State of Brazil

For the modern states of the federal republic, see states of Brazil.

State of Brazil Estado do Brasil
1530–1815
Coat of arms
Status	State of the Portuguese Empire
Capital	Salvador (1645–1763) Rio de Janeiro (1763–1815)
Common languages	Portuguese
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Government	Dependent territory under an absolute monarchy
Monarch
• 1521–1557	John III (first)
• 1777–1816	Maria I (last)
Governor General/Viceroy
• 1549–1553	Tomé de Sousa (first)
• 1806–1808	Count of Arcos (last)
History
• End of hereditary captaincies	1549
• Transference of the capital to Rio de Janeiro	1763
•  Inconfidência Mineira	1792
•  Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil	22 January 1808
• Elevation of Brazil to Kingdom	16 December 1815
Currency	Portuguese Real
ISO 3166 code	BR
Preceded by Succeeded by Governorate General of Brazil State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro State of Maranhão and Piauí 1654: Dutch Brazil 1630: Dutch Brazil 1815: United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves Kingdom of Brazil

The State of Brazil (Portuguese : Estado do Brasil) was one of the states of the Portuguese Empire, in the Americas during the period of Colonial Brazil.

History

In 1621, the Governorate General of Brazil was split into two states, the State of Brazil and the State of Maranhão. The state was created on June 13, 1621 by Philip II of Portugal. ^[1]

This action divided Portuguese America into two administrative units, with the capital of the State of Brazil located in São Salvador and the capital of the State of Maranhão located in São Luís.

The State of Brazil became a Viceroyalty in January 1763, when the capital of the State of Brazil was transferred from São Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.

Composition

The State of Brazil originally included 12 of the original 15 captaincies, all except Ceará (which became subordinate to Pernambuco later) and Maranhão, two parts, which included the subcaptaincy of Para west of the Tordesillas Line at that time (north to south):

• Captaincy of Rio Grande de Norte
• Captaincy of Paraíba (southern Rio Grande & Itamaraca)
• Captaincy of Pernambuco
• Captaincy of Bahia
• Captaincy of Ilhéus (became a comarca of Bahia in 1761)
• Captaincy of Porto Seguro
• Captaincy of Espírito Santo
• Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro (São Tomé and São Vicente first section)
• Captaincy of Santo Amaro
• Captaincy of São Vicente (second section, later renamed Captaincy of São Paulo e Minas de Ouro)
• Captaincy of Santana

Captaincies created by the state

• Captaincy of Alagoas 1817 from Pernambuco
• Captaincy of Ceará 1799 re-split from Pernambuco (previously existed as one of 15 original donatary captaincies)
• Captaincy of Goiás
• Captaincy of Mato Grosso
• Captaincy of Minas Gerais
• Captaincy of São Paulo
• Captaincy of Sergipe 1820 from Bahia
• Captaincy of Rio Grande do Sul (from region of Rio Grande de Sao Pedro)
• Captaincy of Santa Catarina

See also

• List of governors-general of Brazil

References

1. Mundo Vestibular: BRASIL COLÔNIA