When the French conquered Portugal in 1807, the regent Dom Joâo (1767–1826), acting for Queen Maria the Mad (1734–1816), sailed to Rio de Janeiro and set up court there, proclaiming Brazil a full sovereign state with all the rights and privileges that went with it. This reduced Portugal to the status of a province of Brazil, especially when Dom Joâo, becoming king after Maria’s death in 1816, decided to stay on in Rio. In 1820, Dom Joâo was forced by political upheavals in Portugal to return to Lisbon as king. He was also obliged to accept the policy of reimposing mercantilist restrictions on
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