THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE BRAZILIAN AGRESTE AND NORTHEAST
I really want to talk here about the Brazilian wilderness that has a
contagious feeling in the soul where the expression expires in the
notion of a very strong and hardworking people that of its almost
Trojan spirit that is firm Liza in the wild beard of the lion that is
where the catinga is born from the macaw wood that is born from
the man of the field his fighting spirit that for the drought there is
no tiredness that takes his arms strong and thin, sweaty like a brave
warrior who throws himself in the serpentine fire of the sun over a
vast desert in which it makes you think about your life and that is
where an old danced and sweaty story begins about a thought of
earning a living on a challenge and dilemma that begins in everything
a beautiful story that from the suffering of a people is translates
from the winged fire over the most dreamed of words that a poem is
reached that is said that from the tongue a beautiful cigarette is
extracted that leaves a dry mouth, toasted by the heat and lack of
water that does not sprout from mines and that is only made shallow
wells to water and plow the land over a tireless struggle with work
tools to dig and plant in a dry land and dead soil that still makes
small mud to germinate some seeds that grow to feed in which we
can count on the wild can tell us today that it has changed its history
in that the Brazilian northeast can be the cradle of European
colonization. The Northeast region was the cradle of Portuguese
colonization in the country, from 1500 to 1532, due to the
discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral and the subsequent
exploratory colonization, which consisted, in short, in the
extraction of pau-brasil, whose wood dye was used to dye the
clothes of the European nobility.
Today we tell you its story that was born in the vast sunny desert
where the nobility of a strong and hardworking people was
preserved, who deepened the struggle in various fields to show their
origin and personal quality that is in the soul like brave lions who
made their lives the most dreamed of stories that cannot remain
silent about an estimable role that today we can see and understand
its cultures and generations of a people that spread throughout
Brazil in beautiful songs that tell us of their sufferings, works and
love that they reveal to us in the soul a very coherent and gratifying
feeling that expresses to us a reason for life and for the nation that
today we can see here with a great royalty and conquers a realistic,
fundamental and traditional story that I will tell from the beginning
to the myth that we can see here and understand how it all started
until today and I want to thank you here for this introduction of
mine that I narrated from the hot fire of God that was born in my
soul about beautiful words and stories that I know and that I
researched here in the national encyclopedia that for me I am very
grateful and want to be here dedicate with much deep love and
dedication to my warrior people this extraordinary book that I made
called Brasil Nordeste for all to see and remain as a beautiful and
beautiful memory of my faithful and unforgettable work as a
Brazilian writer for the whole world to see and thank you very much
to all . Hugs!
AND ROOTS OF THE NORTHEAST
Today is July 26th, 2023, where all the stories are related to the
Brazilian Northeast, which in everything I describe here with a lot
of respect and love about my land. For a cultural simplicity I want to
talk about its origins and the beginning of a tradition that our people
started everything says that the northeast was the cradle of
European colonization in the country, since it was where the
discovery or discovery of Brazil took place, which refers, in LusoBrazilian historiography, to the arrival of the fleet commanded by
Pedro Álvares Cabral to the territory called Ilha de Vera Cruz,
which took place on April 22, 1500. This discovery is part of the
discoveries and the Portuguese expedition and the news of the
discovery of Brazil were reported by the expedition's clerk, Pero
Vaz de Caminha. The Portuguese remained in Brazilian lands until
May 2, 1500, when, then, they continued their journey towards
India, the great objective of the expedition. The arrival of the
Portuguese in Brazil is one of the final results of the great
navigations, the ocean exploration that took place throughout the
15th century. Although the Spaniards arrived on the American
continent first, the Portuguese are considered the pioneers in this
exploration process, making great “discoveries” during this period.
The pioneering role of the Portuguese has been studied by historians
and justified based on political, economic and geographic factors.
The first important point refers to political stability and the fact
that Portugal had had a unified territory for centuries. In the
territorial case, the Portuguese had expelled the Moors in 1249. By
comparison, Spain, for example, fought the Moors until 1492, and
the British and French fought each other in the Hundred Years'
War until 1453.
