1532: First colony established by Martim Afonso de Sousa.
1533-1807: Rule of Brazil as part of Portugal's Empire: Sugar cane growing developed primarily in the Northeast
1808: Portugese monarchy is transferred to Brazil to escape Napoleonic Wars.
1822: Independence of the Brazilian Empire under Dom Pedro:
1888: Abolition of slavery.
1890: Overthrow of the Emperor and establishment of the First Republic. Emergence of an oligarchy of a planter class, rise of liberal constitutionalists in politics and commercial interests in the economy. Decentralization of power to the states. States such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais, relatively more powerful than the federal government of Rio de Janeiro. Rio Grande do Sul, the state in the far south of Brazil, with its gauchos played a crucial, volatile role in Brazilian politics.
1922: Dissent within the federal military. Revolt at Copacabana Fort in Rio de Janeiro. Sixteen young officers killed. Rise of the Tenente (literally lieutenant) movement among young officers opposed to the domination of the political and economic systems by the planter families. Many of the tenentes came from poor, backward states lacking in political influence.
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The tenente leaders, Siqueira Campos, João Alberto Lins de Barros, Djalma Dutra, Oswaldo Cordeiro do Farias and especially Luis Carlos Prestes become popular heroes.
1930: There is a disputed federal election. Getulio Vargas, the Governor of Rio Grande do Sul, ran for president against a candidate supported by the regime in office. Some tenentes returned to Brazil to support Vargas and his Liberal Alliance. Luis Carlos Prestes denounces the Liberal Alliance and issues a revolutionary manifesto from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Disputed election given to the government-supported candidate. Vargas' forces rebel and march on Rio to overthrow the government. The military deposes the President and allows Vargas to be installed as president.
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1932 Tenente organization attacks pro-constitutionalist newspaper. São Paulo residents demand the restoration of constitutionality. A revolt of the Constitutionalists is put down by Vargas but he deals lightly with them.
Pension programs empowered to provide emergency health coverage.
1933 Constituent Assembly elected, including 40 at-large deputies chosen by occupational constituencies. This latter is a corporatist element in politics.
1934 A new constitution created which incorporates state regulation of wage and hours and protection of labor unions. Industrial disability insurance established.
Luis Carlos Prestes heads the Brazilian communist movement.
1934:
Integralism, a clerical-fascist movement organized by Plinio Salgado and
Gustavo Barroso, becomes a significant political
force. The Integralists support Vargas.
1935:
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1936: Under Getulio Vargas' leadership, commissions to establish minimum wages are created.
1937: Creation of the corporatist Estado Novo (New State), which condemned liberal democracy and adopted centralized planning for development. States reduced to administrative units under the domination of federal interventors.
1938: Suppression of the Integralist movement and consolidation of power by Vargas.
1945 Luis Carlos Prestes and other leftist prisoners are released under amnesty granted in connection with the Brazil's participation in the alliance with the Soviet Union during World War II.
1946: Vargas is forced by the military to allow an election and not run himself. Dutra is elected with an endorsement from Vargas. Vargas attempts to retire to private life at his home in São Borja in Rio Grande do Sul but is elected senator in the national legislature.
1951: Vargas elected president of Brazil in a free election.
1954: A political opponent of Vargas is wounded and an Air Force officer serving as his body guard is killed in an attempted assassination. The Air Force conducts a investigation and finds that Gregorio Fortunato,the head of Vargas' body guards, was behind the assassinaation attempt. The Air Force investigation team confiscates Fortunato's files and finds extensive hard evidence of graft and corruption. The Brazilian Navy and later the Army join with the Air Force in demanding Vargas' resignation. Vargas commits suicide under the threat of being deposed by the military.
1956: Juscelino Kubitschek elected president and immediately creates a National Development Council and Program of Targets.
1956-1961: Kubitschek's term characterized by strong encouragement of investment, foreign and domestic. Strategy of development is import substitution. State enterprises created, including the National Bank for Economic Development, BNDE, and Electrobas and Petrobas, the electricity and petroleum monopolies. Construction of the new capital, Brasilia, is begun. Budget deficits financed by printing money lead to a high rate of inflation.
1961: Janio Quadros is elected President with broad support. João Goulart, belonging to a different political party from Quadros, is elected Vice President. Quadros procedes to stabilize the economy and reduce the budget deficit but the legislature refuses to grant him additional powers he feels he needs and so he resigns in August.
1961-1964: João Goulart, mistrusted and without broad political backing, is ineffective in governing Brazil. Goulart and his brother-in-law, who is governor of the state of São Paulo, begin to mobilize and arm labor unions to force a political showdown. The military sees this move as an attempt to create a militia within the labor unions which will replace the Brazilian military. The military overthrows Goulart and creates a new ruling political structure.
1964-1984: The military politicians strongly encourage foreign investment to promote economic growth.
1985-1990: Jose Sarney, elected vice president, becomes president when the elected president dies before inauguration. Sarney institute a spending program financed by expansion of the money supply that leads to hyperinflation.
1990: Fernando Collor of the newly formed National Reconstruction Party elected narrowly over leftist Socialist Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva. Later, charged with corruption, Collor resigns rather than face impeachment.
1994: Fernando Cardoso elected over Lula da Silva on the basis of his successful program which had curbed inflation. Cardoso who had been a Marxist sociologist who left Brazil during the era of military rule becomes the favored candidate of the Brazilian center and right.
1998 Fernando Cardoso re-elected
2002: Luiz In�cio Lula da Silva elected President of Brazil.
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Da Silva came from a poor family of the Northeast which migrated to the São Paulo area. He became activity in his Metal Workers Trade Union in 1969 and by 1975 he became its president. He participated in the creation the Workers' Party, which with the return of Brazil to civilian rule in 1985, became a political force in São Paulo politics. In 1986 Lula was elected as a representative of the state of São Paulo in the Brazilian legislature. He ran for president in 1989, 1994, 1998 before he was elected in 2002. The electorate perceived him as a man of character, honor and good sense.