The story in brief
A five-year-old inherits a country that threatens to break apart. Crowned at 15, Pedro II photographs everything, wins a terrible war and loses, one by one, the Church, the army and the planters. On 15 November 1889, an ailing monarchist marshal brings down the Empire in a single day.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
The Boy Emperor
A five-year-old wakes up emperor of a country that threatens to break apart.
Sources: Proclamation of 23 July 1840; Lilia Schwarcz
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
The Photographer Emperor
He buys a camera at 14 and spends his life photographing an empire of coffee and slavery.
Sources: D. Pedro II, Diary; Lilia Schwarcz
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Paraguayan War
A war expected to last months goes on for more than five years and changes Brazil.
Sources: Treaty of the Triple Alliance (1865); Francisco Doratioto
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
The Crown Loses Its Footing
One by one, the Church, the army and the planters let go of the emperor.
Sources: Republican Manifesto (1870); Celso Castro
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Fifteenth of November
An ailing marshal sets out to topple a cabinet and ends up toppling an empire.
Sources: Decree no. 1 (1889); Aristides Lobo, Diário Popular
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- Diogo FeijóPriest · Regent · Founder of the National Guard
- Baron of MauáBanker · Industrialist · Railway Pioneer
- Duke of CaxiasPeacemaker · Marshal · Patron of the Army
- Benjamin ConstantProfessor · Positivist · Founder of the Republic
- Deodoro da FonsecaMarshal · Monarchist · First President
- Dom Pedro IIEmperor · Photographer · Scholar
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Republic”. By the end of it, you can tell what the people really saw on 15 November, why the Republic needed four expeditions to defeat Canudos, and how Lampião got a captain’s commission.
Stories in this journey
- Dom Pedro II: The End of the Empire
- Canudos: The Town at the End of the World
- Lampião: The King of the Cangaço
Sources
- Constitution of 1824
- Proclamation of the Majority (1840)
- Diary of D. Pedro II (1861)
- Decree no. 3,371 (1865)
- Republican Manifesto (1870)
- Golden Law (1888)
- Decree no. 1 (1889)
- Aristides Lobo, Diário Popular (1889)
