The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army's invasion of Portugal two months earlier.
The invasion of Portugal (1930 November 1807) saw an Imperial French corps under Jean-Andoche Junot and Spanish military troops invade the Kingdom of Portugal, which was headed by its Prince Regent Joo of Bragana (John of Braganza). The military operation resulted in the occupation of Portugal. The French and Spanish presence was challenged by the Portuguese people and by the United Kingdom in 1808. The invasion marked the start of the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
Threatened by a ultimatum from Napoleon, the Portuguese government acceded to most of the demands of the French emperor. Nevertheless, Napoleon ordered Junot to commence the invasion, with the cooperation of three divisions from the Kingdom of Spain. Paralyzed by fear and indecision, the Portuguese authorities offered mainly no resistance. Junot occupied Lisbon on 30 November 1807, only to find that Joo and many of the leading families had escaped to Brazil aboard the Portuguese fleet. The French quickly occupied a portion of the country and attempted to destroy Portuguese army. However with the French forces having no mastery of the sea outclassed by the Portuguese Navy, Portugal remained in the fight The following year saw the Portuguese revolt against their occupiers. The next action was the Battle of vora in July 1808.
The Most Serene House of Braganza (Portuguese: Sereníssima Casa de Bragança), also known as the Brigantine Dynasty (Dinastia Brigantina), is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas.
The house was founded by Afonso I, 1st Duke of Braganza, illegitimate son of King John I of Portugal of the House of Aviz, and would eventually grow into one of the wealthiest and most powerful noble houses of Iberia during the Renaissance period. The Braganzas came to rule the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves after successfully deposing the Philippine Dynasty in the Restoration War, resulting in the Duke of Braganza becoming King John IV of Portugal, in 1640. The Braganzas ruled Portugal and the Portuguese Empire from 1640 and with the creation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, in 1815, and the subsequent independence of the Empire of Brazil, in 1822, the Braganzas came to rule as the monarchs of Brazil.
The House of Braganza produced 15 Portuguese monarchs and all four Brazilian monarchs, numerous consorts to various European kingdoms, such as Catherine of Braganza (wife of Charles II of England who introduced tea to Britain) and Maria Isabel of Braganza (wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain who founded the El Prado Museum), as well as sometime candidates for the thrones of Poland and Greece, Infante Manuel, Count of Ourém and Pedro, Duke of Braganza, respectively, and numerous other notable figures in the histories of Europe and the Americas. The Braganzas were deposed from their thrones in Europe and the Americas at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, when Emperor Pedro II was deposed in Brazil, in 1889, and when King Manuel II was deposed in Portugal, in 1910.
Following the reign of King John VI of Portugal, the Braganzas were split into three main branches of the family: the Brazilian branch, headed by King John VI's eldest son, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, the Constitutional branch, headed by Emperor Pedro I's eldest daughter, Queen Maria II of Portugal, and the Miguelist branch, headed by King John VI's second eldest son, King Miguel I of Portugal. The Brazilian branch, following 1921, became the House of Orléans-Braganza, whose leadership is disputed by two branches of its own: the Vassouras branch, headed by Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, and the Petrópolis branch, headed by Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza. The Constitutional branch died out with the death of King Manuel II in 1932, passing its claim to the Portuguese throne to the Miguelist branch, by way of Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza. The claim to the Portuguese Crown, and thus to the leadership of the House of Braganza, passed to Duarte Nuno's son, Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, who is currently the most recognized pretender to the Portuguese throne.