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CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY, RELIGION, AND TRADITION
COFFEE CRAZE
Coffee eventually replaced sugar as Brazil’s primary export. The plant,
originally from Ethiopia, came to Brazil early in the 1700s. As it was
with sugarcane, Brazil’s climate was perfect for coffee cultivation. Coffee
plantations sprung up around the coast, and the plant replaced sugar by the
1830s as the most dominant cash crop in Brazil. By 1850, coffee represented 50
percent of all Brazilian exports.
Farming now became Brazil’s major occupation. By this time, the
descen-
dants
of the first Portuguese settlers considered themselves Brazilian, and
wanted to break free of Portuguese rule. However, in 1808, the French emperor
Napoleon invaded Portugal. Portugal’s king, Dom João VI, fled to Brazil, set-
tling in Rio de Janeiro, which was now the center of the Portuguese empire. Big
changes were in store.
Dom João undertook massive building projects. He invested in the arts and
opened Brazil’s ports to other nations. When Dom João returned home in
1821, he left his son Dom Pedro in charge. In an abrupt policy shift from his
father, Dom Pedro declared Brazil an independent nation.
Dom Pedro ruled for nine years. His son, Dom Pedro II, became the emperor
of Brazil at the age of fourteen. During Dom Pedro II’s reign, Brazil grew richer.
The eighteenth-century colonial palace, Paco Imperial, in Rio de Janeiro, was used
as a dispatch house by King João VI of Portugal, then by Pedro I, emperor of Brazil.