Discovered in 1500 by a ship captained by Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, Brazil began to be colonized as of 1530 through expeditions organized in Portugal. As colonization proceeded, a system of Hereditary Captaincies was created whose objective was territorial expansion and the capture of Indians for slave labor. In the 17th century, the economy was based on the production of sugar due to the abundance of sugar cane that was to be found in the northeastern region of the country. However, it was only in the 18th century that the most important consequence of the expeditions came about - the discovery of gold in the region that today is the state of Minas Gerais. The success of mining for gold and diamonds was followed by a new and important source of wealth: coffee. Planting conditions were favorable and led Brazil to become the largest producer of good quality coffee in the world.

The independence of Brazil was declared in 1822, with the country becoming an empire under the Portuguese crown. In 1888, slavery was abolished, an act that helped Brazil, in 1889, end the monarchy and become a republic, adopting the Federal system that remains in force with the same characteristics until today. The provinces under the monarchy became states of the Republic, and the parliamentary system became a presidential system. The men who were elected to the office of president of Brazil under the laws of the existing Constitution governed until the Revolution of 1930. One of the objectives of this movement was the reform of the electoral and political system of the country. Getúlio Vargas remained in the presidency of Brazil for 15 consecutive years without elections being called. During the Second World War, Brazil joined the Allies and helped defeat the countries of the Axis. Gen. Eurico Gaspar Dutra succeeded Getúlio Vargas as president of the Brazil from 1946 to 1951, when Vargas was elected by the people and once again occupied the presidency, where he remained until 1954. His successor as president for a term that ran from 1956 to 1961 was Juscelino Kubitschek, who founded the city of Brasilia. Subsequently, it was the turn of Jânio Quadros, who resigned after less than one year of governing, with his vice president, João Goulart, taking over. Goulart remained in office until 1964, when the military seized power and kept it for 20 years.

With redemocratization of the country in 1985, Tancredo Neves was elected to be the first civilian president in 21 years. But before he could assume the post, Neves died as a result of health complications, leaving the job for his vice president, José Sarney. Sarney was president until 1989, when the Brazilian people elected candidate Fernando Collor de Mello to become the president of the Republic. Collor's term of office was interrupted by his impeachment in 1992, and his vice president, Itamar Franco, finished out the two years that were left in the term of office. In 1994, Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president and, upon being re-elected in 1998, served as president of Brazil until 2002. The actual president is Luiz Inácio LULA da Silva.