Empires have historically been more common than you might think. Even in the western hemisphere, we’ve had the empires of the Inca, the Maya, and Brazil. Yep, Brazil. And as it happens, the last emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, was born December 2, 1825. His full name was just a bit longer than Pedro II: Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga. Noble families often go in for lots of given names. In any case, he was the seventh child of Pedro I, the first emperor of Brazil, but he was the only male child to survive. He became the Prince Imperial when he was not even a year old.
Pedro II’s mother died in childbirth just after the Prince Imperial’s first birthday, and a couple of years later his father got married again, to the Princess of Leuchtenberg. Leuchtenberg was not a nation, but an area in Europe (part of Bavaria), and just a couple years after that Pedro I abdicated his throne in Brazil and departed for Europe with his princess, never to return. Pedro II became Emperor at the age of five. Obviously he wasn’t really in charge of anything, but there was a whole staff whose jobs were to educate and prepare him to become The Boss. The one thing they overlooked was friends his own age, and although Pedro II was quite intelligent and serious about the role he’d never asked for, he was pretty lonesome and unhappy.
Brazil, meanwhile, was in decline. There was a “regency” in charge until Pedro II reached adulthood, but they were not particularly competent. By 1840 the General Assembly (which already existed in spite of Brazil being an empire) asked Pedro if he was ready to assume his full authority. He was just 14, but he accepted, and he was crowned on July 18, 1841.
History is full of childhood monarchs who, as children, made decisions about as mature as you’d expect — but Pedro II was an exception. Although historians argue that he may have been manipulated to some extent by advisors in the initial years of his rule, he matured into quite an effective and thoughtful ruler. He was described as “not only impartial and diligent, but also courteous, patient and personable.”
He successfully managed three major problems betweeen 1848 and 1852, when he was still in his twenties. He abolished slavery in Brazil, negotiated the end of a revolt in one of Brazil’s provinces, and signed an alliance with Argentina and Uruguay that ended a series of regional conflicts. He got full credit for all of these, and Brazil began to emerge as a major power worldwide.
Pedro II apparently had no interest in being either just a figurehead, like the monarch of England was by then, or an absolute ruler like the Russian czar. Instead, he took a moderate stance and exercised his power (which technically was pretty absolute) by cooperating with elected politicians in the General Assembly, by his widening popular support, and by making decisions that had beneficial economic effects. One of his biographers, Roderick Barman, observed that in his country at the time, Pedro II was regarded as “indispensable to Brazil’s continued peace and prosperity.”
Pedro II remained Emperor of Brazil for 58 years, but eventually got tired of the whole business and apparently cooperated with a coup d;état that ousted him from office. He didn’t allow any opposition to the ouster, and left Brazil to live in Europe for his final years. Unlike practically any other ex-emperor you might have heard of, he didn’t end up wealthy. He had earned what was basically a salary as Emperor, but never allowed it to be increased from the amount he had begun receiving at age 14. He passed away in Paris at 66, and years after his death began to be hailed as “the greatest Brazilian.” The Brazilian Republic established years after his rule was modeled after his reforms.
Leave a Reply