Native Name: | Estado do Grão-Pará e Rio Negro |
Conventional Long Name: | State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro |
Common Name: | Grão-Pará and Rio Negro |
Status: | State of the Portuguese Empire |
Year Start: | 1772 |
Year End: | 1775 |
P1: | State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão |
Flag P1: | Flag of Portugal (1750).svg |
S1: | State of Brazil |
Flag S1: | Flag of Portugal (1750).svg |
Flag Alt: | Flag |
Coat Alt: | Coat of arms |
Government Type: | Monarchy |
Image Map Caption: | Map of the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro in 1772 |
Capital: | Santa Maria de Belém |
Common Languages: | Portuguese |
Religion: | Roman Catholicism |
Currency: | Portuguese Real |
Title Leader: | Monarch |
Leader1: | Joseph I |
Year Leader1: | 1772–1775 |
Title Representative: | Governor General |
Representative1: | João Pereira Caldas |
Year Representative1: | 1772–1775 |
The State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro (Portuguese: Estado do Grão-Pará e Rio Negro) was one of the states of the Portuguese Empire.
The state was created in 1772 by order of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, the Secretary of the State for Joseph I of Portugal.[1]
The state was created because of the economic success of the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo split that state into two states, the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and the State of Maranhão and Piauí, thinking that this would cause even better economic conditions, though the state split would prove a failure.
In 1775, due to economical issues in Belém and São Luis, both the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and the State of Maranhão and Piauí were merged into the State of Brazil, formally unifying Portuguese America into one colony. However, the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro would remain autonomous of the Brazilian colonial government until 1823, when it would formally join the Empire of Brazil[2] [3] [4] [5]