A utopia do poderoso império

the long version

"Examines why Portuguese Brazil became a unified empire (and not a kingdom) following independence, whereas Spanish America broke apart into republican states. Argues that by 1820, when the Portuguese had abandoned the Enlightenment vision of a powerful Portuguese empire in which Brazil would play an important role, Brazilians shifted the discourse from emancipation within the empire to independence and the creation of a 'powerful empire' of their own"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.