19th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1807 | Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, invades Portugal and the Portuguese Royal Family is transferred to the colony of Brazil and the colony is elevated to the status of kingdom and center of the Portuguese Empire. Portugal changes the official name from Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves to United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. | |
| 1808 | Insurrection against Napoleon's general, Junot and landing of Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) to defeat the French at the Battle of Vimeiro. Beginning of the Peninsular War. | |
| 1816 | João VI of Portugal becomes king. Portugal is governed by a Regency council headed by Marshal Beresford, head of the Portuguese army in the Peninsular War. | |
| 1820 | Liberal Revolution of 1820 against the British-led Regency of William Carr Beresford begins in Porto on 24 August. The Regency's troops decline to act against their countrymen and on 15 September declare for King, Cortes and Constitution. A provisional government is established on 1 October to oversee elections to the Cortes. | |
| 1821 | The national assembly opens on 26 January and on 9 March adopts a liberal parliamentary constitution (ratified 1822), inspired by the recent liberal advances in Spain, notably the 1812 Constitution of Cadiz. Metropolitan Portugal demands the return of João VI to Lisbon. João VI advises his son, Pedro, to declare the independence of Brazil and become its emperor, to ensure its continued rule by the Bragança dynasty. João VI lands in Portugal on 4 July, but only after consenting to the restrictions on his power proposed by the Cortes and agreeing to accept the new constitution, to which he swears allegiance on 1 October. But his wife Queen Carlota Joaquina and younger son Dom Miguel refuse to do so and become the focus of a reactionary movement. | |
| 1822 | Brazil declares independence. Pedro becomes Emperor Pedro I of Brazil. Military coup against the parliamentarians. Fearing a move by France against democratic Portugal, or a civil war, Brigadier Saldanha, a grandson of the Marquis of Pombal, raises a small army and expels the ‘constitutional extremists’ from Lisbon. He proposes instead a compromise constitution in which the powers of the crown will be partially restored to the King. (This is the first of Saldanha's seven coups d'état in his career). | |
| 1823 | In May a 'Regency of Portugal' is established by the expelled traditionalists who had opposed the constitution at Valladolid, under the presidency of the Patriarch of Lisbon and becomes a centre for plotting to put Dom Miguel on the throne. | |
| 1824 | At the end of April Miguel attempts a coup d'etat but is defeated with British aid and goes into exile in Vienna. | |
| 1826 | Death of João VI, 10 March. The country is split between liberals and absolutists. Emperor Pedro I of Brazil becomes king Pedro IV of Portugal but abdicates in favour of his daughter Maria II of Portugal, naming his sister as Regent and inviting all parties swear to accept a new constitution, drawn up by Pedro on 23 April and somewhat less liberal than that of 1820, based upon the Brazilian constitution. Pedro’s constitution (the Charter of 1826) assigns authority to the crown to moderate between the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the state and proposes a House of Lords of 72 aristocrats and 19 bishops. Miguel (in Vienna) makes a show of agreement. | |
| 1827 | In July Pedro names his brother Dom Miguel as Lieutenant and Regent of the Kingdom. Miguel leaves Vienna and visits Paris and London on his way to Portugal. | |
| 1828 | Dom Miguel arrives in Lisbon in February and though he makes a show of abiding by the constitution, after various moves against the constitutional forces he usurps the throne and abolishes parliament and the constitution, re-instituting the mediaeval Cortes and claiming to be 'Absolute King' (proclaimed 4 July). Many of the liberal parliamentarians are imprisoned, executed or driven into exile. All Portuguese territories apart from Terceira in the Azores declare for Miguel, but he is recognized as King only by Mexico and the USA. Beginning of civil war, known as the Liberal Wars. | |
| 1831 | Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favour of his son Pedro II of Brazil and sets out to regain Portugal for his daughter. | |
| 1832 | Pedro's expeditionary force of Portuguese exiles and foreign mercenaries gathers in Terceira, regains the Azores, then sails for Portugal. Pedro is supported by Britain and France and the Portuguese intelligentsia, including the politically-ambitious soldiers Saldanha and Sá da Bandeira. 9 July: Pedro lands at Pampelido north of Porto, where he is closely besieged by some 13,000 Miguelites across the River Douro. His defending force, the city garrison being commanded by Sá da Bandeira, includes an international brigade with a British contingent under Charles Shaw and Colonel George Lloyd Hodges. The city suffers cholera, starvation and bombardment. | |
