sarney, upon becoming vice president, assumes the duties of President of Brazil, as the new President Tancredo Neves had become severely ill, the day before. Sarney will become Brazil's first civilian President in 21 years, upon Neves' death on 21 April. |
| 1985 | 21 April | Brazilian President Tancredo Neves dies, he is succeeded by Vice President José Sarney. The vice president post is left vacant until 1990. |
| 1985 | 6 June | The remains of Josef Mengele, the physician notorious for Nazi human experimentation on inmates of Auschwitz concentration camp, buried in 1979 under the name of Wolfgang Gerhard, are exhumed in Embu das Artes, Brazil. |
| 1987 | 13 September | Goiânia accident: a radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning. |
| 1988 | 25 June | PSDB is founded by members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party linked to the European social democratic movement as an attempt to clarify their ideals. |
| 1988 | 5 October | Brazil adopts a new constitution. |
| 1988 | 22 December | Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes is assassinated. |
| 1988 | 31 December | The Bateau Mouche cruise ship capsized and sank in the South Atlantic off Rio de Janeiro with the loss of at least 51 of the 149 people on board. |
| 1989 | 12 November | Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960. This marks the first time that all Ibero-American nations, excepting Cuba, have elected constitutional governments simultaneously. |
| 1989 | 15 November | Brazil holds the first round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advance to the second round, to be held the following month. |
| 1989 | 17 December | Brazil holds the second round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected to serve as president from 1990. |
| 1990 | 15 March | Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as President of Brazil, Brazil's first democratically elected president since Jânio Quadros in 1961. The next day, he announces a currency freeze and freezes large bank accounts for 18 months. |
| 1991 | 26 March | Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing the South Common Market (Mercosur is its acronym in Spanish). |
| 1991 | 30 September | A tornado destroys parts of Itu, a city in southeastern Brazil, killing 16 and leaving 176 injured. |
| 1992 | 8 June | The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| 1992 | 24 August | A special commission in Brazil concludes that there is sufficient evidence to begin impeachment proceedings against President of Brazil Fernando Collor de Mello, finding he had accepted millions of dollars worth of illegal payments from business interests. |
| 1992 | 29 September | The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil votes to impeach President of Brazil Fernando Collor de Mello, the country's first democratically elected leader in 29 years. Vice President Itamar Franco becomes acting president. |
| 1992 | 2 October | A riot breaks out in the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in the Carandiru massacre. |
| 1992 | 29 December | Brazil's President Fernando Collor de Mello is found guilty on charges that he stole more than $32 million from the government, preventing him from holding any elected office for 8 years. |
| 1993 | 21 April | A constitutional referendum is held to determine the form of government of the country. |
| 1993 | 23 July | Candelária massacre: Brazilian police officers kill eight street kids in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 1993 | 29 August | Vigário Geral massacre. |
| 1993 | 16 December | Brazil's Supreme Court rules that former President Fernando Collor de Mello may not hold elected office again until 2000 due to political corruption. |
| 1994 | 1 May | Brazilian Three time Formula One World Champion, Ayrton Senna is killed in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. |
| 1994 | 1 July | Brazil introduces its new currency, the Real. |
| 1994 | 17 July | Brazil wins the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy by 3–2 in penalties (full-time 0–0). |
| 1995 | 1 January | Fernando Henrique Cardoso becomes President of Brazil. |
| 1996 | 20 January | Varginha UFO incident in Minas Gerais. |
| 1996 | 2 March | A Learjet 25 (registration PT-LSD) carrying the Brazilian satirical rock band Mamonas Assassinas attempts a go-around at São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, but crashes in the Serra da Cantareira mountain range, killing all eight people on board including all five members of the band. |
| 1996 | 17 April | Eldorado dos Carajás massacre. |
| 1999 | 6 June | In São José dos Campos, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate. |

## 21st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 2001 | 10 September | Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, is assassinated. |
| 2001 | 11 September | Three Brazilians are killed in the September 11 attacks in the United States. |
| 2002 | 30 June | Brazil wins its 5th FIFA World Cup title by defeating Germany 2–0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final. |
| 2002 | 27 October | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins the 2002 Brazilian general election with 52.7 million votes (61.3% of the total). |
| 2003 | 1 January | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inaugurated as president of Brazil. |
| 2003 | 30 January | The Fome Zero program is introduced by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. |
| 2003 | 19 August | A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees. |
