Freemasonry in Brazil (Nineteenth Century): History and Sociability

Abstract

This paper intends to present some important questions that characterize Masonic activity in Brazil during the nineteenth century by approaching it in three stages: discuss the introduction of the Masons in Brazil at the end of the eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the country was still part of the Portuguese Empire; analyze the Masons’ activities in events that culminated with the Declaration of Independence in September 1822; and, finally, analyze the achievements of Brazilian Freemasonry in the second half of the nineteenth century and assess how the Freemasons flourished into one of the fastest-growing movements of that period.