Elevation to kingdom

Main article: United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves

See also: Invasion of Portugal (1807) and Transfer of the Portuguese court to
Brazil

The Acclamation of King João VI of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the
Algarves in Rio de Janeiro, 6 February 1818
In late 1807, Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened the security of continental
Portugal, causing Prince Regent John, in the name of Queen Maria I, to move the
royal court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.[77] There they established some of
Brazil's first financial institutions, such as its local stock exchanges[78] and
its National Bank, additionally ending the Portuguese monopoly on Brazilian trade
and opening Brazil's ports to other nations. In 1809, in retaliation for being
forced into exile, the Prince Regent ordered the conquest of French Guiana.[79]

With the end of the Peninsular War in 1814, the courts of Europe demanded that
Queen Maria I and Prince Regent John return to Portugal, deeming it unfit for the
head of an ancient European monarchy to reside in a colony. In 1815, to justify
continuing to live in Brazil, where the royal court had thrived for six years, the
Crown established the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, thus
creating a pluricontinental transatlantic monarchic state.[80] However, the
leadership in Portugal, resentful of the new status of its larger colony, continued
to demand the return of the court to Lisbon (see Liberal Revolution of 1820). In
1821, acceding to the demands of revolutionaries who had taken the city of Porto,
[81] John VI departed for Lisbon. There he swore an oath to the new constitution,
leaving his son, Prince Pedro de Alcântara, as Regent of the Kingdom of Brazil.[82]