In my role, I show a more constructive training between the
discovery of Brazil and the colonization that we can understand
more deeply how it all began and the origin of our people that tells
many stories that always make us react on a more traditional aspect
today for the northeastern man who has always played his role more
constructively and demonstratively for the construction of his state
that formalizes us among various arts involving certain cultures that
the people did not have before colonization. The northeastern who
always suffered from the beginning and went through several
transformations that today we can understand his point and
education that formalized us among different arts and cultures that
are practically showing us the growth and evolution of our people on
a purpose that we see tells us today how can the country man who
was born in the catinga ao pau de arara who always suffered from
the drought in northeastern Brazil and did not have facilities and
good education due to the infrastructure and political norms of our
country, which today has an incomparable level of homeless people,
without studies , without works in which we total more than a billion
northeastern people who have always suffered unemployment,
hunger and helplessness that makes us wonder what our Brazilian
northeast is like today that we can assume certain progress between
the art and culture of the northeastern people that effectively
shows us their power, work and culture over the other social classes
in the world where we can understand their history and relationships
with music, xaxado and baião in which today they are cultural
examples of a history that we make films, music in which it can be
like a point of restoration in that makes the northeastern people to
be more idealistic as certain artists who marked a history like Luiz
Gonzaga do Nascimento (Exu, December 13, 1912 – Recife, August 2,
1989) was a Brazilian composer and singer. Known as the Rei do
Baião, he was considered one of the most complete, important and
creative figures in Brazilian popular music.
Singing accompanied by his accordion, zabumba and triangle, he took
the musical culture of the northeast across the country, such as
baião, xaxado, xote and forró pé de serra. His compositions also
described the poverty, sadness and injustices of his arid land, the
northeastern sertão.
Admired by the most diverse artists, Luiz Gonzaga gained notoriety
with the anthological songs Asa Branca (1947), Seridó (1949),
Juazeiro (1948), Forró de Mané Vito (1950) and Baião de Dois
(1950).
He was born on Friday, December 13, 1912, in a clay house at
Fazenda Caiçara, in the village of Araripe, 12 km from the urban area
of the municipality of Exu, in the extreme northwest of the state of
Pernambuco, a city located 610 km from Recife. . He was the second
child of Ana Batista de Jesus Gonzaga do Nascimento, known in the
region as 'Mãe Santana', and the eighth of Januário José dos Santos
do Nascimento. Father José Fernandes de Medeiros baptized him in
the Mother Church of Exu on January 5, 1920.
His name, Luiz, was chosen because December 13 is the feast day of
Santa Luzia, Gonzaga was suggested by the vicar who baptized him,
and Nascimento because it is December, the month in which
Christianity celebrates the birth of Jesus.
The city of Exu is located at the foot of Serra do Araripe, and
would inspire one of his first compositions, Pé de Serra. His father
worked in the fields, on a large estate, and in his free time he played
the accordion; He also repaired the instrument. It was with him that
Luiz learned to play the instrument. Still very young, he already
performed at dances, forrós and fairs, at first accompanying his
father. An authentic representative of northeastern culture, he
remained faithful to his origins even as he pursued a musical career
in southeastern Brazil. The musical genre that enshrined him was the
baião. The emblematic song of his career was Asa Branca, composed
in 1947 in partnership with the Ceará lawyer Humberto Teixeira.
Before the age of eighteen, Luiz had his first passion: Nazarena, a
girl from the region. He was rejected by her father, Colonel
Raimundo Deolindo, who did not want him for a son-in-law, as he had
no education, was too young and immature to make a commitment.
Disgusted with the boy and threatened him with death. Even so, Luiz
and Nazarena dated secretly for months and planned to get married.
Januário and Ana, Luiz's parents, gave him a beating when they
found out that he got involved with the girl without her family's
permission, and even more so because Luiz had dishonored her: the
two said this on purpose, with the intention of being forced to to get
married. At the time, the girl had to marry a virgin and if there was
sexual intercourse before marriage, the man was forced to marry or
he would die. Nazarena revealed to her father what happened and
was beaten by him, however Nazarena did not get pregnant. Colonel
Raimundo was enraged and tried to kill the boy, who faced him in the
fight. Raimundo reveals that, even dishonored, he would arrange a
marriage for his daughter with an older friend who already knew
about her situation, or would put her in a convent, but with Luiz she
would not marry. Revolted at not being able to marry Nazarena, and
for not wanting to die at the hands of her father, Luiz Gonzaga went
to Fortaleza and joined the army on June 5, 1930. For nine years he
traveled through several Brazilian states, as a soldier, without give
news to the family. In August 1932 he went to Belo Horizonte,
where he stayed for four months. That same year, he moved to Juiz
de Fora, where he lived for five years and had the opportunity to
improve his ability with the accordion. He then went to Ouro Fino,
also in Minas Gerais, where he stayed for two years. He was
discharged on March 27, 1939, in Rio de Janeiro.
