The town was founded on 12 October 1821, under the name of San Pedro del Durazno, as a homage to Brazilian Emperor Pedro I, at a time when the territory of present-day Uruguay had been annexed to Brazil as the Cisplatine Province.
Pedro I of Brazil (1798–1834), founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil
Brazil would later break from the United Kingdom and become the independent Empire of Brazil.
The Council of State of the Empire of Brazil, presided over by Pedro II, came down on the side of the Freemasons and against the church.
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With Alberto Henschel (1827-1882), a German from Berlin that migrated to Brazil in 1866, owner of the company Photographia Allemã (German Photography) with studios in Bahia and Pernambuco, Benque established the partnership Henschel & Benque Photographia Allemã that would become one of the most renowned Brazilian photography houses in that time.
Prince Ludwig August Maria Eudes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (8 August 1845 – 14 September 1907), known in Brazil as Dom Luís Augusto, was a German prince of the Koháry branch of the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and an imperial Brazilian Admiral.