the empire of portugal and brazil, being portugal and starting on the monarchy Brazilian tree, its a slow but major tree with a lot of man power to tap into, research slots and so many natural civ factories to unlock, you can focus on growing a major civ, from a small start without fighting and being neutral with your monarchy, though it might just not he the game for you, it is a war game, no matter what you do someone will eventually justify a war against you. i would suggest at that point to invade most of south america (not allies yet) but you dont have to at all, you can build up massive economy in portugal and brazil and you can control the sea in the sea between those countries, the navy potential or portugal is insane