Viceroyalty of Brazil
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The Viceroyalty of Brazil was the Portuguese viceroyalty in Brazil. It was restricted to the current South, Center-West and Southeastern regions of Brazil, mainly as a result of expansionism from the Capitania de São Vicente, the current state of São Paulo, which then sought to alleviate its poverty by penetrating the hinterlands in search of Indian slaves and precious metals and stones.
Brazil became officially a Viceroyalty around 1763, when the capital of the Estado do Brazil was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. In 1775 all Brazilian Estados (Brasil, Maranhão and Grão-Pará) were unified into the Viceroyalty of Brazil, with Rio de Janeiro as capital.
The driving force was the then tiny village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, and its capital was made São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro as a result of the Emboabas' War against Portuguese recent arrivals and coloners from Bahia, and the consequent shift of economical power to the gold-producing Minas dos Matos Gerais: São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro was the port where the gold was sent to Portugal, and consequently the point of contact between metropolis and colony.
