Two hundred years ago, a motley crew of runaway royals sailed into Brazil to change the course of its history, writes Tom Hennigan in São Paulo

Even in a land as exotic as Brazil, the locals had never seen anything like it. On January 22nd 1808, a British squadron escorted the Portuguese royal court into the harbour of Salvador, in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. So unusual was the event that Salvador's residents stayed indoors, at a loss about the protocol for a royal visit.

The arrival of the insane Queen Maria and her son, prince regent João, was unprecedented in the annals of European and American history - the first time in three centuries of colonial rule that a European monarch had set foot in an American possession.

And not just to visit. Fleeing Napoleon, the court was moving lock, stock and barrel to Brazil. There were up to 15,000 people in the royal party and they brought with them much of the aristocracy, government apparatus, law courts and royal treasury.

For Brazilians today, the arrival of their former rulers in 1808 is most vividly remembered in satire and jokes, playing a prominent role in the Brazilian national pastime of laughing at the former colonial masters.

It is easy to see why. The Portuguese court was one of Europe's most corrupt and grotesque. Queen Maria was clinically insane and had been confined to her palace for years. Her ugly, dull-witted and lazy son, João, prince regent since 1799, was separated from his wife, the Spanish princess, Carlota Joaquina, popularly remembered today by Brazilians as a nymphomaniac dwarf.

She was short in stature and had a moustache, but no hard evidence of her infidelity exists, despite many suspicions. She was, however, violently arrogant and a serial conspirator who had tried to overthrow her reclusive husband in 1805 and would spend much of her time in South America plotting to be made queen of Spain's former colonies.

Another shock to the locals, as scrupulous then as now about personal hygiene, was the total lack of it among the visitors. They were filthy and smelled horribly, perhaps the detail that Brazilians remember most about them today. But behind the caricatures lies a pivotal moment in Brazil's history that ranks alongside its discovery in 1500 and independence in 1822. After the arrival of the Bragança court, Brazil would never be ruled from abroad again, even though independence was still more than a decade away.

The previously reclusive João was enchanted with his tropical domain and the welcome he received from the locals once they got over their shyness. Energised, he quickly set about modernising a backward colonial society into one worthy of hosting the ruler of an empire that included lands in Europe, Africa and Asia as well as Brazil.

The first great change was made on arrival at Salvador, and was at the demand of the British. To pay for the escort across the Atlantic, João opened up Brazilian ports to free trade - mainly British trade - after 300 years of being forced to trade only with Portugal.

João also removed many of the restrictions that had been put in place to hobble Brazil's economic development and strangle the emergence of independent spirit in the colony. After lifting the ban on any learning in Brazil beyond primary level, he liberalised education and founded various colleges. Printing was allowed in the colony for the first time and newspapers started to appear.

The pinnacle of João's time in Brazil came in 1816. Following the death of his mother, he was crowned king of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarve before an adoring Rio public, the only time a European coronation has taken place in the Americas.

But in Portugal, resentment towards the former colony and court began to grow. The British feared radicals would turn that resentment into revolution and pressed for João's return. In 1821, after 13 years away, he finally consented. His departure from Rio was compared to a funeral as the city's mournful population turned out to bid him farewell.

The only one who seemed happy at the departure was Carlota, who had never shared her husband's affection for Brazil. On boarding her ship for Portugal she made a great show of taking off her shoes and banging them together, saying: "I've shaken the last piece of Brazilian dirt from my shoes; now finally I can return to where there are people."

João left his son and heir, Pedro, behind as regent and, before departing, told him: "If Brazil should decide on separation, let it be under your leadership." Following his father's advice, Pedro refused demands to return to Portugal to explain his refusal to implement the anti-Brazilian orders of the Portuguese Côrtes. The first great rallying cry of Brazilian independence was not "freedom" but rather "fico" ("I will stay"), uttered by Pedro in front of a crowd in Rio in January 1822, signalling the beginning of the formal break between Brazil and its old master.

That December, he was crowned Dom Pedro I in Rio de Janeiro, the first Brazilian emperor. And so it was that while the rest of South America broke free from Spain and formed republics, Brazil gained its independence under the leadership of the Portuguese heir, becoming an empire that would last until 1889, a historical exception to the South American rule that would not have been possible had it not been for the events of 1808.