| 2004 | 28 March | The first ever reported South Atlantic hurricane makes landfall in southern Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina – the hurricane is dubbed Hurricane Catarina. |
| 2004 | 1 June | The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is established, its military component is led by Brazil. |
| 2005 | 6 June | Mensalão scandal threatens to bring down the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. |
| 2005 | 6 August | Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza |
| 2005 | 23 October | 2005 Brazilian firearms and ammunition referendum |
| 2006 | 30 March | Marcos Pontes becomes the first Brazilian and the first native Portuguese-speaking person to go into space, where he stays on the International Space Station for a week. During his trip, Pontes carries out eight experiments selected by the Brazilian Space Agency. He lands in Kazakhstan on 8 April 2006, with the crew of Expedition 12. |
| 2006 | May | May 2006 São Paulo violence. |
| 2006 | July | July 2006 São Paulo violence |
| 2006 | 7 August | Lei Maria da Penha is sanctioned by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. |
| 2006 | 29 September | Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 leads to the 2006–2007 Brazilian aviation crisis. |
| 2006 | 29 October | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is re-elected as president. |
| 2007 | 18 March | Cesare Battisti, convicted in absentia of two murders in Italy in the 1970s and who later became a crime writer in France, is arrested in Brazil. |
| 2007 | May | Pope Benedict XVI visits Brazil to reaffirm Catholicism in the country. |
| 2007 | 11 May | Pope Benedict XVI canonizes Brazil's first native-born saint, Frei Galvão, an 18th-century Franciscan friar. |
| 2007 | 26 June | Bolivia reclaims two oil refineries from Brazilian state-owned energy company Petrobras. |
| 2007 | 27 June | Complexo do Alemão massacre. |
| 2007 | 7 July | The New 7 Wonders of the World are announced. These are The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Mexico's Chichen Itza Mayan site, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal in India. |
| 2007 | 13–19 July | The Fifteenth Pan American Games take place in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2007 | 17 July | TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 carrying 186 people crashes in Congonhas International Airport, São Paulo, Brazil. The death toll is estimated to be at least 200 people. |
| 2007 | 4 November | At least six people are killed as a Learjet 35 crashes into a residential district in São Paulo, Brazil. |
| 2007 | 25 November | At least eight football fans die when part of the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador, Bahia, collapses. |
| 2007 | 2 December | Brazil starts free-to-air digital television transmissions in São Paulo, but broadcasting companies must transmit signals in both analogue and digital formats until June 2016. |
| 2007 | 20 December | The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art. |
| 2007 | 17 December | The leaders of Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile agree to build a highway by 2009 that will link the Atlantic (in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil) and the Pacific (in Iquique, Chile) coasts of South America. |
| 2008 | 9 January | The police recovered the Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, which had been stolen in December 2007. |
| 2008 | 24 November | The 2008 Santa Catarina floods in Santa Catarina, Brazil, kill 126 and force the evacuation of over 78,000 people. |
| 2009 | 1 June | Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board. |
| 2009 | 2 October | The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2009 | 16 October | Brasil de Pelotas bus crash: two players and a coach die. |
| 2010 | January | January 2010 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides |
| 2010 | 17 February | Sinking of the Concordia. |
| 2010 | April | April 2010 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides |
| 2010 | June | 2010 Northeastern Brazil floods. |
| 2010 | 21–28 November | 2010 Rio de Janeiro security crisis |
| 2011 | 1 January | Inauguration of Dilma Rousseff as the 36th President of Brazil. |
| 2011 | 11 January | January 2011 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides: over 900 people are killed as a result of freak weather conditions. |
| 2011 | 7 April | Rio de Janeiro school shooting: 12 children aged between 12 and 14 are killed and 12 others seriously wounded after an armed man opens fire at an elementary school in Realengo |
| 2011 | 13 July | Noar Linhas Aéreas Flight 4896: a Noar Linhas Aéreas Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in Boa Viagem, Recife, killing all 16 people on board. |
| 2011 | 7 November | Campos Basin oil spill: a Chevron-owned oil well began leaking causing 32,000 to 52,000 litres (200 to 330 bbl) of crude oil to enter the ocean every day. The leak took place in Campos Basin, Brazil 120 kilometres (75 mi) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2012 | 13 February | Lindemberg Alves begins to be tried for the death of ex-girlfriend Elóa Pimentel, in the city of Santo André. |
| 2013 | 27 January | A nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul kills at least 242 people. |
| 2013 | April – July | 2013 protests in Brazil. |
| 2013 | 23 July | World Youth Day began in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2014 | 17 March | Operation Car Wash begins. |
