In 1826, on the death of John VI, new complications arose; not wanting to give up the Brazilian crown, Peter I appointed his daughter Maria queen of Portugal, while in America a new conflict with Argentina for the possession of the Banda Oriental lasted until 1828 and ended with the independence of Uruguay. In 1831, attracted by the dynastic struggles that had begun in Portugal, Peter I abdicated in favor of his son Pedro d’Alcântara and returned to his homeland. The council of regency flanked by the small sovereign ruled until 1840, when the new emperor began to reign as Peter II. It was a long reign, characterized by three phases: the first, from 1840 to 1850, essentially concerned internal pacification; in the second, from 1850 to 1870, conflicts with foreign powers had to be faced; the third, from 1870 to 1889, saw the affirmation of the anti-slavery and republican currents, until the collapse of the monarchy. The pacification involved the army in extinguishing various revolts, such as those of Maranhão (1841), São Paulo and Minas Gerais (1842), Rio Grande do Sul (1845), Pernambuco (1849). On the international level, Brazil helped, around 1850, the Uruguayan liberals against the Argentine dictator Rosas and above all, from 1865 to 1870, fought alongside Uruguay and Argentina (the “Triple Alliance”) against Paraguay. According to franciscogardening, Francisco Solano López. This war increased the territorial extension of the country and allowed Brazil to establish itself as the major military power in South America. Meanwhile, economic changes had taken place internally. After 1850 the southern provinces, especially São Paulo, had given a lot of impetus to the cultivation of coffee, to satisfy an ever-increasing demand. A new ranks of landowners and wholesalers had arisen, in strong antagonism with the sugar and cotton planters of the North. Their activity had in turn stimulated the formation of more dynamic entrepreneurial classes, so as to make the South the new driving force of the country. All this had consequences of a political nature: the ongoing growth attracted, in fact, a vast European immigration, with the introduction of ideas and principles of modernization. Moreover, while the economy of the North was wasting away because it continued to be based on slavery, in the central-southern areas the new operational needs favored a marked mobility of the workforce. Thus a contrast arose which resulted in the progressives’ request for the abolition of slavery. The emperor did not understand the significance of those ferments and sided, out of instinctive conservatism, with the losing side of the northern planters. The opposition was radicalized: in 1871 a republican party was formed in São Paulo, led by in the central-southern areas the new operational needs favored a marked mobility of the workforce. Thus a contrast arose which resulted in the progressives’ request for the abolition of slavery. The emperor did not understand the significance of those ferments and sided, out of instinctive conservatism, with the losing side of the northern planters. The opposition was radicalized: in 1871 a republican party was formed in São Paulo, led by in the central-southern areas the new operational needs favored a marked mobility of the workforce. Thus a contrast arose which resulted in the progressives’ request for the abolition of slavery. The emperor did not understand the significance of those ferments and sided, out of instinctive conservatism, with the losing side of the northern planters. The opposition was radicalized: in 1871 a republican party was formed in São Paulo, led by Joaquím and José Nabuco de Araujo. In the same year, taking advantage of a momentary absence of the sovereign, the liberals induced the regent, Princess Isabella, to sign a law (known by the name of her promoter, viscount of Rio Branco), which granted freedom to all those born as slaves. of African origin (it was also called, for this reason, “law of the free belly”). Shortly thereafter, popular unrest and slave revolts broke out. The situation worsened after 1880. In 1888 Isabella, still regent due to another absence of Peter II, signed a second law, which gave freedom to all slaves. By now, however, the monarchical institution was doomed: on November 15, 1889, Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca, commander of the army, presented the emperor with an ultimatum for abdication; Peter II did not resist and Brazil was transformed into a republic. The first provisional president was Fonseca himself, who, in 1891, promulgated the new Constitution: the country took the name of the United States of Brazil, with a confederal power established in Rio de Janeiro and local governments in every state. The years of the start of the republican regime were very agitated. Fonseca was forced to resign in November 1891; he was succeeded by Florián Peixoto (1891-94), who with an iron fist managed to quell various uprisings. Followed by Prudente José de Moraes Barros (1894-98), Manuel Campos Salles (1898-1902), Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves (1902-06), Alfonso Augusto Penna Moreira (1906-09), Milo Peçanha (1909-10), Hermes Rodriguez de Fonseca (1910-14). During this period, Brazil settled in its current borders, through the diplomatically negotiated purchase by the foreign minister viscount of Rio Branco, of large territorial areas on the borders with Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and British Guayana. Inside, however, political life always remained dominated by the struggle of the factions, led in the individual states by the local oligarchs. More generally, the levers of command had passed into the hands of the ruling groups of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, that is, the protagonists of the development of the republic; the very choice of the president was now resolved in the alternation of men from the two states.