162 Chapter 2
Rio de Janeiro until roughly June 17 (or June 28). The Pirara case had been an
ongoing diplomatic issue between the British and the Brazilians. The expedition
proceeded as planned in part because there was uncertainty on both sides regard-
ing timing. Aware that the British had announced their decision to enter Pirara,
the Brazilians proposed a neutralization of Pirara on January 8, 1842. The British
chargé d’affaires in Rio de Janeiro forwarded this neutralization proposal to the
Foreign Office in London on February 22. Only on May 4, 1842, did the Colonial
Office receive word of this proposal, which occurred right as the expeditions were
facing logistical problems, the cost not being the least of them. By this time, the
Colonial Office felt the expeditions were not worth the cost and replied that the
troops should be withdrawn. Since the Brazilians had evacuated the area in early
March, there was no reason in having the troops there. A May 31 letter from the
Foreign Office to the Colonial Office concurred.
On June 15, the British governor of Guiana was given the orders to withdraw the
troops. However, only on July 4 did the Foreign Office tell its diplomat in Rio de
Janeiro to inform the Brazilian government. The orders were received in Pirara on
August 26 and, by September 1, the British evacuated Pirara. The British had agreed
to the neutralization as proposed before any part of the dispute had started. In Novem-
ber 1842 was Schomburgk ordered individually to leave Pirara. A boundary commis-
sion, in the works for the previous few years, convened in London but negotiations
stalled and were definitively ended on November 22, 1843.
Coding changes: End Date changed from August 29, 1841. Outcome changed from
Yield by side B. Settlement changed from None.
MID#1625
Dispute Number: 1625
Date(s): June 4, 1845 to May 16, 1846
Participants: 200 United Kingdom/140 Brazil
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: The British began seizing several Brazilian slave ships on June 4, 1845, as
part of its renouncement of slavery. The Aberdeen Act, passed in August 1845, held
that British courts could try slave traders.
MID#1627
Dispute Number: 1627
Date(s): August 9, 1849 to June 11, 1852
Participants: 200 United Kingdom/140 Brazil
Outcome (and Settlement): Victory for side A (Imposed)
Fatalities: Missing
Narrative: This dispute captures a three-year-long series of incidents between Brazil
and Great Britain over the slave trade in Brazil. Brazil owed much of its independence
to Great Britain, which had used its alliance commitments with Portugal to effect the
independence of the former colony. As a result, Britain felt it had leverage over Brazil