History of the Holidays: Sep 7th, Brazilian Independence Day

September 7th is Brazil's National Day

It marks Brazil's declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822.

Let's take a look at the History of this Holiday

Brazil had been a colony of Portugal since the 16th century.

In 1807 France invaded Portugal and the Portuguese royal family escaped to Brazil.

In 1815, Brazil was given equal kingdom status with Portugal.

By 1820, the French had withdrawn from Portugal, and the Liberal Revolution resulted in the return of the Portuguese Court to Portugal from Brazil in 1821.

King João VI returned to Lisbon, leaving his 23-year-old son, Pedro di Alcântara as Regent of the Kingdom of Brazil.

On September 7th 1822, a declaration of independence from Portugal was made by Alcântara.

Alcântara, better known as Dom Pedro I, became the first emperor of Brazil, ruling from 1823 until 1831.

To mark the National Day of Brazil, here are some interesting facts about Brazil.

Brazil comes from the Portuguese name for a tree common in Brazil from which a red dye was obtained.

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world.

It makes up 47 per cent of South America.

Brazil has the largest population of Catholics in the world at 123 million.

Brasilia looks like an aeroplane when viewed from above.

Rio de Janeiro means "January River". Mistakenly a Portuguese explorer thought the bay was the mouth of a river.

The Amazon River is the world's largest by volume of water discharged - more than the next seven largest rivers combined.

There’s a Brazilian island that has five snakes per square meter.

The National Animal of Brazil is the Jaguar

Brazil has more than 4,000 airports - more than any other country other than the U.S.

A soccer stadium in Brazil has the halfway line on the Earth's equator, so each team defends a different hemisphere.

In 1808, Rio de Janeiro became the capital of Portugal, making it the only European capital ever to be outside Europe.

Three of the five wealthiest people in Brazil earned their fortunes from beer.

Brazil has been the world's largest exporter of coffee for more than 150 years.

Bolivia exports more Brazil nuts than Brazil.