What if the Brazilian Empire Reunited Today?

This blog was made in collaboration with MG17 (More about that at the end of the blog)

At its territorial peak in 1822, just after it gained independence from the Portuguese Empire, the Brazilian Empire was one of the largest empires at its time, still holding the title as one of the largest empires in history, and continuously stretched all the way from modern-day Venezuela, in the north, to modern-day Uruguay, in the south, and modern-day Peru, in the west, to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east. However, the Brazilian Empire was quite short-lived and like all empires, its Golden Age didn't last forever and gradually, it began to lose the territories it once had in possession, like Uruguay, until finally in 1889, after the overthrow of the Brazilian monarchy and the beginning of the Republic of Brazil, the empire finally came to an end, just 67 years after creation. But what if it reunited today?

Here is what MG17 has to say about this: “FALA GARELINHA DO YOUTOBS!” MG NA ÁREA! 😎 Special day (because my team won Campeonato Brasileiro after 50 years, and can brush a two-time championship in the face of the enemies ⚫️⚪️) but also because of the new BGG blog, ‘cause everyone like his blogs :) And why not like, being Brazilian Empire (I told you Quads!)? So... BGG, don’t delete this. Or I’m gonna cancel your Brazilian trip (while all British YouTubers are traveling/will travel to Brazil) lol.

Let’s talk serious now. The Royal Family of Portugal finally understood the meme “Come to Brazil”, with the help of Napoleon lol. Then, Brazil saw big changes, mainly on Rio de Janeiro, the capital. Now, it was United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves. And then, we go to September 7th, 1822. After some... fecal... situations... of Our Majesty D. Pedro I... (that’s what you read), received a letter from the Empress Maria Leopoldina, that made Brazil independent. Then, at the margins of Ipiranga River, in São Paulo, Pedro I claimed “Independência ou Morte!”, which means “Independence or Death!”. Then, the world saw the creation of Brazilian Empire. The empire saw, between others, the annexation of Cisplatina (which is now he country of Uruguay), after fights with Argentina. Or the provinces of South trying independence (like Rio Grande do Sul, that was independent during 10 years, with the Farroupilha Revolution, and Santa Catarina, with less than 5 months of “glory”). Also, the empire made the not-existence of Acre be true (was a possession of Bolivia) lol. Many changes happened in the country, and D. Pedro II made it a prosperous empire. But with Paraguayan War, the prestige of Brazilian Empire decreased (mainly regarding to the army that was “neglected”, and the slavery). Finally, in November 15th, 1889, after a coup of Deodoro da Fonseca (which would become the first president of Brazil), D. Pedro II and his family was exiled in France, and Brazil become a republic.

(Back to BGG) Now time to start the blog.

So the first thing we need to think about a reunited Brazilian Empire is the population and land that it would control if it reunited to the exact borders it had in 1822. To start off, a total of 2 modern-day countries would lose all or some of their territory to the empire: Brazil and Uruguay, which would both be located in South America. However, despite this seeming like a very small amount, this definitely wouldn't prevent it from having a small land area if you take in to consideration how big one of these countries actually area.

In total, the land area of the Brazilian Empire would stand at a huge 3,300,000 Square miles (8,547,000 Sq km). This would easily be enough to make it the 5th largest country in the world, being much larger than many other huge countries such as Australia (7,692,000 Sq km) and India (3,287,000 Sq km), but still remaining significantly smaller than the territorial giants of the United States (9,372,000 Sq km) and China (9,707,000 Sq km). Like most things I will cover here, Brazil would practically dominate completely everything in the empire, essentially becoming its Jupiter, including its land area, which the modern-day country would account for over 99% of.

As well as being huge in a land perspective, a reunited Brazilian Empire would also be huge in a population perspective, with a massive 215 Million people calling the empire home. This would make it the 6th most populous country in the world, ahead of other ones such as Nigeria (206 Million) and Bangladesh (164 Million), but behind Pakistan (221 Million) and Indonesia (276 Million). Most of these citizens of the country would live in modern-day Brazil, which would account for nearly 98% of the entire population.

