Reraciox. Church and State are entirely sepa rated, but the Government provides for the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, which is the faith of 99 per cent. of the people. The country is divided into eleven episcopal sees, in each of which a theological seminary is lo cated. The Archbishop of Bahia is metropolitan of the province and under him are 11 bishops, 12 vicars-general. and about 2000 curates.
Insmay. By the provision of the treaty of Tordesillas, signed by Portugal and Spain in 1494. most of the territory within the present limits of Brazil fell to the share of the former. Early in 1500 Vieente Yailez Pinzon landed on the coast of Brazil. probably near Cape Saint Augustine. and coasted as far as the Orinoco River, discovering the mouth of the Amazon. In the Jame year Pedro Alvarez Cabral landed at Porto Seguro, and, taking possession of the country in the name of his monarch, gave it the name of Vera Cruz. later changed to Santa Cruz. In 1501 and 1503 the country was visited by expeditions under Amerigo Vespucci. who in the latter year left a garrison of twenty-four men behind him and returned with a cargo of Brazil wood, which gave the vast region its name. The frst permanent settlement was made by the Portuguese on the island of Silo Vicente in 1501, other colonies founded subsequently being aban doned on acemmt of the hostilities of the Indians. Bahia was founded in 1549 and till 1763 was the capital of Brazil. The Huguenot settlement established in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in 1555 was broken up in 1567 by the Portuguese, who founded the town of Rio de Janeiro. From 1580 to 1040 Brazil as a dependency of Portugal was in the possession of Spain. and in the latter part of this period the Dutch, who were at war with Spain, seized upon a considerable portion of the country. which they held for some time. In 1630 they captured Pernambuco and retained the stronghold of Olinda till 1654. Between Portugal and Spain there was a long standing dispute con Corning the possession of the eastern shore of the La Plata, which was not settled until 1828. when Brazil recognized the independence of the Banda Oriental (see The discovery of gold in 1091 and of diamonds in 1710 resulted in the rise of a number of mining towns. The arbitrary colonial order under which Brazil had been set tled. the so-called captaincy system, similar to the patroon system in New York. greatly re tarded the progress of the country. In 1807, under the pressure of French invasion, the royal family of Portugal tied to Brazil. which re mained virtually the seat of government until 1821. when King John VI. returned, leaving his eldest son, Dom Pedro, as Prince Regent ; but in the following year (September 7. 1822) the in dependence of Brazil was proclaimed. and on Oc tober 12 the Prince Regent was crowned Em reror. Early in 1824 he took his oath to the Constitution, and in 1825 the independence of Brazil was formally recognized by the Portuguese King. Dont Pedro soon became unpopular, and in 1831 abdicated in favor of his five-year-old son.
Lnder the regencies which followed, Brazil was plunged into disorder and political intrigue, and the result was that, as a reaction against repub licanism, the young prince was declared of age in 1840, and in 1841, at the age of fifteen, was crowned Emperor. as Dom Pedro H. The only
wars during his reign. aside from a few revo lutionary outbreaks, were those waged against Rosas. the Dictator of Buenos Ayres. in 1852. and against l'araguay in 1865-70. Pedro 11. was a patriotic and enlightened monarch. Among the events of his administration was the passage of an act in IS71 providing for the gradual aboli tion of slavery. The centralized system of gov ernment, however, and the general prevalence of corruption in the provincial administration. excited a widespread feeling of discontent, espe cially in the army, and an attempt in 1889 to form a national guard under imperial control hastened the crisis. On November 15 intelligence that Rio Janeiro was in the hands of the in surgents reached the Enqa.ror at his country-seat, and on hastening to the capital he found that the :Ministry had been deposed. Later in the day a Provisional Government, headed by Marshal Deo doro da Fonseca (q.v.), was organized, which is sued a manifesto proclaiming a republic. All these changes met with little opposition; indeed, it had been long and widely believed that the Em pire would not outlive the Emperor. Dom Pedro attempted to form a new Ministry, but failed, and a new decree ordered him to leave the coun try with his family within twenty-four hours. The same decree continued the imperial dowry and granted the Emperor a subsidy of $2,500,000, both of which he refused. On the following day, November 10, the Emperor and his family em barked for Portugal. and the concession (Novem ber 21) of universal suffrage to all Brazilians that could read and write was followed by the appointment of a commission to draft a Federal Constitution. On .January 10, 1890. the separa tion of Church and Mate was decreed by the Provisional Government. The new Constitution (subject to further revision) was promulgated on June 23. In February, 1891. Marshal Fonseca was elected the first President of the Republic, but before the close of the year his arbitrary pro ceedings provoked a revolutionary movement in Rio de Janeiro. which forced him to resign. lie was succeeded by the Vice-President. General Peixoto. In 1893 a revolt, probably aiming at the restoration of the Empire. was headed by Admirals Da Cama and Mello and supported by the navy. Rio the Janeiro was blockaded and shelled by the rebels, hut. owing largely to the unfavorable attitude of the United States, whose war-vessels broke the blockade, the revolt (which was accompanied by insurrections in some of the States) collapsed early in 1894, and the insurgents tled or surrendered.
Peixoto was succeeded later in the same year by Dr. Prudente de Moraes. Another rising, headed by a religious fanatic, Antonio Comm. seilheiro. broke out in 1597 in the State of Bahia. It was probably assisted financially to some extent by the partisans of the old Empire. and threatened for a few months to cause the Government mind] trouble, but it was eventually crushed. An atteinpt to assassinate President Morays on November 5th of the same year re sulted in the discovery of an important plot against the existing Government. which imme diately c011apsed. In Ma.reh. 189S, Dr. Campos Si who had long been an active participant in the republican political propaganda, was elect ed President and quietly installed.