Francisco Pizarro {q. v.) ; but, always envious of the glory of others, Pedrarias did everything in his power to hamper Pizarro's operations. Meanwhile, Cordova, trying to withdraw from the authority of Pedrarias, had opened negotiations with Hernan Cortes, who at that time (1525) was at Honduras, offering to submit to his authority ; but the latter refused the offer, although he ordered Pedro de Alvarado {q. v.) to aid Cordova in case of need. When Pedrarias heard of these negotiations he hastened with a small force to Nicaragua in 1526, captured Cordova in Leon, and, after a short trial, executed him in the latter city. During his ab- sence he had been superseded in the government of Panama by Pedro de los Rios and remained in Nicaragua, but had repeated difficulties with Alva- rado, who resented the execution of Cordova, and when Pedrarias heard in 1527 that Alvarado had obtained in Spain the title of adelantado and cap- tain-general of Guatemala, fearing for his posses- sions, for which he held no legal title, he went to Spain in the next year to legalize his conquest, and he must have died soon afterward, as he is not mentioned again.
PEDRO I. de Alcantara, emperor of Brazil, b.
in Lisbon, Portugal, 12 Oct., 1798; d. there, 24
Sept., 1834. He was son of the prince-regent Joao,
heir-presumptive of the crown of Portugal, and he
was hardly nine years of age when the Portuguese
government, foreseeing that imminent peril threat-
ened the royal family and the independence of the
kingdom, resolved to send him to Brazil with the
title of constable. But the march of the French
army upon Portugal precipitated events. On 29
Nov. the Portuguese royal family, flying before the
French, emigrated to Brazil, and in March, 1808,
the city of Rio Janeiro became the capital of the
Portuguese monarchy. By the elevation of his
father to the throne in 1816, Dom Pedro became
heir-presumptive to the crown, but, being entirely
removed from public affairs, he had no political
education. In 1818 he married the Archduchess of
Austria, Leopoldina Carolina Josepha. When the
revolution of Oporto in 1820 proclaimed a pro-
visional junta and the calling of a congress to form
a constitution, the garrison of Rio Janeiro, together
with the people, rose on 26 Feb., 1821, and forced
the king to swear to recognize the future constitu-
tion for Brazil also. In March the king announced
his intention to return to Portugal, leaving Dom
Pedro as regent in Brazil, and ordered elections for
the cortes of Lisbon. But on 21 April the people
decided not to let the king depart, and formed a
plan to take possession of the forts and prevent the
sailing of the fleet. The crown prince, at the head
of the troops, dispersed the mutineers on the 22d,
and on the 26th the royal family sailed for Portu-
gal, and Pedro entered upon the regency. The
Portuguese cortes, afraid that the presence of the
prince in Brazil would cause a gradual separation,
decreed the re-establishment of the colonial govern-
ment and the return of the prince to Portugal,
under the pretext that his education should be
finished. When the decrees arrived, 10 Dec. 1821,
the people rose, and representations from all parts
of the country, begging the prince to establish him-
self in Brazil, were signed, and presented to him
on 9 Jan., 1822, in Rio Janeiro. Pedro consented
to remain, thus disobeying the cortes. He issued
a decree calling deputies from the provincial legis-
latures to assemble in Rio Janeiro to consult about
the future of the country, and ordered that no
decree of the cortes be promulgated in Brazil with-
out his approbation. Pedro was the object of con-
tinuous manifestations of loyalty, and on 13 May
he was honored by the municipality, the people,
and troops, with the title of " perpetual defender
of Brazil." but the cortes of Portugal continued in
an attitude of hostility. While he was on a trip to
the province of Sao Paulo, Pedro heard that the
cortes had annulled his acts and had declared the
governing junta and the prince's advisers subject
to criminal prosecution, and he answered by declar-
ing on 7 Sept., on the borders of Ypiranga river,
the absolute independence of Brazil. This declara-
tion was received everywhere with enthusiasm, and
on his return to Rio Janeiro h" was proclaimed
emperor of Brazil on his twenty -fourth birthday,
and consecrated in the cathedral i,n 1 Dec. Under
the guidance of Jose Bonifacio di Andrada e Silva
{q. v.), his minister of foreign relations, he organized
an army to attack Bahia, the stronghold of the
Portuguese forces, and improvised a navy under
Lord Thomas Cochrane to blockade that port.
Hunger and the fear of Cochrane's fire-ships caused
the Portuguese authorities to evacuate the city in
the night of 2 July, 1823, with the fleet, the army,
and seventy vessels laden with riches. On 27 July
Maranhao capitulated, and in September the em-
peror's authority was acknowledged everywhere.
On 25 March, 1824, the new constitution was pro-
claimed, but the northern provinces opposed it, and
a revolution began in Pernambuco, which was sub-
dued after a heroic resistance. In 1825 Portugal,
yielding to the influence of England, recognized
the independence of Brazil, and on 29 Aug. a treaty
of peace was signed. The recognition bv the treaty
of a debt of £2,000,000 to Portugal burdened the
finances of the new empire heavily, and the opposi-
tion began to attack the government, especially as
the Brazilian arms were unfortunate in attempting
to suppress the insurrection of the Banda Oriental
(now Uruguay). In 1826 the death of King John
VI. added a new difficulty, as Pedro I., his legal
successor, seemed to be inclined to unite the two
monarchies again, but he found such strong and
general opposition that, after a consultation with
his councillors, he abdicated the throne of Portugal
in favor of his daughter, Maria da Gloria. But the
unhappy result of the Cisplatine war and the recog-
nition of the independence of Uruguay, and also
his inclination for personal government and for
sustaining the ministry against the expressed desire
of the majority, made him unpopular. He was
accused of spending the resources of the nation in
reconquering for his daughter the throne of Por-
tugal, which had been usurped by his brother, Dom
Miguel, and. tired of the continual strife, he abdi-
cated the throne on 7 April, 1831, in favor of his
son, then in his sixth year. He then retired with
the empress and Queen Maria of Portugal on board
the British ship of the line " Warspite," and sailed
for England, accompanied by the French frigate
" Seine." which carried his family to France. He
organized in France a small army and fleet, and
sailed on 10 Feb., 1832, for the Azores, leaving
those islands with fresh troops in June to invade
Portugal, and after a two years' campaign he estab-
lished his daughter on the throne, the capitulation
of Evora, 26 May. 1834. finishing the civil war.
His health being undermined by the campaign, he
caused the cortes to declare his "daughter of age on
17 Sept. — His son, Pedro II. (João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier da Paula Leocadio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga), emperor of Brazil, b. in Rio Janeiro. 2 Dec. 1825 ; d. in Paris. 5 Dec. 1891. By the abdication of his father he became sovereign of Brazil when not yet six years old. For two years, in 1831-'33. he had as tutor and sole regent. Dom Bonifacio
