Policy and business concerning Brazil’s independence

Joaquim José da Silva Maia’s project to a Portuguese Empire (1821-1823)

Abstract

Our aim is to present politics proposals defended by the tradesman Joaquim José da Silva Maia (1776-1831) when he wrote the journal Semanário Cívico (1821-1823) in the province of Bahia. For this purpose, we will problematize some of premises until then preserved in the historiography and in the memories about Brazil’s Independence, as the argument that the Courts of Lisbon were preparing to «recolonize» Brazil and therefore that, the separation project was supposedly defended by all of the «Brazilians» in the various provinces of that Kingdom. Our purpose is to demonstrate that a multiplicity of political projects was articulated in the 1820s, that was linked to particular businesses of each different group in society. What we’ll show is that for many people, as Joaquim José da Silva Maia and his group, the proposal to a Portuguese Empire not only was the most viable alternative, as it would be also contemplating substantially his political and business interests at that time, that were skillfully considered as beeing all the portuguese nation’s.