In 1777, Queen Maria I of Portugal ascended the throne. Nominally, she co-ruled with her husband, Pedro III, but Pedro never involved himself in state affairs, caring only about hunting and religious matters.
At the time, the American War of Independence was underway. Spain, France, Britain, and the Netherlands were all embroiled in the conflict, while trade between Portugal and Brazil was flourishing. Thus, in 1776, the Marquis of Pombal advised the king to sign a decree barring all Portuguese ports from admitting ships from North America and treating them as pirates, on the grounds that "such a bad precedent would tempt certain vassals to rebel against their natural lords."
After ascending the throne, Queen Maria I continued Pombal's policy, keeping Portugal "neutral." Because of the war, America had cut off its Atlantic trade with Britain, which benefited neutral countries like Portugal by allowing them to sell British goods as suppliers. During this period, Portugal's wine exports rose sharply while imports of British goods declined. For the first time, Portugal's trade with Britain showed a surplus.
From 1757 to 1777, around 25,000 slaves were transported from Portuguese Guinea to Pará and Maranhão. To assist settlers in Brazil and Portugal, the Portuguese government also provided them with loans, lowering the interest rate from 5 percent to 3 percent before abolishing it altogether. The sale price of slaves was set at the price at which they were sold on Africa's west coast, plus a small transportation fee. During this period, Brazil's cocoa bean production multiplied, along with cotton, rice, and animal hides.
After the Lisbon Earthquake, everyone, including the king, lived in wooden residences. Later, those wooden houses burned down as well. Thanks to the increased trade during this period, the royal family was able to rebuild a Baroque-Rococo palace on the