Dia da Proclamação da República is an official national holiday celebrated throughout Brazil on November 15, honoring the 1889 bloodless coup that deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II and birthed the modern federal republic of Brazil.
On the morning of November 15, 1889, in Rio de Janeiro (then the imperial capital), Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca led military units to seize the Ministry of War and dissolve the imperial cabinet. This historic act culminated decades of growing abolitionist, positivist, and republican sentiment across Brazil's military and civil societies following the 1888 Lei Áurea (Golden Law) that abolished slavery. Dom Pedro II, the revered monarch who had reigned for 58 years, peacefully abdicated and went into European exile to prevent civil bloodshed. Two days later, the provisional government adopted Brazil's iconic green and yellow flag inscribed with the positivist motto 'Ordem e Progresso' (Order and Progress) and a celestial sphere depicting the night sky over Rio de Janeiro on November 15, 1889. The holiday is observed with official state ceremonies, military parades, civic seminars, and cultural festivals honoring Brazilian constitutional democracy.
