1500 Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
1500 The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1500 Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.
1549 The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
1551 The foundation day in Vitória, Brazil
1554 Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
1573 The Brazilian city of Niterói is founded.
1695 Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed.
1812 The USS ''Constitution'' under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1815 Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
1822 The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.
1822 Dom Pedro I declares Brazil independent from Portugal on the shores of the Ipiranga creek in São Paulo.
1822 Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.
1823 Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1825 Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
1825 Portugal recognizes the Independence of Brazil.
1827 Brazil marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina.
1828 Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Argentina-Brazil War.
1835 Farroupilha's Revolution begins in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
1864 American Civil War: {{USS|Wachusett||}} captures the {{Ship|CSS|Florida|cruiser|6}} Confederate raider while in port in Bahia, Brazil.
1864 Campina Grande, Brazil is established as a city.
1886 The City of Lábrea in Amazonas, Brazil was founded. Today, the town is the seat of the Territorial Prelature of Lábrea.
1888 With the passage of the ''Lei Áurea'' ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery.
1889 Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
1897 Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is founded.
1908 Clube Atletico Mineiro is founded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
1917 World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
1919 Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total solar eclipse in Principe and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.
1922 Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1926 Brazil leaves the League of Nations
1930 A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1930 Getúlio Dornelles Vargas becomes Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24.
1932 The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
1942 World War II: Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.
1945 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Brazil are established.
1945 Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.
1945 Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
1954 Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
1960 Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1960 While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaim him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.
1960 Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1968 Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.
1969 Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.
1974 A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
1985 The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is exhumed in Embu, Brazil; the remains found are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death". Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February, 1979.
1987 Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning.
1988 Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
1991 Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market.
1992 The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1992 The Carandiru Massacre takes place after a riot in the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil.
2004 Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agree to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that forms InBev, the world's largest brewer.
2006 Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.
2006 2006 São Paulo violence: a major rebellion occurs in several prisons in Brazil.
2006 Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collides in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy business jet near Peixoto de Azevedo, Mato Grosso, Brazil, killing 154 total people, and triggering a Brazilian aviation crisis.
2007 TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths.