Reformas e revoltas – América Britânica e Portuguesa c. 1760-1790

Abstract

In the second half of the 18th century, to strengthen their sovereignty over the overseas territories, the principal European monarchies intervened in the colonial economy and administration. The reforms of empires, also called Borbonic, Pombaline and British, aimed mainly to reduce the autonomy of colonial elites, especially in the administration and economy. Although the empires were so different, the comparison shows that the process of a political centralization of monarchies, or rather, the alteration of corporate or composite monarchies, was taking place almost simultaneously. Its interventionist policies broke the pacts that involved the sovereign and his overseas subjects. Between 1760 and 1790, in the different empires, the subjects rebelled against the metropolises to push back the reforms. The revolts in the British colonies resulted in independence, while in Brazil the revolutionary situation promoted a new plan for the reconstruction of Portuguese sovereignty over the colony.

Keywords

• Brazil
• rebellions
• reforms
• britis colonies