I want to explain with more quality that the northeast for a long
time gained a certain space that would not convert it with what
passed around it for many years that made the rural man who
suffered and still suffers from various infractions that can always
reflect on the northeastern as a base of cultural and even historical
foundations for those who today are seeing the northeast going
through a great financial crisis and drought that we put into
practice as functions that we can always show their more narrative
side of those people who suffered and that many are great people
today, show their role and tell his story about a side more related to
cinema, music that freed us in a more creative way than for those
who see the northeast as fragmented by certain relevances of the
country man in which we see in his image his most evolutionary role
that we can believe in its independence being above all the most
fertile northeast for the eyes of today that roll between various
stories and songs of the life of the northeastern in which he only
felt the heat of the sun that burns him in solitude among various
ways of living and that his theme would be to live on hard, tiresome
work in which we can value his struggle, performance in a place vast
as the sea that would unforgettably become independent and that
the sea could in a few years turn into the sertão as the sertão could
perhaps become the sea and that certainly the theory may be more
linked to a conviction that the sea could take up spaces when moving
to the agreste because it certainly looks like a sea, the hinterland
itself being a true sunny sea where the sun always rises higher and
that's where man comes from sertanejo who always suffered and
took care of a home life, vaquejada and struggle that is related to
every story about a past that we always remember the sertão.
There are two versions to explain the origin of the word Sertão
during the colonization of Brazil by the Portuguese. The first
maintains that when they left the Brazilian coast and moved inland,
they noticed a great climatic difference in this semi-arid region.
Therefore, there is called "desertão", caused by the hot and dry
climate. Soon, this denomination was understood as "from the
sertão", leaving only the word Sertão. The second, more reliable
version describes the word as being derived from the Latin word
sertanus, meaning desert or uninhabited area, which in turn derives
from sertum, meaning woods.
The first process of interiorization of the colonizers in the country
took place in this region, between the 16th and 17th centuries. With
the lack of opportunities on the coast, where sugarcane farming
predominated, there was a displacement of populations to the
interior, which specialized in grazing, such as raising cattle. The area
was occupied by groups of European and mestizo origin, with scarce
resources, which continuously mixed with the indigenous peoples of
the hinterland, despite the existing hostility between cowboys and
Indians.
The development of livestock farming made possible the clearing of
the sertões. The cattle trails thus created allowed for articulation
and exchange between the northeastern coast and the interior,
giving rise to several cities. The São Francisco River was a natural
gateway to the Sertão, expanding the area involved in these
exchanges.
Certainly seeing the northeastern man shows us an immense
greatness that few value his history and that this man can be more
than a man for being like a lion always working, giving hard as an
example of a goat that is in philosophy simply focused on being that
one cannot doubt his arguments and tradition that, due to his
greatness, man's dominion over the fascination of living was
established, which has always made him conquer a more violent
standard of living and that we can certainly understand his role and
value, which would be the male goat sir, who always established in his
history and tradition that to be a man, he has to be born in the
sertão because the contagious life can show a more comprehensive
theory of a being who was born and created himself on eternal
suffering and that one day his image sprouted like a rose about the
nation that has established order, discipline, justice and honor and
that to be a man you have to be born cured of a snake and the
serpent look like yourself that you never doubted and even that you
have excuses or doubts about anything and if you want to doubt that
take it very careful. The northeastern woman is above all the power
that one has in the soul of the sertanejo, her greatest compassion
that her half-suffering image still leaves any arguments that justify
that her love is stronger for being a woman and that to be a woman
she has to be a steel cape how to establish a compromise on certain
pleasures that can dominate the heart of a man for his two shining
eyes that distinguish their value in his face and who does not love
the feminine smile is unaware of the poetry of Cervantes and that
we can understand its value, beauty, work and love when we remain
by her side in which we can understand her masculine and feminine
side that would be or would be compromising us between a hard
reason to love a woman and be happy and that sin can walk silently or
would it be the mystery of our emotions that is found in his intimate
and the truth that we don't want to lose as much as we could never
forget him about his domains that would certainly remain between
his love dosas, fearful and hallucinating in which he makes us forget
the hurts of life that are certainly unattainable by his side and
companionship may be the derivative and the cause of loving and the
synonym would be loving because your love is more realistic as what
we have to think because being a woman does not mean that we can
reflect and decipher this question that not everyone can be because
it would only be to love and to being a woman can be real this woman
who lives in silence and that this woman lacks perhaps because of
her nobility and abilities that may one day show us that her sorrows
can only always unite us and that her love would not buy us luck and
that yes we will apprehend always not to doubt this woman who is
just a woman and we saw the northeast turn our eyes into water and
that their distances do not measure the suffering of a people that
will always be rich and that only left evidence that their suffering
welcomed us on a clairvoyance that we take in the heart for being
northeastern body and soul and just certain people who gave their
lives for a bigger and better country in which today we are the best
artists in the world and that the sertão can always show that its
value has no limits in terms of its extension that is kept with us all
its tricks, sufferings and history of a people that was created and
showed in its struggle that what makes a country maybe cannot be
its beauty, but the depth of its existence and its soul.
