The CFN's official history begins with the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil on 7 March 1808,[6] making it the oldest naval infantry organization in Latin America.

[9] Historical precedents for naval infantry and amphibious warfare in Brazil run deeper: the Terço da Armada (Regiment of the Navy) conducted landings against Dutch occupiers in the recapture of Bahia as early as 1625.

[11] Brought aboard the fleet which sailed from Rio de Janeiro, naval infantrymen landed on the beaches of Cayenne, capital of the French colony, after the defeat of small forts on the coast.

In service to Prince Regent Pedro,[14] this unit fought in the Brazilian side of the War of Independence, carrying out landings and artillery bombardments against remaining Portuguese loyalists.

[15] Throughout the tumultuous regency period (1831–1840), the Navy Artillery Corps was deployed against internal revolts and was itself behind one of them, on 6 October 1831, leading to the bombing of Cobras Island by the fleet and its occupation by the army and National Guard.

[21][18] Marines enforced crew discipline, captured and garrisoned forts and patrolled rivers in small boats during the Platine, Uruguayan, and Paraguayan Wars.

After his overthrow by a military coup in the capital, marines previously taken prisoner in Santa Catarina made their way back as part of the victorious revolutionary armies.

[59] In 1957 the Navy organized the Fleet Marine Force (Força de Fuzileiros da Esquadra, FFE),[53] which would reach its present complement of three infantry battalions by the end of the following decade.

The country's two main port cities, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, received marine groups in 1963, in the heat of the national political crisis.

[63] When Navy minister Sílvio Heck attempted to veto João Goulart's accession to the Presidency in 1961, marines almost landed in coastal Santa Catarina as part of Operation Abelha.

[68] The Sailors' revolt was an immediate factor to the coup d'état, in the course of which Aragão and the AMFNB offered the most significant loyalist resistance in Rio de Janeiro.

[93] Comparisons may be drawn between the 2006–2007 offensives against gangs by the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti and the "pacification" of Brazilian favelas controlled by organized crime, starting in 2008.

[94] In early stages, marine armored vehicles overcame obstacles dug by armed groups in the narrow alleys of Rio de Janeiro and Port-au-Prince.

[100][99] The 2008 National Defense Strategy (Estratégia Nacional de Defesa, END) defined the CFN's objectives: "to ensure its power projection capability, the Navy will possess marine assets in permanent readiness".

[101] Expeditionary missions, likely in developing states under political and social crisis in Brazil's strategic surroundings, mean the Corps must be ready for amphibious operations in urbanized coastlines.

[102][103] The END oriented the Brazilian Navy's 2009 and 2013 Articulation and Equipment Plans (Planos de Articulação e Equipamento da Marinha do Brasil, PAEMB), which set targets for the CFN's expansion and re-equipment.

[110] One of these acquisitions, of twelve American Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JTLV) for the Corps, was noted in the media for its aptitude in urban environments and therefore, law and order operations.

According to a commentator in Le Monde diplomatique, this suggested the Navy's eyes were set on guerrillas, militias, cartels, gangs and other irregular enemies in the cities, and not the coastline, Amazon or Pantanal.

[111] The Marine Corps exists so that the Navy can project power over land, if needed by the conquest of a hostile shore, the most complex, intense and high-risk operation it may attempt.

[121] Marines abroad may connect to other navies for exercises and advisory roles,[122] evacuate non-combatants from conflict zones and provide security for Brazilian diplomatic missions.

[126] A fifth type, included in the 2014 doctrine, is amphibious projection (projeção anfíbia),[118] which admits the possibility of a friendly shore and the usage of limited force or benign operations.

[125][127] The CFN's size and availability of armor, artillery, landing ships and helicopters make Brazil "one of the very few countries in Latin American that may project an integral maritime war action", according to a 2024 report by the Spanish Edefa group.

Ten years later, an analyst at Âncoras e Fuzis, a CFN Doctrinary Development Command periodical, noted that the principles of maneuver warfare were still routinely ignored in exercises and operations.

[163] In 2023 a sergeant driving an Assault Amphibious Vehicle, whose value may exceed 15 million reais, had a net income of about R$6,000.00, less than what a civilian truck driver working with hazardous cargo would receive.

[176] The Corps can be split in two sectors, a technical-administrative, management and doctrinary branch centered on the Marine Corps General Command (Comando-Geral do Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais, CGCFN), and an operational branch, which consists of the Fleet Marine Force (Força de Fuzileiros da Esquadra, FFE) and district Groups and Battalions.

[185][186] The Marine Corps General Command is headquartered at the São José Fortress, Cobras Island,[187] and manages human resources, material, research and doctrine for the CFN's operational sector.

[211] It is equipped with anti-aircraft artillery — Bofors L/70 BOFI-R 40 mm guns and Mistral man-portable air defense missiles — and unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance.

[228] Its basic organization is that of an infantry battalion, with added police, combat engineering, special operations and watercraft components for a certain degree of independence from Rio de Janeiro.

[100][200] Operation Dragão presumes a fictional conflict, centered on land, for which the FFE is moved across the sea and simulates an amphibious assault to conquer enemy territory.

[238] It is held annually since 1988 at the Formosa Instruction Camp, in Goiás, a 114,000-hectare area under Army administration and the only training field in the country with enough room to fire rockets from ASTROS launchers.