For many reasons, the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 acted as a milestone for the United States. Firstly, it served to commemorate 100 years of the country's independence from Britain's monarchy. Still in the wake of the Civil War, the Centennial Exhibition, also known as the Philadelphia World's Fair, enabled the United States to project an image of the country's modernity and progress to the world at large through displays of machinery and innovative technologies.

Brazil was notable among the many nations at the Centennial Exhibition. In terms of square footage, Brazil obtained a larger share of the exhibition space than any other country in Latin America. With this space at the fairgrounds, Brazil displayed its vast natural resources in agriculture and minerals, such as coffee, sugar, diamonds, iron, and gold. Beyond raw materials, the Brazilian delegation to Philadelphia also highlighted its industrial and artistic products. For American observers, Brazil's involvement provided an opportunity to expand American commercial relations with Brazil.

Adding further importance to Brazil's presence at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 was the active participation of Brazil's Emperor Dom Pedro II, whose visit to the Centennial Exhibition was part of a three-month tour of the United States. Arriving at New York on April 15, 1876, Dom Pedro II lost no time in setting out for his tour of the United States, where he examined the country's industry, schools, and government institutions in almost every region of the country. On May 10, 1876, President Ulysses Grant and Emperor Dom Pedro II inaugurated the fair, touring the grounds together and jointly starting the gigantic Corliss engine that powered the fairgrounds. Later on the fairgrounds, Dom Pedro would spend two hours testing Alexander Graham Bell's latest invention, the telephone. On July 12, Dom Pedro departed from New York. Throughout his visit to the United States, Dom Pedro II, sometimes referred to as a “citizen monarch”, displayed a simplicity which left a mark on the press in the United States. Reflecting on the Emperor's June dinner in Massachusetts with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Chicago Daily Tribune remarked that "the most significant fact connected with the affair is that Dom Pedro, after snubbing Cabinet Ministers and declining to be bored by Governors, Mayors and other political magnates, should accept an entertainment from a plain poet, humorist and transcendentalist.”

Key figures

• Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, 1825-1891

Key groups

• Brazil. Commissão, Exposição universal, Philadelphia, 1876
• United States Centennial Commission

Key subjects

• Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)