Historedia
AmericasEvent

Inconfidência Mineira

When
1789–1792
Where
captaincy of Minas Gerais, Colonial Brazil; captaincy of Minas Gerais; jurisdiction over the Minas Gerais conspirators
Episodes
3

The Inconfidência Mineira was an unsuccessful separatist movement in Colonial Brazil in 1789, centered in the captaincy of Minas Gerais. Inspired partly by American independence, it collapsed when three participants revealed the conspirators' plans, leading to arrests in 1789 and judicial proceedings that lasted until 1792.

Episodes

  1. 1789 · captaincy of Minas Gerais, Colonial BrazilThe Minas Gerais Conspiracy

    An unsuccessful separatist movement in Colonial Brazil in 1789, centered on Minas Gerais and inspired by American independence.

  2. 1789 · captaincy of Minas GeraisBetrayal and Arrests

    Three participants revealed the conspirators' plans to the government, and the rebels were arrested in 1789.

  3. 1789–1792 · jurisdiction over the Minas Gerais conspiratorsJudicial Proceedings

    Judicial proceedings against the conspirators lasted from 1789 to 1792 following the arrests.

Background and detail

Background. The movement arose in Colonial Brazil, with its intellectual base especially in the captaincy of Minas Gerais. Its external inspiration was the independence of thirteen British colonies in North America following the American Revolutionary War, a development that impressed the region's intellectual elite.

Collapse and Repression. The conspiracy failed when three participants in the independence movement revealed the conspirators' plans to the government. The rebels were arrested in 1789, and judicial proceedings against the conspirators continued from 1789 to 1792.

Legacy. In 1963, Minas Gerais incorporated as its state flag the one designed by the Inconfidência, featuring an equilateral triangle inspired by the Holy Trinity and a Latin motto taken from Vergil's Eclogues. The flag's triangle is red, though the inconfidentes supposedly wanted a green one.

Sources

  1. Inconfidência Mineira Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.