Brazil–Portugal relations () have spanned nearly five centuries, beginning in 1532 with the establishment of São Vicente, the first Portuguese permanent settlement in the Americas, up to the present day. Relations between the two are intrinsically tied because the Kingdom of Portugal conquered and colonized the territory along the Atlantic coast of South America, then inhabited by various Indigenous communities, that would become Brazil.
Colonial Brazil (1500–1820) was ruled as a colony within the Portuguese empire. The Kingdom of Brazil (1815–1822) briefly united with Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, with the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro as its capital (1808–1821). Dom Pedro I of the Portuguese royal family proclaimed Brazil's independence and stayed to rule the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889) as the Portuguese court returned to Europe following the Liberal Revolution of 1820. In the Proclamation of the Republic (1889), brought an end to Braganza monarchical rule in Brazil and initiated First Brazilian Republic (1889–1930).
Brazil and Portugal continue to be bound by a common language and ancestral lines in Portuguese Brazilians, which can be traced back hundreds of years. Today, Brazil and Portugal share a privileged relationship, as evidenced in aligned political and diplomatic coordination, as well as economic, social, cultural, legal, technical and scientific cooperation.
According to a 2011 BBC poll, 76% of Portuguese people view Brazil's influence positively, with 8% viewing it negatively, the most favorable perception of Brazil for any other surveyed country in the world.Views of US Continue to Improve in 2011 BBC Country Rating Poll BBC
History Origins
In April 1500, Brazil was claimed by Portugal on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.Boxer, p. 98. Until 1530 Portugal had yet to establish their first colony in Brazil. In the first century of settlement, the Portuguese realized it would be difficult to use the natives as slave labor. They were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to Western diseases and could run away and hide rather easily. So Portugal turned to imported African slaves for manual labor.
In the 16th and 17th centuries official revenue from Brazil was small — about 3 per cent of Portuguese public revenue in 1588 and 5 per cent in 1619.Bethell, p. 286. The economic activity was concentrated on a small population of settlers engaged in a highly profitable export–oriented sugarcane industry in the Northeast.
In the 1690s, the discovery of gold, and in the 1720s diamonds further south in Minas Gerais, opened new opportunities. The gold industry was at its peak around 1750, with production around 15 tons a year, but as the best deposits were exhausted, output and exports declined. In the first half of the 18th century profit remittances from gold averaged 5.23 million mil reis (£1.4 million) a year, of which the identifiable royal revenues were around 18 per cent.Alden, p. 31. Total Brazilian gold shipments over the whole of the 18th century were between 800 and 850 tons.Morineau, p. 354
Inconfidência Mineira
The of 1788–1789, led by the patriot and revolutionary Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (popularly known as Tiradentes), was the first major movement against Portuguese rule in Brazil. It was triggered by taxes, including the detested or "royal fifth," a 20% tax on the gold produced. as well as the , an annual tax quota of 100 gold bars imposed on the state of Minas Gerais; if it was unmet, the Portuguese crown could force the Brazilian people to pay the remaining balance. Inspired by the American Revolution, a group including military men, clergymen, poets, and intellectuals from Minas Gerais conspired to rise up in rebellion on the day the derrama was imposed, but three individuals informed the colonial government and the participants were arrested. The uprising failed and the conspirators were arrested. Tiradentes was drawn and quartered and his remains were sent to Vila Rica (Ouro Preto) to be displayed.
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
In 1808, the Portuguese ruler, Prince Regent John VI, fled to Rio de Janeiro to escape the French invasion of Portugal. He brought about 10,000 of the mainland establishment with him — the aristocracy, bureaucracy, and some of the military. For 13 years, Rio de Janeiro functioned as the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal in what some historians call a "metropolitan reversal"—i.e., a former colony exercising governance over the entirety of the Portuguese empire.
In 1815, during the Congress of Vienna, John VI created the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, elevating Brazil to the same rank as Portugal and increasing the administrative independence of Brazil. Brazilian representatives were elected to the Portuguese Constitutional Courts. In 1816, with the death of Queen Maria, John VI was crowned King of Portugal and Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.
John VI faced a political crisis when groups in Portugal tried to reverse the metropolitanisation of their former colony. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars came calls for John to return to Lisbon and for Brazil to return to its previous colonial condition. By late 1821 the situation was becoming unbearable and John VI and the royal family returned to Portugal.
Independence of Brazil
The Portuguese Courts then demanded that Prince Pedro return to Portugal. As his father had advised him to do, the prince instead declared his intention to stay in Brazil in a speech known as the "Fico" ("I am staying"). Pedro proclaimed Brazilian independence on September 7, 1822 and subsequently became the first emperor of the country. There was some armed resistance from Portuguese garrisons in Brazil, but the struggle was brief. Portugal recognised Brazil's independence in 1825.
