Dom Pedro IV

You are standing beneath one of the most remarkable monuments in Europe: a column honoring the only man who ever ruled two nations on different continents at the same time. Dom Pedro IV was born in 1798 as a Portuguese prince, but everything changed when Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807. The royal family escaped to Brazil, and young Pedro grew up in Rio de Janeiro instead of European palaces. When he was 23 years old, tensions between Brazil and Portugal reached a breaking point.

On September 7, 1822, beside the Ipiranga River, Pedro drew his sword and shouted "Independence or death!" With those words, Brazil became an independent empire, and he became its first emperor. But his story gets even stranger. In 1826, his father died back in Portugal, making Pedro king of both Brazil and Portugal simultaneously.

He ruled both nations for just two months before giving Portugal's throne to his seven year old daughter, Maria. In 1831, he gave up Brazil's crown too and returned across the Atlantic to fight a brutal civil war against his own brother, who had seized power from Maria. Pedro fought to restore constitutional rule and won, but the war destroyed his health. He died in 1834 at only 35 years old.