BRAGANZA, the name of an administrative district and of its capital included in the province of Traz-os-Montes, Portu gal ; situated in the north-eastern extremity of the kingdom, on a branch of the river Sabor, 8 m. S. of the Spanish frontier. Its Portuguese name is Braganca. Pop. 6,o89. Braganza is an episco pal city, consisting of a walled upper town, containing the cathe dral college and hospital, and of a lower or modern town. The administrative district of Braganza coincides with the eastern part of Traz-os-Montes (q.v.). Pop. (193o) 185,164; area, 2,513 sq. miles.
The city gave its name to the family of Braganza, members of which were rulers of Portugal from 1640 onward and emperors of Brazil from 1822 to 1889. The family is descended from Alphonso, a natural son of John I. of Portugal (d. 1433 ), who was made duke of Braganza in 1442 and died in 1451. His de scendant Duke John I. (d. 1583) married into the royal family and, on the death of King Henry II. in 158o without direct heirs, unsuccessfully claimed the crown in opposition to Philip II. of Spain. When in 1640 the Portuguese threw off the Spanish yoke, his grandson, Duke John II., became King of Portugal as John IV. In 1807, when Napoleon declared the throne of Portugal vacant, King John VI. transferred his court to Brazil. He regained Portugal in 1814, but did not return there till 1821, when he left his elder son Peter as regent of Brazil. In 1822 Brazil established its independence, with Peter as emperor. Peter succeeded his father as king of Portugal in 1826, but at once resigned the crown to his young daughter Maria, with his brother Dom Miguel as regent. Miguel soon proclaimed himself king, but was driven from the country in 1833, when Maria became queen. She was suc ceeded in 1853 by Louis, her son by her second husband, Ferdinand of Coburg. Louis was succeeded in 1889 by his son Charles (Carlos) I. On Feb. 1, 1908, Carlos and his eldest son were assassinated, and in May his second son, Dom Manoel, was pro claimed king as Manoel (Emmanuel) II. In Oct. 1910 he was deposed as the result of a revolution and went to live in England. On June 19, 191I, the Constituent Assembly in Lisbon declared the monarchy abolished and the House of Braganza for ever banished from Portugal.
Peter I. of Brazil was succeeded by his son Peter II., who reigned till 1889, when he was deposed and exiled and the republic proclaimed. On his death in 1891 this branch of the family also became extinct in the male line. His only child, Isabella, married Louis Gaston, Comte d'Eu. The exiled Dom Miguel founded a branch of the family which settled in Bavaria. The title of duke of Braganza was borne by the eldest sons of the kings of Portugal.