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In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered current day Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. Interestingly, to end a dispute over Spanish/Portuguese claims of South America a line was drawn down what they thought was the middle of the continent, giving Portugal the eastern half and Spain the western half.
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WIth the French armies under Napoleon already in Spain and rapidly making their way towards Portugal, the royal family made the decision to flee the country, move to Brazil, changing its status from colony to a legit part of the Portuguese nation, and relocation the capital of Portugal to Salvador, Brazil.
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When King Joao VI left Brazil and went back home to Portugal he left his son Pedro in charge who in turn fought and won independendce for Brazil
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In 1888 Brazil abolished slavery making it the last country in the western hemisphere to do so.
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Frustrated by both economic inequality that exisited between the wealthy plantation owners and the middle class/military officers and the political stagnation, the tenetes overthrew the government. In doing so the actually did a lot of good with the economy but no much changed on the political stage.
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MERCOSUR (MERCOSUL in Portuguese) was created in 1991 as an FTA between Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina making it the largest and most successful form of economic integration in South America.
