A Confederaçao dos Povos Livres: Atlantic Patriots in the Farrapos Movement, 1835-45

This paper analyzes the participation of South American and Italian Republicans to the Farroupilha revolution. Between 1835 and 1845, a group of exiles – related to Young Italy or to Generación del ’37 – moved towards Southern Brazil to defend the anti-monarchy cause. They actively supported the political, diplomatic, propaganda and military affairs of the leaders of the secessionist states of Rio-Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, working hard up to the creation of an inter-continental confederation of «sister republics» in the New World. Their entanglement internationalized the Farrapos struggle and rolled out a mutual exchange of ideas on crucial questions, such as anti- slavery, constitutionalism, federalism, or free-trade, which impacted both European and Latin American debates.! The aim, using Italian and Brazilian sources (newspapers, proclamations, personal correspondences, policy records), is to show the existence of global strategies by Latin patriotisms against the Holy Alliance and to underline the centrality of ex Lusitanian territories during the age of revolutions