1621 Salvador da Bahia is momentarily taken by the Dutch
1624-25 The Dutch take over Pernambuco and Recife then try without triumph to overcome the Northeast
1654 The Dutch are defeated and ousted
1680 Gold and diamond mining takes place of sugar production as top crop
1720 Coffee crop is brought into Brazil
1761 The capital is shifted from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro
1808-21 Fleeing from Napoleon's army, King João VI of Portugal moves the seat of the Portuguese government to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and opens Brazilian ports to foreign trade
1810 Brazil is entitled the, "Kingdom of Brazil," by Portugal
1821 João VI returns to Portugal
1822 Brazil asserts its independence and crowns Pedro I as emperor
America recognizes Brazil's independence
1825-28 Portugal and Britain recognize Brazil's independence
1844 The African slave trade is proscribed
1870 Slavery is terminated by the Golden Law
1890 The first constitution is drawn up
1914 Brazil declares war on Germany in WWI
1934 The New State (Estado Novo) is instituted and the constitution is revised
1937 Brazil joins WWII against the Axis Powers
1942 Brazil sends the Brazilian Expeditionary Force to Italy
The first steel mill in Brazil goes into production
1946-64 Constitution re-revised
1956-61 Brazilian capital moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília
1968 Brazil strikes a nuclear energy deal with West Germany
1975 Brazil makes divorce lawful
1989 Rio de Janeiro hosts the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) also known as the Earth Summit or the Eco-92.
1994 The new currency, the Real, is launched
Cardoso assumes presidential office
2000 Researchers in a São Paulo laboratory decode the genome for a disease-causing plant bacterium