Brazil (Principia Moderni III Map Game)

The Empire of Brazil is a a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy located in eastern Hesperia. An independent Brazilian state was created in 1866 following a successful revolution against Portuguese rule, with assistance from the nation of Peru. The newly created nation was ethnically diverse and in control of a vast, rich territory, however failed to capitalize on its natural resources, becoming a relatively minor nation in the continent's politics.

The ineffective Brazilian republic that ruled after the 1866 revolution was overthrown in a military coup, leading to the establishment of the Empire of Brazil under Pedro I Braganza, a relative of the Portuguese royal family. The Empire of Brazil experienced a period of quick industrialization and modernization in the late nineteenth century, including a high level of political stability, vibrant economic growth, constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech, and well established civil rights for its citizens. Despite being an empire in theory under the direct rule of thee emperor, the Empire of Brazil has a bicameral parliament that is elected under democratic methods, as well as delegation to provincial and local legislatures.

Encilhamento
In the late nineteenth century the Republic of Brazil was faced with a period of severe economic recession, brought on by recent bank failure in the nation's major cities. The bank failure was brought on by a series of events across the world economy, including German unification in central Europe. The union of the United German Kingdom, Bavaria, and Oldenburg, resulted in the reduction of silver reichsthaler coinage, causing a drop in demand for silver and a drop in its market price. At this time the Republic of Brazil's currency, the Real, was largely backed by gold and silver, and was primarily minted from silver, leading to the Coinage Act of 1889, which moved Brazil to a gold standard, preventing the nation from buying silver at a statutory price or converting silver from the public into silver coins.

Brazil's mining industry was immediately hurt by this decision, although offset by the discovery of diamonds in the south of the nation, increasing investment in the mining industry temporarily. Domestically the money supply was sharply reduced, causing interest rates to rise. Farmers and those with large amounts of debt were hurt, and public outcry began against the new government policies. The seemingly unstable situation in Brazil caused investors to shy away from Brazilian industry. This was coupled with wars in Europe, particularly revolution in France, which had invested heavily in Brazil previously.

In 1891 one of Brazil's largest railroad companies found itself unable to market bonds in the nation's railroads. Like most capitalists in Brazil, heavy investment was made in the railroads previously, during a time when investment banks were being contracted sections of the money supply, at the expense of rising interest rates and debt. Business had expanded considerably in the last few decades, however investments became scarcer, and the railroad bust by the end of the year caused many businesses to go bankrupt.

Additionally the nation experienced an unfavorable supply shock when the price of rubber sharply dropped, brought on by industrialized nations in Europe and their colonies seizing large portions of the commodity's market. Production of rubber became less profitable, and a recession began as many jobs in the nation's industrial sector were lost. The nation was faced with an increase in general prices, combined with general recession, and the government was unable to combat this rise, leading to rising discontent against the government.

Establishment of an Empire
In 1891 Pedro Braganza, a wealthy landowner and relative of the Portuguese royal family, launched a military coup within the government, declaring himself emperor of a new Brazilian state. The republican parliament submitted by the end of 1891, facing revolts across the nation. As a compromise with the former republican elements of the nation, a new constitution was created in which the rights and abilities of the General Assembly were preserved. The assembly became more inclusive and open, and created legislative, moderating, executive, and judicial branches within the many regions of the nation. Many democratic policies from before the coup were preserved, such as elections and regional governors.

In the early 1890s the new Empire of Brazil sought to combat the economic recession, treating the problem as a supply problem in the nation's economy. Regulations and tax cuts were granted to capitalists and aristocrats, allowing for Brazil's industry to recover through domestic investments. The result was an increase in jobs, as factories were created across the nation. The Empire became increasingly self reliant through rapid industrialization, and the increase in goods caused inflation to lessen. The introduction of new technologies in Brazil caused imports to heavily increase, supplying a large portion of the world's sugar, cotton, coffee, leather, and produce. After the first several years of its existence some 650 factories were in operation across the Empire of Brazil, and hundreds of kilometers of railroad track were laid, becoming one of the world's fastest adopters of railroad technology.

The early Empire also spread the use of gas, electricity, telegraph, and sanitation across the nation, becomign one of the first nation's in the world to install modern city sewers, sewage treatment, and telephone service. Brazil was also one of the only nations in the western hemisphere connected directly to Europe by telegraphic line, and one of the first to adopt public electric lighting.

Emperor Pedro I also revolutionized the Brazilian armed forces, appointing his son-in-law, Gaston d’Valois-Arc, married to Pedro’s daughter Maria, head general of the Brazilian Army. Pedro I also attracted military officers from European nations, including British born officer, Henry Bartle Frere, who was appointed to a leading position in the military, after being attracted to Brazil from Great Britain. The rapid buildup of military competence and preparedness helped to bring the nation out of recession as well, as weapon manufacturers and other war related industries were subsidized and improved by the government.

