The Portuguese Royal Family, D João VI and its court of over 10,000 people, leave Lisbon for their colony of Brazil aboard 36 vessels to escape the invading Napoleonic troops.
The travelers arrived in Rio on March 7, 1808. The stay lasted until 1820 when D João VI went back to Portugal leaving his eldest son Pedro in charge. Pedro remain in Brazil and in 1822 led the move for Brazilian independence from Portugal and declared himself Emperor. More