Answer:
The country that controlled the land at the time of Brazil's independence in 1822 was Portugal.
Explanation:
The territory that currently forms Brazil was found by the Spaniards on January 26, 1500, during an expedition led by Vicente Yañez Pinzon, and found by the Portuguese on April 22 of the same year, in an expedition led by Pedro Alvares Cabral. The region, then inhabited by Native Amerindians divided among thousands of different ethnic and linguistic groups, was granted to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas, and became a colony of the Portuguese Empire. The colonial bond was broken, in fact, when in 1808 the capital of the kingdom was transferred from Lisbon to the city of Rio de Janeiro, after French troops commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Portuguese territory. In 1815, Brazil became part of a united kingdom with Portugal. Dom Pedro I, the first emperor, proclaimed the country's political independence in 1822.