Emperor Pedro also takes a deep interest in naval warfare, and ordered the creation of several drydocks and shipyards in Brazil’s major port cities. Hoping to become a strong naval contender on the continent, the navy began heavy repairs, which at the time of Pedro's military coup only included a number of small coast-defense vessels. One of the leading advocates for a strong Brazilian navy was José Paranhos, the Empire of Brazil’s first foreign minister, who called for a complete naval overhaul, believing that in order to compete on the international level Brazil must possess a strong navy. A law was passed in 1891 authorizing major construction of Brazilian vessels, totaling three small battleships, three armored cruisers, six destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, three submarines, a collier, and a training ship. The Empire of Brazil began working with the British to help design these new ships, and also worked together with various Hesperian and Borealian nations for assistance.

As a compromise between Emperor Pedro’s conservative base and the partially republican parliament, Pinheiro Machado was selected as the emperor’s prime minister, as a known supporter of democracy.The Emperor’s economic policies successfully curbed the effects of inflation and recession in the nation, by combating the issue as a supply problem. The nation experienced the largest period in conservatism to date, with a high focus on industry and capitalistic enterprise. The industrialization attracted immigrants and migrants to the nation’s major cities, where jobs were more abundant. This became contrary to the vast countryside, where the majority of the population was isolated in individual communities. In the aftermath of slavery in Brazil, wealth and landownership was left heavily concentrated among a small number of capitalists, with this extreme concentration reminiscent of feudal aristocracy. Recent innovations worldwide caused an industrial revolution across Brazil, as a direct reaction to European and Borealian demand for primary products and foodstuffs.

Agriculture became dominated by cotton, sugar, and coffee, as well as other profitable cash crops. The nation’s early focus on cash crops however came at the expense of domestic consumption, forcing the nation to import a majority of its grain needs to sustain its population. Able to bypass the power of the landowners with his new found power, Emperor Pedro I ordered a new agricultural program to increase the nation’s independence from imports. Additionally the patriarchal agricultural communities propped up by wealthy estates were infiltrated by the government, helping to end this semi-autonomy across the nation’s poorer regions.

Sensing a lapse in the nation’s domestic industrial base in the wake of the technologically, economically, and politically superior North Atlantic, Emperor Pedro set out to break the nation’s dependency of foreign made factory goods. The nation instituted the first ever tariffs with European nations, forcing capitalists to step in domestically. Additionally many industries, including weapon manufacturers, ammunition plants, and shipyards were subsidized by the government in some way, in addition to the already increasing boom brought on by heavy modernization of the military.

The ineffective slash-and-burn method was largely phased out, as were primitive and largely non-mechanized farming equipment, as the government began offering large tax cuts and discounts on mechanization. Additionally the government passed the Herdade Act of 1893, offering any settler to claim land in the west up to 160 acres. This was both to encourage settlement, and also to increase farmland under Brazilian control. This program went as far as to increase immigration from Europe, and was projected at its inception to heavily increase settlement within the following years. Farms became more profitable with the advent of mechanical improvements, especially after bad yields in Europe in the 1880s made Brazilian commodities highly sought after.

Many isolated communities became dependent on river transportation and railroads, which had become heavily monopolistic. Railroad owners and eastern bankers were blamed for many of the financial problems experienced by these settlers, and farmers began looking for new tactics to increase profits. The individualistic communities in the west began to pool their resources and yields, creating more centralized market systems, stores, processing plants, factories, and cooperatives. Known as the Granjeiro Movement, these farmers successfully passed laws limiting railroad and warehouse fees in many western provinces.

Additionally, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, known as the Encilhamento, new practices were put in place to prevent unbridled speculation, increased inflation, and fraudulent initial public offerings and takeovers. The Federal Depósito Seguro Corporação was created as a permanent agency of the government capable of insuring deposits in banks. The organization was also initially tasked with examining and supervising certain financial institutions for safety and soundness, as well as performing certain consumer-protection functions, and managing banks in receiverships. These new programs were monitored without parliamentary appropriations, instead being funded entirely by premiums that banks and thrift institutions paid for deposit insurance coverage, and from earnings on investments in securities.

One of the still remaining major hindrances to the nation’s economic recovery was the lack of a centralized national economy, as up to this point regional markets had been able to export their own specialty products to European and Hesperian markets, as without an internal market with overland transportation, except for the mule trains, economic integration was impeded. This also hurt the nation’s political cohesion and military efficiency.

Colonization of the Amazonas
Seeking to take advantage of a recent rubber boom in the Amazon region, as well begin exploiting other natural resources in the region, a wave of rubber tappers and other settlers began expanding to the direct northwest of our nation. The city of Belém became an important port in the north of Brazil, as the last stop in this rubber exporting industry, and the government helped to expand the city as much as possible to take advantage of this increase. Unorganized settlers began to follow the River Amazon further inland, often overlapping with Dutch settlers, creating tension along the border with Guianas. An unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase these claims from the Guianas Colonial government and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, however these negotiations fell through, causing conflict to build.