The Northeast Region is one of the five regions of Brazil defined by
the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 1969.
It has an area equivalent to that of Mongolia or the state of
Amazonas, a population equivalent to that of Italy and an average
HDI, comparable to El Salvador (2010 data). Compared to other
Brazilian regions, it has the second largest population, the third
largest territory, the second largest electoral college (36,727,931
voters in 2010), the lowest HDI (2017) and the third largest GDP
(2009).
It is the Brazilian region that has the largest number of states (nine
in total): Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí,
Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe. Due to its different
physical characteristics, the region is divided into four sub-regions:
Mid-North, Sertão, Agreste and Zona da Mata, with very varied
levels of human development throughout its geographic zones.
The Northeast region was the cradle of European colonization in the
country, since the discovery of Brazil took place there and the
exploratory colonization was consolidated, which consisted, in short,
in the extraction of pau-brasil (or pau-de-pernambuco), whose ink
The wood was used to dye the clothes of Old World nobility. With
the creation of hereditary captaincies in 1534, Vila de Olinda was
founded, and years later construction began on the first capital of
Brazil, Salvador, to house the general government. The Northeast
was also the financial center of Brazil until the mid-eighteenth
century, since the Captaincy of Pernambuco was the main productive
center of the colony and Recife the city of greatest economic
importance.
History:
Archaeological research in Brazil emerged through the curiosity and
studies of European explorers, naturalists, travelers, botanists,
geologists, and paleontologists. In this sense, the scientific records
of these different areas intertwine and complement each other. In
general, the numerous archaeological information existing in the
bibliography about the northeast, until the 60's, were products of
casual finds and/or hasty surface collections. Archaeological studies
in the Brazilian Northeast began systematically in the 20th century,
from the 1960s onwards. Since then, centers of studies in this area
have been formed, which today have consolidated national and
international recognition. From the advance of research on the
Northeastern archaeological theme together with the development
of new dating technologies, such as Carbon 14, one can have an idea
of the period of the first occupations established in the region.
Numerous sites in the Northeast are registered under the
conventional name of Rock Art. Gabriela Martín and André Prous
point to the oldest reference to a rock engraving in Brazil, made by
Feliciano Coelho de Carvalho, in Paraíba, in 1598. For Bahia, we find a
document from the 18th century, in the Overseas Historical
Archive, which makes mention of places with cave paintings, with
human and animal figures, found during a trip through the interior of
the state in search of saltpeter. The territory of the Northeast has
a huge collection of paintings and engravings made on a fixed stone
support, whether in shelters, on canyon-like walls or on rocky
outcrops. The graphics have been located so far in almost all
northeastern states. The systematic work of many archaeologists
who work in the Northeast, in this field of Archaeology, allows today
to recognize stylistic units that were called traditions. There are
some localized variations made on the thematic structure of
traditions that archaeologists call subtraditions. The distribution of
sites of these traditions varies from state to state, with some
having a higher frequency of one or the other. On the other hand,
we must consider that the possibilities of finds have not yet been
exhausted and that some territories may present an unsuspected
heritage.
European colonization
Colonization of Brazil
The Northeast was inhabited since prehistoric times by the
indigenous peoples of Brazil, who, at the beginning of colonization,
carried out commercial exchanges with Europeans, in the form of
extraction of brazilwood in exchange for other items. But,
throughout the period of colonization, they were incorporated into
the European domain or eliminated, as a result of constant disputes
against the planters.
The region was the scene of discovery during the 16th century.
Portuguese arrived on an expedition on April 22, 1500, led by Pedro
Álvares Cabral, in the current city of Porto Seguro, in the state of
Bahia.
It was on the northeastern coast that the first economic activity in
the country began, the extraction of pau-brasil. Countries like
France, which did not agree with the Treaty of Tordesillas, carried
out constant attacks on the coast with the aim of smuggling wood to
Europe.