Due to the absolutely gargantuan population, the empire would also boast some massive population centres based in huge cities to support this, with lots to show for. The capital city of the new country would most likely be Brasilia, located in pretty much the heart of the empire, as not only is this city a decently-sized population and economic hub but is also the current capital of modern-day Brazil, which would be the most powerful and dominant country within the entire union. Despite this, São Paulo, would actually be the biggest city within its borders, with a big urban megacity population of 22,600,000. Here would be the rest of the top 10 biggest urban areas in the empire:

In addition to having such a mind-blowing population and land area, a reunited Brazilian Empire would also have a big economy, bringing us to the next topic. In total, the empire's total wealth, or Nominal GDP, would stand at a whopping $1.552 Trillion, which would place it in 13th place and in the top 20 economies worldwide. This amount would also put it in front of many other notably large economies like Spain ($1.461 Trillion), Mexico ($1.192 Trillion) and Indonesia ($1.158 Trillion), but also remaining behind Australia ($1.617 Trillion) and Russia ($1.710 Trillion). Again, Brazil would contribute the overwhelming majority to this total number, accounting for 96% of it, with the Uruguayan (at the Imperial time, called Cisplatina Province) part of the empire contributing just 4%.

Despite having a large Nominal GDP, the Nominal GDP Per Capita of the empire wouldn't be as impressive and sustainable, however, with the average citizen earning just $7,218 per year on average. This would be enough to place it in 105th place, ahead of 110 other countries and territories like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ($7,212) and Dominica ($6,989), but also still behind the Global Average of ($11,339) and the countries of Thailand ($7,702) and Botswana ($7,817).

The next thing we need to think about the Brazilian Empire if it reunited today would be its Demographics. Specifically, the religious and ethnic groups prevailing within its borders.

First starting with Religion, Christianity would overwhelmingly be the most followed faith in the empire, with a very significant 86.%, split between 64.6% Catholic and 22.2% Protestant, of the entire population adhering to it. (MG note): In population, Brazil is the country with the most Christians (this include me in the category of Protestants). Going down to a big drop here now, various indigenous religions, mainly focused around the north of the empire in the dense and thick Amazon rainforest environments, would be next, accounting for only 3.1%, however. The final 13.2% of the population would be a mix of many other small religions prevalent within its borders and Atheists and irreligious people.

Now focusing on Ethnic Groups, people that identify as exclusively white with their ancestry tracing back to European origins, would be the largest ethnicity in the empire representing about 47.51% of the entire population. Mestizos, meaning people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, would be next, making up a further 43.42%. This would also be followed by African-Brazilians at 7.52%, Asiatic people with 1.1% and Amerindians (natives) with 0.45%. (MG note): I’m writing a blog, deepening this data of ethnics. Coming soon :)

Continuing off its Religious and Ethnic groups, we now come to the Linguistic groups of the Brazilian Empire, which would also be as equally interesting. Portuguese, mostly spoken in the Brazilian part of the empire, would by far be the most spoken language within its borders, with the vast majority of the population, 95.4% to be precise, natively speaking it. Spanish, mainly spoken in the Uruguayan part of the empire, would be next, representing 1.6%, which would be closely followed by many different indigenous languages collectively representing 1.1% of the population. The final 1.9% of the population would be a mix of various other minority languages being spoken in the empire's borders.

One specific official language for the Brazilian Empire would probably be Portuguese as it would by far be the most spoken language among its population but Spanish may also be included as joint official language along with the prior, just in respect to the language's speakers in Uruguay. (MG note): Although that, some speakers of German variants in the southern Brazil, and the indigenous languages (mainly on region of Amazon)

The last topic we need to think about a reunited Brazilian Empire is its military. Starting off with manpower, the empire would possess a huge 387,500 active-duty personnel, which would make it the 13th largest force in the entire world, ahead of some other big armies like Thailand (360,850 troops) and Turkey (355,200 troops), but remaining smaller than Indonesia (395,500 troops) and Myanmar (406,000 troops). The empire would also have an additional 1,340,000 troops placed in reserves, bringing its men to a huge total of 1,727,500.

The budget to fund this military would also be among one of the largest in the world, standing at $27.1 Billion. This would specifically be the 11th highest budget in the world, ahead of the budgets of Italy ($26.8 Billion) and Australia ($25.9 Billion), but remaining well behind the budgets of South Korea ($43.9 Billion) and Japan ($47.7 Billion).

One downside to the Brazilian empire's military would be that it wouldn't possess any Nuclear weapons of their own to start with but this could dramatically change in the future as it may carry out its own Nuclear research and begin to develop some bombs as it would definitely have the capability and power of doing so.