Inconfidência Mineira ("Minas Gerais Conspiracy") is an unsuccessful Brazilian separatist movement in 1789.

It is the result of a confluence of external and internal causes in what was then a Portuguese colony.

The external inspiration is the independence of thirteen of the British colonies in North America following the American Revolutionary War, a development that impresses the intellectual elite of particularly the captaincy of Minas Gerais.

The main internal cause of the conspiracy is the decline of gold mining in that captaincy.

As gold becomes less plentiful, the region's gold miners face increasing difficulties in fulfilling tax obligations to the crown.

When the captaincy cannot satisfy the royal demand for gold, it is burdened with an additional tax on gold, called derrama.

Conspirators seeking independence from Portugal plans to rise up in rebellion on the day that the derrama is instituted.

However, the conspirators lack both well-formed plans and an overall leader. \

Some of the conspirators are republicans, others are monarchists.

Some favor the abolition of slavery, while others judge abolition as impractical at this time.

The conspirators do put forth a few economic and social ideas: the promotion of cotton production, the exploitation of iron and saltpeter reserves, a proposal to give incentives to mothers to have many children, and the creation of a citizens' militia.

The conspiracy attracts a great number of military personnel, priests, and intellectuals, as well as the poets Cláudio Manuel da Costa and Tomás Antônio Gonzaga (1744–1807?).

Among the best known participants are Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, best known as "Tiradentes"; José Álvares Maciel, philosopher and chemistry student; and Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrade (1756–1792) of the regiment of dragoons.

Tiradentes, who comes from Andrade's regiment, is the independence movement's most enthusiastic propagandist.