The north coast of the current state of Maranhão was invaded by
France, in the so-called Equinoctial France. The French colonists
founded a village called "Saint Louis" (now São Luís), in honor of the
sovereign, Louis XIII of France. Aware of the French presence in
the region, the Portuguese gathered troops from the Captaincy of
Pernambuco, under the command of Alexandre de Moura. Military
operations culminated in the French capitulation at the end of 1615.
dutch invasions
dutch invasions
In 1630, the Captaincy of Pernambuco was invaded by the Dutch
West Indies Company (West Indische Compagnie). On the occasion
of the Iberian Union (1580 to 1640), the so-called Dutch Republic,
before dominated by Spain, having later achieved its independence
through force, saw in Pernambuco the opportunity to impose a hard
blow on Spain, at the same time that they would take away the loss
of the failure in Bahia, since Pernambuco was the main productive
center of the colony. On December 26, 1629, a fleet of 66 ships and
7,280 men left São Vicente, Cape Verde, heading for Pernambuco.
The Dutch, disembarking on the beach of Pau Amarelo, conquered
the captaincy of Pernambuco in February 1630 and established the
colony Nova Holanda. The fragile Portuguese resistance at the
crossing of the Rio Doce, invaded, without major setbacks, Olinda
and defeated the small, but fierce, garrison of the fort (which would
later be called Brum), gateway to Recife through the isthmus that
connected the two cities.
Recife, known as Mauritsstad (Mauritius City), was the capital of
Dutch Brazil, having been ruled most of the time by the German
count (in the service of the Crown of the Netherlands) Maurício de
Nassau. During this period, Recife was considered the most
prosperous and urbanized city on the American continent. The Dutch
empire in the Americas consisted at the time of a chain of
fortresses that went from Ceará to the mouth of the São Francisco
River, south of Alagoas. The Dutch also owned a series of trading
posts in Guinea and Angola, located on the other side of the Atlantic,
which gave them control over sugar and slave trade, managed by the
West India Company.
The Guararapes Battles, decisive episodes in the Pernambucan
Insurrection, are considered the origin of the Brazilian Army.
The count landed in Nieuw Holland, New Holland, in 1637,
accompanied by a team of architects and engineers. At that point,
the construction of Mauritsstad began, which was equipped with
bridges, dikes and canals to overcome the local geographic
conditions. The architect Pieter Post was responsible for designing
the new city and buildings such as the palace of Freeburg, seat of
power in Nassau in New Holland, and the astronomical observatory
building, considered the first in the New World. On February 28,
1644, Recife (currently the Bairro do Recife) was connected to
Mauritius with the construction of the first bridge in Latin America.
Mauritius of Nassau carried out a policy of religious tolerance
towards Catholics and Calvinists. In addition, it allowed the migration
of Jews to Recife, which became home to the largest Jewish
community on the entire continent, and the creation of a synagogue,
the Kahal Zur Israel, inaugurated in 1642 and considered the first
Jewish temple in South America, Central and North.
For several reasons, one of the most important being the
exoneration of Maurício de Nassau from the captaincy's government
by the Dutch West India Company, the people of Pernambuco
rebelled against the government, joining the weak resistance that
still existed, in a movement called Insurreição Pernambucana . With
the gradual arrival of Portuguese reinforcements, the Dutch were
finally expelled in 1654, in the second Battle of Guararapes. It was
on this occasion that the Brazilian Army is said to have been born.
During the colonial period, in the 16th century, quilombola resistance
began in Brazil, with the escape of slaves to Quilombo dos Palmares,
in the region of Serra da Barriga, current territory of Alagoas. In
the various shacks in Palmares, more than twenty thousand people
gathered. In 1694, Macaco, the "capital" of Palmares, was taken and
destroyed, Zumbi dos Palmares was captured and had his head cut
off and exposed in a public square in Recife.
The city of Salvador was the first seat of the general government in
Brazil, as it was strategically located at a midpoint on the coast. The
general government was an attempt to centralize power to help the
captaincies, which were going through a time of crisis. The sugar
industry is to this day the main agricultural activity in the region.
Geography
NASA satellite image showing the Northeast Region of Brazil and
parts of the North, Southeast and Midwest.
Geography of the Northeast Region of Brazil.
The area of the Brazilian Northeast is 1,554,291,744 km²,
equivalent to 18% of the national territory and it is the region with
the longest coastline. The region has the states with the largest and
smallest coastline, respectively Bahia, with 932 km of coastline and
Piauí, with 60 km of coastline. The whole region has 3338 km of
beaches.