Revolta da Armada incident
In 1894 relations were strained between the two states after Portugal granted refuge to Brazilian rebels after the Revolta da Armada incident. Portugal had sent a naval force constituted by the warships Mindello and Affonso de Albuquerque to Rio de Janeiro to protect Portuguese interests during the naval rebellion against President Floriano Peixoto. On 2 April 1894, the uprising was crushed and 493 rebels, including 70 officers and the mutiny leader, Admiral Luís Filipe de Saldanha da Gama, sought refuge on board the Portuguese warships. Despite protests from the Brazilian government, Portugal granted refuge to the rebels and sailed to the Rio de la Plata, where most of the refugees disembarked. The incident was regarded as a violation of Brazilian sovereignty and led Brazil to sever diplomatic relations with Portugal. Diplomatic relations were re-established in 1895 by the Prudente de Morais administration.
20th century In the 20th century, relations between the two countries were shaped by Brazil's much greater size and more powerful economy. For this reason, Brazilian investment in Portugal in the 1970s and 1980s was considerably greater than Portuguese investment in Brazil.Portugal: Brazil and East Timor U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2011-10-16.
Political ties Brazil and Portugal cooperate in multilateral fora, and have been partners in promoting U.N. reform. Portugal has lobbied for Brazil to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Brazil and Portugal are founding members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an intergovernmental organization of former Portuguese colonies.
Brazil and Portugal signed the Friendship, Cooperation and Consultation treaty in Porto Seguro on April 22, 2000, during the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil. This treaty regulates the cooperation of Portugal and Brazil in international fora, grants Brazilians in Portugal and Portuguese in Brazil equal rights under the Statute of Equality of Portuguese and Brazilians (Estatuto de igualdade entre portugueses e brasileiros); cultural, scientific, technological, economical, financial, commercial, fiscal, investment and several other forms of institutional cooperation were also addressed. In 2016, some memorandums were signed during the 12th Brazil-Portugal summit in Brasília, including on Antarctic cooperation.
The two states hold regular summit meetings to discuss bilateral and multilateral agreements and current topics. A major issue on the bilateral agenda in cultural matters is the joint promotion and diffusion of the Portuguese language.
High-level visits
Royal and Presidential visits from the Brazil to PortugalA visita ao Porto dos Imperadores do Brasil (1872). Construções efémeras, ornamentações e artistas (in Portuguese)As viagens do imperador brasileiro pelo mundo (in Portuguese)Visita a Portugal do Presidente dos Estados Unidos do Brasil, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (in Portuguese)Visita oficial de Emílio Garrastazu Médici a Portugal (in Portuguese)Discurso do presidente do Brasil em Portugal (in Portuguese)Visita do Presidente do Brasil José Sarney (in Portuguese)Visita de Collor de Mello a Portugal (in Portuguese)Temas econômicos dominam visita de FHC a Portugal (in Portuguese)Visita Oficial a Portugal do Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil e Senhora de Fernando Henrique Cardoso - Programa separado da Senhora (in Portuguese)Bolsonaro esteve em Portugal, mas só por alguns momentos (in Portuguese)Dilma Rousseff encerra nesta segunda-feira visita a Portugal (in Portuguese)
Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1871, 1872, 1877, 1887) President Hermes da Fonseca (1910) President Juscelino Kubitschek (1960) President Emílio Garrastazu Médici (1973) President João Figueiredo (1981) President José Sarney (1986) President Fernando Collor de Mello (1990) President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995, 1998, 1999) President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2023, 2026) President Dilma Rousseff (2011, 2013) President Michel Temer (January and August 2017) President Jair Bolsonaro (2019)
Presidential and Prime Ministerial visits from Portugal to BrazilAntónio José de Almeida e a <<viagem gloriosa>> ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Viagem Presidencial ao Brasil – I Parte (in Portuguese)Visita oficial de Américo Tomás ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Visita de Marcelo Caetano ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Visita de Ramalho Eanes ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Visita oficial de Mário Soares ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Visita de Jorge Sampaio ao Brasil (in Portuguese)Presidente da República visita o Brasil por ocasião das Comemorações dos 200 Anos da Chegada da Corte ao Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese)Primeiro-ministro de Portugal visita São Paulo e Rio hoje (in Portuguese)Sarney recebe primeiro-ministro de Portugal (in Portuguese)Santana Lopes vai ao Brasil assegurar reforço das relações bilaterais (in Portuguese)Sócrates já está no Brasil (in Portuguese)Passos Coelho inicia hoje visita à América do Sul (in Portuguese)Visita do presidente de Portugal e do primeiro-ministro português (in Portuguese)
President António José de Almeida (1922) President Francisco Craveiro Lopes (1957) Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano (1969, 1972) President Américo Tomás (1972) President Francisco da Costa Gomes (1975) President António Ramalho Eanes (1978) President Mário Soares (1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995) Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva (1988, 1990, 1991, 1993) President Jorge Sampaio (1997, 2000) Prime Minister António Guterres (2001) Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso (2004) Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes (2004) Prime Minister José Sócrates (2006, 2010) President Aníbal Cavaco Silva (2008) Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho (2011, 2012, 2014) Prime Minister António Costa (2016) President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, July, September and December 2022, 2023, 2025) Prime Minister Luís Montenegro (2024, 2025)
Economic ties