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The Carta Régia, known as Carta de Abertura dos Portos, issued in Salvador, Bahia by Dom João, Prince Regent of Portugal, on January 28th, 1808, established that all Brazilian products (except for Brazilwood or Pau-Brasil) could be exported upon payment of due taxes. At the same time, goods and merchandise could be admitted to Brazilian customs from nations at peace with Portugal. The changes this measure brought, about suggesting that the Carta de Abertura dos Portos acted as a framework for the end of the colonial period, as the monopoly that fundamentally characterised Brazil's relationship with the Portuguese metropolis, came to an eventual end. Unlike many documents that are important for regional history, this one is not only important to the academic community, as it is included in textbooks (starting in primary and secondary education), reinforcing its symbolic value in the collective memory. This document marks the beginning of trade relations between Brazil and other countries. If the letter by Pedro Vaz de Caminha (belonging to the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Lisbon) described a promising - and lucrative - colony for Portuguese exploitation, Dom João's letter inaugurated a new era in which Brazil took a great step towards political independence by emerging on the world scene as the seat of the Portuguese colonial empire.