1697 : the Treaty of Ryswick

Here is that story!
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Map 38

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In 1697 Brazil participated in the negotiations ending the War of the League of Augsburg. He finds himself in the French camp even if there is no joint action between the two kingdoms. They just have the same enemies.

At the Treaty of Ryswick, the Breton Kingdom of Brazil was recognized for all its conquests. He humiliated Spain which was totally powerless to resist it. A new border is defined with Spain which definitively buries the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Brazil also sees its status as an independent kingdom recognized by all the countries of Europe.


King Conan I, born in 1616, was then 81 years old and can look back on the progress he has made since his birth. The expansion since the minimum of 1635 is considerable. He earned the nickname Conan I The Conqueror.

The demographic expansion is also considerable. In 1640 New Brittany Rohan had 584,000 inhabitants. In 1700 the kingdom of Brazil had 4,478,000 inhabitants, 7.7 times more!

Besides, Portuguese Pernambuco has 532,000 inhabitants. and Spanish South America 1,440,000 inhabitants.

Counting the 500,000 free Indians and the 20,000 inhabitants of Dutch Surinam, Brazil accounts for 64% of the 6,970,000 inhabitants from South America.

Despite these successes, King Conan I clearly sees the weaknesses of a state too centered on its sovereign. In the absence of counter-power, a king who is too weak could cause the country to sink.

And the heir, his grandson Conan Rohan (31 years old in 1697), angry, messy, stubborn and impulsive, appears incapable.

He is thinking of replacing him with his last living son, Hercules (55 years old) who commands the forces in the territories taken from Spain.

But Conan I died suddenly on November 3, 1698, putting an end to this project and plunging the country into civil war.