| 2014 | May – July | 2014 protests in Brazil. |
| 2014 | 12 June – 13 July | The 2014 FIFA World Cup is held in Brazil, and is won by Germany. |
| 2014 | 3 July | Belo Horizonte overpass collapse |
| 2014 | 13 August | Governor Eduardo Campos, a candidate in the upcoming Brazilian presidential election, dies in a plane crash in Santos, São Paulo, together with six other people on board the aircraft. It also sparks a large fire. |
| 2014 | 13 August | 2014 Cessna Citation 560 XLS+ crash |
| 2014 | October | Brazilian general election, 2014, with reelection of Dilma Rousseff. |
| 2014 | 10 December | 26-year-old Sailson José das Graças is arrested for the serial murder as many as 41 people in a string of suspected racist hate crimes. |
| 2015 | 6 January | Two commuter trains collide at Mesquita, Rio de Janeiro, injuring 158 people. |
| 2015 | 15 March | Hundreds of thousands of people in Brazil protest against corruption and denounce the government of President Dilma Rousseff. |
| 2015 | 5 November | An iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues, a subdistrict of Mariana, Brazil, suffered a catastrophic failure, causing flooding, killing 17 and injuring 16. |
| 2016 | 13 March | Hundreds of thousands of people all over Brazil protest against corruption and denounce the government of President Dilma Rousseff. |
| 2016 | 9 June | A bus plunges over a ravine in Brazil's São Paulo state, resulting in at least 18 people killed and 28 injured. |
| 2016 | 5–21 August | The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro. |
| 2016 | 31 August | The Senate votes 61–20 in favor of removing Dilma Rousseff from office as President of Brazil. Acting President Michel Temer will serve out the remainder of the term, which ends 1 January 2019. |
| 2016 | 15 October | A wildlife sanctuary for rescued elephants opens in Mato Grosso. |
| 2016 | 17 October | Clashes between rival gangs in at least two prisons, leave at least 18 people killed. |
| 2016 | 29 November | A chartered Avro RJ85 plane carrying 77 people, including the Chapecoense football team, crashes near Medellín, Colombia. Rescuers report at least six survivors have been found in the wreckage. The 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals are suspended. The title is later awarded to Chapecoense. |
| 2017 | 2 January | At least 56 people are killed in rebellion at Anisio Jobim penitentiary complex in Amazonas state. |
| 2017 | 6 January | Members of the Primeiro Comando da Capital prison gang kill 31 inmates in the Monte Cristo prison in the state of Roraima. This action was revenge for an earlier massacre in a prison in Amazonas that killed 56 inmates. |
| 2017 | 6 February | A police strike leads to a wave of violence and looting in Espírito Santo, including dozens of murders in the state capital, Vitória. |
| 2017 | 17 March | Operation Carne Fraca starts. |
| 2017 | 28 April | A general strike is held in the country, the first one in twenty years. |
| 2018 | 8 April | Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva begins serving a 12-year sentence for corruption. |
| 2018 | 1 May | Edifício Wilton Paes de Almeida, a 26-story tower block in São Paulo, Brazil, is destroyed by a fire and consequent collapse. Neighbouring buildings are also damaged by fire. |
| 2018 | 2 September | A massive fire destroys most of the Paço de São Cristóvão, which houses the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum holds important archaeological and anthropological objects, including the remains of the Luzia Woman, Marajoara vases and Egyptian mummies. |
| 2018 | 6 September | Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is stabbed while campaigning in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. |
| 2018 | 28 October | Brazilians elect Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party as president, with 55% of the votes, in the second round of the presidential election. |
| 2019 | 1 January | Inauguration of Jair Bolsonaro as the 38th President of Brazil. |
| 2019 | 25 January | The Brumadinho dam disaster, when a mining dam owned by Vale, collapses in Minas Gerais, leaving 203 dead and one hundred and five individuals missing. |
| 2019 | 8 February | A fire on Flamengo youth academy training camp leaves ten people dead and three injured in Rio de Janeiro |
| 2019 | 13 March | Two men, of 17 and 25 years old, attack a school in the city of Suzano, São Paulo, with a revolver and a knife, killing eight and wounding 23 people, among students and staff. The two shooters committed suicide after the attack. Police have found a crossbow, Molotov cocktails and a "suitcase with wires" at the scene. |
| 2019 | August - September | A great fire destroys part of the Amazon Rain Forest, including Brazilian portion, leading to international commotion for the sake of Amazonia. |
| 2021 | 17 January | The first vaccine against Covid-19 is applied in the country. |
| 2022 | 30 October | Brazilians elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party as president, with 50.9% of the vote, in the second round of the presidential election, thereby making him the first person to defeat an incumbent running for a second term, the first person to run for a third non-consecutive term, and the oldest person to assume the office of president, at the age of 77. |
| 2023 | 8 January | 2023 invasion of the Brazilian Congress. |
| 2024 | 12 August | Voepass Flight 2283, the twin-engine turboprop passenger aircraft, crashed near São Paulo, killing all 62 people onboard. Officials are investigating the cause. |