The provinces of Brazil were the primary subdivisions of the country during the period of the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom ...

(1822 - 1889). On February 28, 1821, the provinces were established in the

Kingdom of Brazil The Kingdom of Brazil ( pt, Reino do Brasil) was a constituent kingdom of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves. Creation The legal entity of the Kingdom of Brazil was created by a law issued by Prince Regent John of Portu ...

(then part of the

United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil ...

), superseding the captaincies that were in place at the time.

Provinces of 1821

Changes from 1821-1889

1821

The captaincies of Brazil are renamed provinces. The present-day Uruguay is occupied by the Portuguese Army and incorporated in Brazil as its Cisplatine Province.

1822

Independence of Brazil, with the provinces becoming provinces of the Empire of Brazil.

1823

The last Brazilian provinces that remained loyal to the Portuguese Government in Lisbon adhere to the Empire of Brazil.

1828

Cisplatina Province became the independent state of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

1834

The city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, the imperial capital, was removed from the Province of Rio de Janeiro, and was included in the Neutral Municipality. At the same time, the capital of the Province of Rio de Janeiro was transferred to

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro in the southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms part of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. It was the state capital, ...

1850

Grão-Pará Province split into Amazonas Province and Pará Province.

1889

In 1889 the Empire of Brazil became the

Republic of the United States of Brazil The First Brazilian Republic, also referred to as the Old Republic ( pt, República Velha ), officially the Republic of the United States of Brazil, refers to the period of Brazilian history from 1889 to 1930. The Old Republic began with the de ...

and the provinces became states. The Neutral Municipality that included the city of Rio de Janeiro l became the

Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they ...

References

{{Provinces of the Empire of Brazil Brazil geography-related lists Brazil history-related lists