| 1833 | Miguel's navy is defeated by Pedro's Admiral Charles Napier at the fourth Battle of Cape St Vincent. The Duke of Terceira defeats Miguel's army at Almada and occupies Lisbon. | |
| 1834 | 16 May | the Duke of Terceira wins the Battle of Asseiceira. Miguel capitulates at EvoraMonte on May 26. End of the civil war: Miguel is exiled to Genoa, where he renounces his capitulation. For many years he plots his return, but is never able to put it into effect. After six years of bitter and destructive war the country is once again bankrupt and beholden to foreign creditors, and the constitutional radicals turn their anger against the landowners and ecclesiastical institutions that had supported Miguel. The crown lands (a quarter of the national territory) are taken over by the state to help pay the national debt. |
| 24 September | Death of Dom Pedro. Maria II of Portugal becomes queen in her own right. Dissolution of the monasteries – over 300 monastic communities are abolished – however the sale of church and crown lands does not revitalise Portugal in the way that had been anticipated. | |
| 1835 | Revolutionary fervour is rekindled by an urban uprising and a military coup d’etat. The national Guard sides with the insurgents and approved the call for Sá da Bandeira to lead the nation and bring back the constitution of 1822. Queen Maria is forced to swear allegiance to the 1822 constitution but the moderate leader, Saldanha, reaches an accommodation with Sá da Bandeira and a modest programme of modernisation can begin. | |
| 1839 | An unsettled period of many short-lived governments ends temporarily with the stable coalition led by the Conde do Bonfim, which remains in power for two years. | |
| 1843 | Queen Maria II marries Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who rules with her as Dom Fernando II, the thirtieth King of Portugal. He commissions the German architect Baron Eschwege to begin the building of the Pena Palace at Sintra. | |
| 1846 | The Revolution of Maria da Fonte, a ‘peasants’ revolt’ inaugurates the last phase of the Revolution, starting as an uprising of the peasants of the Minho, largely led by women (their movement is named after the semi-mythical ‘Maria da Fonte’) against land enclosures and new land taxes demanded by the Costa Cabral government to finance its grandiose public works. They make common cause with the clergy and call for the return of the exiled Miguel as their saviour. Martial law is declared but soldiers refuse to fire on their kin. Fall of the Costa Cabral government and substitution of a government of national reconciliation in Lisbon. Autumn: A revolutionary government is proclaimed in Porto with Sá da Bandeira at its head. He opens negotiations with Britain, whence Costa Cabral has fled into exile, and settles terms for his return to take responsibility for the national debt. Civil war between the supporters of Queen Maria and the radical constitutionalists. The Count of Bonfim, for the Porto junta, is defeated by Saldanha at the siege of Torres Vedras and exiled to Angola. | |
| 1847 | Convention of Gramido brings the civil war to an end. Return of the political exiles from Angola. | |
| 1848 | Costa Cabral returns as prime minister. | |
| 1851 | Another coup d’etat by Saldanha. He ejects Costa Cabral, appoints himself prime minister and rules reasonably progressively from the house of lords for a full five-year term. Thus a proper parliamentary regime is finally established, with a two-party system and a bourgeois monarchy. Portugal enters its Age of Regeneration, with an old-fashioned cavalry officer in charge. The government embarks on an elaborate programme of public works to modernize the country, beginning with the establishment of a modern post office and a programme of road-building: in the entire country there is less than 200 km of all-weather road surface, and the government uses road taxes to finance 200 km of new road per year. | |
| 1853 | Pedro V of Portugal becomes king. | |
| 1856 | Opening of Portugal's first railway line (between Lisbon and Carregado). | |
| 1861 | Luis I of Portugal becomes king. | |
| 1869 | The government of Sá da Bandeira formally abolishes slavery in all Portuguese territories. | |
| 1870 | A financial crisis in the wake of European recession brings the fall of the government and yet another coup d’etat by the aged Duque de Saldanha. | |
| 1891 | Republican insurrection in Porto. It is violently put down by the authorities, who afterwards institute a tight press censorship. Opponents of the government are accused of anarchism and exiled to the colonies. | |
| 1889 | Carlos I of Portugal becomes king. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Portuguese History