page_title: John VI of Portugal
section_title: Colonial Transformation
hierarchical_section_title: John VI of Portugal / Regency / Colonial Transformation
caption_attribution_description: Português: Cerimônia de beija-mão na Corte de D.João VI, Brasil, século XIX
context_page_description: John VI, nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom of Portugal, over which he ruled, ceased to exist de facto beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch de jure between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he also became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Pedro I of Brazil, was both de facto and de jure the monarch of the newly independent country.
  Born in Lisbon in 1767, the son of Maria I and Peter III of Portugal, he was originally an infante of Portugal. He only became heir to the throne when his older brother José, Prince of Brazil, died of smallpox in 1788 at the age of 27.
  Before his accession to the Portuguese throne, John VI bore the titles Duke of Braganza and Duke of Beja, as well as Prince of Brazil. From 1799, he served as prince regent of Portugal, due to the mental illness of his mother, Queen Maria I.
context_section_description: On 22 January 1808, the ship of the prince regent and two others arrived in Baía de Todos os Santos, Brazil. The streets of Salvador were deserted, because the governor, the Count of Ponte, preferred to await the prince's orders before permitting the people to receive him. Finding this attitude odd, John ordered that all could come as they wished. However, to allow the nobility to compose themselves after such an arduous journey, the landing was postponed until the next day, when they were received joyfully amidst a procession, the ringing of bells and a celebration of a Te Deum at the Cathedral of Salvador. In the following days, the prince received all who wished to give homage, granting the ceremony of the beija-mão (the kissing of the monarch's hand) and conceding various mercies. Among the latter, he decreed the creation of a public lecture series on economics and a school of surgery, but his most decisive action at this moment was the Decree of Opening the Ports to Friendly Nations (Decreto de Abertura dos Portos às Nações Amigas), a measure of vast political and economic importance and the first of many that went to improve conditions in the colony. Britain, however, whose economy depended in great part on maritime commerce, and for whom the Portuguese and Brazilian monarchy was now something of a protectorate, was the most direct beneficiary.
  Salvador spent a month in commemorations of the presence of the court and tried to seduce the court into making it the new seat of the kingdom. The residents offered to construct a luxurious palace as a home for the royal family, but John declined and continued his voyage, having already announced to various nations his intention to make his capital at Rio de Janeiro. His ship entered Guanabara Bay on 7 March, where he met the infantas and other members of his entourage whose ships had arrived earlier. On the 8th, the whole court finally disembarked to encounter a city adorned to receive them with nine days of uninterrupted celebrations. A well-known chronicler of the era, Father Perereca, eyewitness to the arrival, while lamenting the news of the invasion of metropolitan Portugal, also intuited the significance of the arrival of the court on Brazilian soil:
  If so great were the motives of sorrow and distress, no less were the causes of comfort and pleasure: a new order of things was going to begin this part of the southern hemisphere. The design of the Empire of Brazil could already be considered in place, and eagerly wished the powerful hand of our lord the Prince Regent to cast the first stone of future greatness, prosperity and power of the new empire.
  With a court, the essential apparatus of a sovereign state became inevitable: the senior civil, religious, and military officials, aristocrats and liberal professionals, skilled artisans, and public servants. For many scholars, the transfer of the court to Rio began the establishment of the modern Brazilian state and constituted Brazil's first step toward true independence. While Brazil at this time remained formally and juridically a Portuguese colony, in the words of Caio Prado, Jr. 
  "Establishing in Brazil the seat of a monarchy, the regent ipso facto abolished the colonial regime under which the country had lived until then. All the characteristics of that [colonial] regime disappeared, the only remaining part of the colonial situation was to be under a foreign government. One after another, the old workings of colonial administration were abolished and replaced by those of a sovereign nation. Economic restrictions fell and thoughts of the country's interests moved to the front of government policy."
  But first it was necessary to provide accommodations for the newcomers, a difficult problem to resolve given the cramped proportions of the city of Rio at that time. In particular, there were few homes suitable for the nobility, especially in the case of the royal family, who were installed in the viceregal palace, known today as the Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace). Though large, it was comfortless and nothing like Portugu
caption: The ceremony of the beija-mão (hand-kissing) in the Brazilian court of Dom João, maintaining a custom of the Portuguese monarchs.
exif: {}