When researching the subject of Brazil's independence from Portugal and the contexts surrounding its peaceful path to independence, one will find two historians at the forefront of the study: Kenneth Maxwell and Alan K. Kenneth Maxwell is an expert on the history of Portugal and Brazil and currently writes a weekly column for the Brazilian newspaper Folha (1897-1983). ) was an expert on the history of Latin America and South America and was an authority on the economic and political relations between Brazil and Great Britain In February 1951, the Manchester article. , “The Recognition of Brazilian Independence,” was published in The Hispanic American Historical Review Nearly half a century later, in April 2000, Kenneth Maxwell gave a lecture at Harvard University titled “Why. was Brazil different? The contexts of independence”. In both articles, the authors highlight the contexts in which Brazil became an independent nation. Although these historians have the same frame of reference, it is evident that over the past fifty years historians' approach to the topic of Brazilian independence has changed considerably. The arguments for comparing Manchester's and Maxwell's articles lie in the differences in their arguments for the main contributors and decisive factors involved in the struggle for Brazilian independence. Additionally, the evidence these historians use to support their arguments has also changed. Time has also changed the questions historians ask about the contexts surrounding Brazil's independence from Portugal. Alan K. Manchester's article, “The Recognition of Brazilian Independence,” contains a strong argument for British pre-eminence in the struggle for Brazilian independence. .... middle of article ......radically changing the way historians approach the subject of Brazilian independence, the questions they ask, and the evidence they use to support their arguments. While it is clear that this has not been a revolutionary revelation over the last fifty years, we can see that the historian is moving away from a purely Eurocentric vision of the contexts surrounding Brazilian independence and is beginning to question question other factors and offer new perspectives on Brazilian independence. be taken into account. Works Cited Manchester, Alan K. “The Recognition of Brazilian Independence.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 31, no. 1 (February 1951): 80-96. Maxwell, Kenneth. “Why was Brazil different? The contexts of independence. Paper presented at the John Parry Memorial Lecture, Harvard University, April 25, 2000, http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/files/WasBrazilDifferent-TheContextsofIndependence_0.pdf (accessed October 2, 2011).