The Napoleonic Wars had an extraordinary impact on the Portuguese Empire: the Portuguese Court moved from Lisbon to the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, in 1808. It was a unique phenomenon -the metropolis moved to the colony. This fact obviously was accompanied by absolutely essential measures for the maintenance of the state: the establishment of structures for the administration of tax collection. This took place on June 28, 1808, when a letter signed by the Prince Regent created the Royal

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... reasury and Board of Finance. In practice, the matters carried out previously by the Board of Finance abroad began to center on the new organ. Thus all matters related to the extraction, distribution, and administration of the Treasury in the Portuguese dominions in America, Africa and Asia, Azores and Madeira passed into the jurisdiction of the Royal Treasury. The results were immediate, and very unlike what generally occurred in times of war: In 1809 the revenues of the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro gave a jump. This paper studies the impacts of that period on the taxation of Brazil, in general, and the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, in particular.