200 years of the Independence of Brazil: Independence or death!

What if the most famous sentence you would have said had not even been uttered? That is what might have happened to Dom Pedro I. Or, maybe, the famous cry: "independence or death" was part of a much bigger phrase.

What exactly was said on September 7, 1822, only those who were there know it.

Upon receiving several letters on his way between Santos and São Paulo, Dom Pedro decided to make the decision to break Brazil's ties with Portugal. "The pome is ripe, harvest it now," wrote Princess Leopoldina.

Father Belchior de Oliveira, Dom Pedro's advisor, was there in 1822 and in his written statement, at no point, he mentioned the famous sentence: "Independence or death!" For the priest, Dom Pedro would have said something like this:

"I want nothing more to do with the Portuguese government and I proclaim Brazil forever separated from Portugal."

Ensign Canto e Melo, brother of Domitila, future Marchioness de Santos, wrote that Dom Pedro had said loud and clear: "Independence or death! We are separated from Portugal!"

Dom Pedro's entourage was a small group of a maximum of 14 people, and another witness to the facts, Colonel Manuel Marcondes mentioned that the cry that was forever marked was, in fact, taken from a much larger phrase uttered by the prince-regent.

"Brazilians! Our motto from now on will be “Independence or death!” And our colors will be green and yellow, replacing those of the courts."

Whatever the sentence was, it was strong enough to break the colony's ties with the former metropolis and it meant a new chapter in the history of the immense land called Brazil.