Imperialism In Brazil

The relations between Brazil and England goes back a long way. Since its invasion by the Portuguese Empire, the lands that now we call Brazil, has been in a close triangular relationship with the British Empire. Events as the Seven Years War (in which Spain invaded Portugal) and the Napoleonic Wars tighten the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and increased the number of English businesses and citizens in the Portuguese American colony.
In the 19th century, especially after the opening of Brazilian ports to “friendly nations”, English presence increased in Brazil. Through the protection offered by the Britons to the Portuguese Crown, its biggest colony suffered the effects of what we could call a “layered colonialism”, in other words, besides the effects of the Portuguese metropolis, Brazil shoulder the burden of Portuguese debts with the British Empire.
Although heavily French-minded, when it came to business or international affairs, the Brazilian new-born élite slanted to the English way. The informal imperialism practiced by Great Britain in Brazil can be verified in the constant diplomatic incidents between the two countries and some traces in Brazilian culture as the expression “para inglês ver”. The expression, that means “just for the English to see” or in a better translation “for the sake of appearances”, remit to the slave trade, the very base of Brazilian economy, and the necessity to fight it since was the wish of Britons. To please Brazil’s main creditor, several laws were passed, but the State never enforced them, imprinting this say in Brazilian popular culture and Brazilian way to deal with