Dom Pedro I 12 October β 24 September was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil , where he was known as " the Liberator ". When the country was invaded by French troops in , he and his family fled to Portugal's largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil. The outbreak of the Liberal Revolution of in Lisbon compelled Pedro I's father to return to Portugal in April , leaving him to rule Brazil as regent. He had to deal with challenges from revolutionaries and insubordination by Portuguese troops, all of which he subdued.
The Portuguese government's threat to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had enjoyed since was met with widespread discontent in Brazil. Pedro I chose the Brazilian side and declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on 7 September On 12 October, he was acclaimed Brazilian emperor and by March had defeated all armies loyal to Portugal.
A few months later, Pedro I crushed the short-lived Confederation of the Equator , a failed secession attempt by provincial rebels in Brazil's northeast. The situation worsened in when the war in the south resulted in Brazil's loss of Cisplatina.
The Emperor's concurrent and scandalous sexual affair with Domitila de Castro tarnished his reputation. Other difficulties arose in the Brazilian parliament, where a struggle over whether the government would be chosen by the monarch or by the legislature dominated political debates from to Pedro I invaded Portugal at the head of an army in July Faced at first with what seemed a national civil war, he soon became involved in a wider conflict that enveloped the Iberian Peninsula in a struggle between proponents of liberalism and those seeking a return to absolutism.
Pedro I died of tuberculosis in September , just a few months after he and the liberals had emerged victorious. He was hailed by both contemporaries and posterity as a key figure who helped spread the liberal ideals that allowed Brazil and Portugal to move from absolutist regimes to representative forms of government.