The southern Guianas, largely undeveloped and unsettled by Dutch citizens, became a battle ground for various rival companies and settlements. A number of settlements propped up in this region, some limited by the Dutch borders. Many Pardos and Afro-Brazilians, in some areas marginalized by the ruling Portuguese class, began moving increasingly westward. João da Cruz e Sousa, an Afro-Brazilian leader, began calling for a migration from the white dominated east, leading to the so called “Great Trek”. The trekkers, known as Seringueiros, for their primary background in rubber tapping, settled the many tributaries of the River Amazon in the north, but also to some degree directly west of the nation, near the Peruvian border. Major settlements settled by the Seringueiros include Porto Velho in the west and Manacapuru in the north.

A growing movement began among Seringueiros advocating for independent nation states in the region, with these groups becoming particularly hostile to Dutch traders on the River Amazon. After conflict erupted between native and Dutch ships on the Amazon, the government began to step in to preserve the region’s trade routes. Nilo Peçanha, a Pardo himself, was appointed governor of a colonial government, named Amazonas, encompassing in theory all these newly formed settlements. Each town however remained some degree of autonomy, limiting government power in the region. Economically the central government retained complete control over the region, as it controled the major ports and industrial equipment, forcing these cities to work together with Peçanha’s government.

Royal Family

 * John (1773 - 1834) - Marie-Louise von Liechtenstein (1782 - 1850)
 * Pedro (1800 - 1871) - Antonia Visconti (1823 - 1890)
 * Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil (1834) - Isabel
 * Maria (1863) - Gaston d'Valois-Arc (1860)
 * Pedro de Alcântara (1883)
 * Luíza Vitória (1885)
 * Antônio Gastão (1888)
 * Luis (1890)
 * Pedro (1870)
 * Isabel (1873) - Charles Trastamara-Wittelsbach, King of Algeria (1873)
 * Fernando (1874)
 * Afonso (1878)
 * Maria (1890)
 * Fernando I, King of Guiana (1836) - Charlotte von Habsburg-Nassau-Orleans (1840)
 * João (1858) - Carolina van Wassenaer (1860)
 * Paulo (1880)
 * Sebastião (1882)
 * Antónia (1883)
 * Maria Ana (1886)
 * Joana (1890)
 * Miguel (1863) - Teresa Velho Cabral (1859)
 * Leopoldo (1884)
 * Maria (1885)
 * Eugénio (1887)
 * Maria (1866) - Petar Krešimir VII Trpimirović
 * Alfonso (1844) - Margarita Cabral de Melo (1850)
 * Paulo (1870)
 * Luis (1874)
 * Januária (1875) - Pedro Manuel de Ataíde (1870)
 * Augusto (1896)
 * Emmanuel (1877)

Foreign Relations
Formal Alliances


 * Second Hesperian league
 * Andea (Treaty of Buenos Noches)
 * Osea (Treaty of Buenos Noches)
 * Emeraldie (Third Treaty of Chan Chan)
 * Treaty of Porto Vila (Colonial Territories/Protectorates)
 * Polynesia
 * Samoa
 * Cabo Verde (Vanatu)
 * Ilhas Pará (Tuvalu)
 * Ilhas São Leopoldo (Kiribati)
 * Ilhas Pátria (Nauru)
 * Kingdom of Spain
 * Kingdom of Guiana (Treaty of the Hague)

Trade Agreements/Alliances
 * Borealia
 * Algonquia
 * Croatia
 * Tidore

States of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil is divided into eleven states, or Federative Units (Portuguese: Unidades Federativas), and three colonial territories, collectively known as the Territory of Amazonas. The borders of each states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time, whereas in the Amazonas the borders were largely developed by the "Great Migration" by the Seringueiros, who settled the territories of Mato Grosso, Amazonas, and Amapá in the late nineteenth century.

Under Portuguese rule the colony of Brazil was divided by hereditary captaincies (capitanias hereditárias), which were stretches of land with a charter to colonize the land granted to Portuguese noblemen or merchants. These captaincies remained hereditary, so that they passed to the captain's son upon his death, however the crown of Portugal retained the right to revoke captaincies at any time. For most of the colony's history the territory of Brazil and its captaincies consisted of two divided states; São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro and Santa Cruz, which would be administrated separately for over two centuries.

Following the creation of an independent Brazil in 1866, all captaincies became provinces, a tradition that would be continued by the Empire, declared in 1891. The majority of internal borders were kept unchanged from the colonial period, generally following natural features such as rivers and mountain ridges. Brazil's borders would remain relatively unchanged until the 1894 Amazonas War with the Netherlands, which greatly expanded the nation's hold over the River Amazon and the surrounding area.