History of Brazilian nationality History of Brazilian nationality Located in South America, Brazil is the fifth largest and fifth most populous nation in the world. First discovered by Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral on April 22, 1500, it remained a Portuguese colony until it declared its independence on September 7, 1822. Brazil's economy was largely based on agriculture and mining; specifically the production of sugar and tobacco for export. As a result, land was concentrated in the hands of relatively few wealthy, plantation-owning families, and production was largely dependent on slave labor. The intermixing of these Europeans and Blacks, as well as the native
Pedro II of Brazil in the Paraguayan War invaders from Brazilian soil." The Paraguayans were malnourished and practically naked. Pedro II did not feel proud of the victory and wrote to the Countess of Barral: "Yesterday we entered into Uruguaiana. The enemy was unworthy even of being defeated. What a rabble!" There was a general belief that the war was near its end and that it was only a matter of time until López surrendered. Because of this, Pedro II decided to return to Rio de Janeiro. Before leaving Uruguaiana, he received the British ambassador Edward Thornton, who publicly apologized on behalf of Queen Victoria and the British