Brazil

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Brazil fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France1555 to 1615

   French traders and their Tupinamba allies contested the coast. Portugal destroyed France Antarctique in Guanabara Bay by 1567, and in 1615 drove the French from Sao Luis, which they had founded in Maranhao in 1612.

2. 🇳🇱 Dutch Republic1624 to 1654

   The Dutch West India Company seized Salvador in 1624, losing it the next year, then took Pernambuco in 1630. Dutch Brazil lasted until 1654, when the Insurrection of Pernambuco forced the surrender of Recife.

3. 🇪🇸 Spanish Empire1680 to 1801

   Portugal and Spain fought for a century over the Rio de la Plata, where Portugal founded Colonia del Sacramento in 1680. The treaties of Madrid in 1750 and San Ildefonso in 1777 traded land, and in 1801 Portuguese forces took the Seven Missions.

4. Jesuit missions of the Guarani1754 to 1756

   The 1750 Treaty of Madrid gave Portugal seven Jesuit mission towns east of the Uruguay River. Their Guarani inhabitants refused to leave, and Spanish and Portuguese armies crushed them in the Guarani War, at Caiboate in 1756.

5. 🇫🇷 First French Empire1807 to 1817

   Napoleon's invasion of Portugal in 1807 drove the royal court to Rio de Janeiro. In reply, Portuguese and Brazilian troops occupied French Guiana in 1809 and held it until 1817.

6. 🇦🇷 United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata1825 to 1828

   Buenos Aires backed the revolt of the Banda Oriental against Brazilian rule. The Cisplatine War ended in stalemate, and in 1828 British mediation created independent Uruguay.

7. 🇦🇷 Argentine Confederation1851 to 1852

   Brazil joined Uruguayan forces and the Argentine governor Urquiza against Juan Manuel de Rosas, who threatened Uruguay. Their allied army defeated Rosas at Caseros in February 1852.

8. 🇵🇾 Paraguay1864 to 1870

   Paraguay seized a Brazilian ship and invaded Mato Grosso in 1864. Brazil bore the main burden of the War of the Triple Alliance, which ended with the death of Francisco Solano Lopez in 1870 and Brazilian gains in the west.

9. 🇧🇴 Bolivia1899 to 1903

   Brazilian rubber tappers in Bolivian Acre rebelled from 1899 and proclaimed their own state. Brazil intervened, and by the Treaty of Petropolis in 1903 Bolivia ceded Acre in exchange for money and a railway.

10. 🇩🇪 Nazi Germany1942 to 1945

    After German submarines sank Brazilian ships, Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy in August 1942. A Brazilian Expeditionary Force of about 25,000 men fought in Italy in 1944 and 1945.

Today

Brazil now

After more than three centuries under Portuguese rule, Brazil gained its independence in 1822, maintaining a monarchical system of government until the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the subsequent proclamation of a republic by the military in 1889. Brazilian coffee exporters politically dominated the country until populist leader Getúlio VARGAS rose to power in 1930. VARGAS governed through various versions of democratic and authoritarian regimes from 1930 to 1945.

Capital

Brasília

Government

federal presidential republic

Head of government

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Languages

Portuguese

Area

8,510,420 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population211 million2023 · 53.4 million in 1950
• Life expectancy75.8 years2023 · 48.5 years in 1950
• GDP per person$14,6402022 · $2,236 in 1950
• Living in cities88%2025 · 37% in 1950
• Literacy95%2024 · 48% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesRio Pact2024 · Rio Pact in 1950
• Military spending1.1% of GDP2025
• War deaths0.3 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.