It is situated between the parallels of latitude 07° 12' 35" south
and latitude 48° 20' 07" south and between the meridians of 34° 47'
30" and 48° 45' 24", west of the meridian of Greenwich . It is
limited to the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by
the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo and to the west by
the states of Pará, Tocantins and Goiás.
Relief
One of the characteristics of the northeastern relief is the
existence of two ancient and extensive plateaus, the Borborema and
the basin of the Parnaíba river, and of some high and flat areas that
form the so-called chapadas, such as Diamantina, where the highest
point in the region is located. , Pico do Barbado, 2,033 meters high,
in Bahia, and Pico do Araripe, on the borders between the states of
Ceará, Piauí, Pernambuco and Paraíba. Between these regions there
are some depressions, in which the sertão is located, a region with a
semi-arid climate.
According to Professor Jurandyr Ross, who with his team compiled
information from the Radam Project (Radar of the Amazon) and
showed a richer division of the Brazilian relief and subdivided into
28 units, in the Northeast are located the aforementioned
Borborema plateau and plateaus and plateaus of Parnaíba river basin,
the Sertaneja-São Francisco depression and part of the eastsoutheast plateaus and mountains, in addition to the coastal plains
and tablelands.
Climate
Triunfo, in the state of Pernambuco, has a mild temperature despite
being located in the semi-arid region. This is possible thanks to its
altitude (1,004m), one of the highest in the northeastern hinterland.
The Northeastern region of Brazil has an annual average
temperature between 20° and 28° C. In areas located above 200
meters and on the eastern coast, temperatures vary from 24° to
26°C. Annual averages below 20 °C are found in the higher areas of
Chapada Diamantina and the Borborema plateau. The annual
precipitation index varies from 300 to 2000 mm. Four types of
climates are present in the Northeast:
• Humid equatorial climate: present in a small part of the state
of Maranhão, on the border with Piauí;
• Humid coastal climate: present from the coast of Bahia to Rio
Grande do Norte;
• Tropical climate: present in the states of Bahia, Ceará,
Maranhão and Piauí;
• Semi-arid climate: present in the sertão and in part of the
agreste region.
With average rainfall of about 300 millimeters per year, which occur
for a maximum of three months, giving rise to droughts that
sometimes last more than ten months, Cabaceiras, in Paraíba, has the
title of the driest municipality in the country. The Northeast Region
has 72.24% of its territory within the drought polygon, according to
data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO).
Vegetation
The northeastern vegetation ranges from the Atlantic Forest on the
coast to the Mata dos Cocais in the Middle North, with ecosystems
such as mangroves, caatinga, cerrado, restingas, among others, which
have exuberant fauna and flora, several endemic species and
endangered animals. of extinction.
The caatinga, typical vegetation of the Northeastern Sertão.
• Atlantic Forest: also called the tropical humid hillside forest,
the Atlantic forest originally extended from Ceará to Rio Grande do
Sul, however, as a result of the deforestation that occurred mainly
due to the sugar industry, today only about 5 remain % of the
original vegetation, dispersed in "islands". It was in the northeastern
Atlantic Forest that the process of extracting brazilwood began;
there are also semi-deciduous and humid forests in the states of
Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Bahia, which constitute
enclaves of Atlantic Forest in a non-continuous way as on the coast,
occurring only in mountain ranges and plateaus in the interior of
these territories and characterizing the so-called marsh of altitude.
• Mata dos cocais: vegetation formation of transition between
semi-arid, equatorial and tropical climates. The main species are
babassu and carnauba, in addition to buriti. It occurs in part of
Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Tocantins in the
North region. It represents less than 3% of the area of Brazil.
• Cerrado: occupies 25% of the Brazilian territory, but in the
Northeast it only covers the south of the state of Maranhão, the
southwest of Piauí, the west of Bahia, interior areas of the South
and Center-South regions of Ceará (in these, isolated by the
caatinga) , Microregion of Araripina in Pernambuco and some areas
of the coastal strip that goes from Piauí to Sergipe. It presents lowsized trees, with twisted branches, with the ground covered by
grasses and soils with high acidity; in Ceará's Cariri there is also the
formation of cerradão, a cerrado with taller trees.
• Caatinga: vegetation typical of the hinterland, the main species
being pear trees, mastic trees, legumes and cacti. It is a formation
of xerophytic plants (vegetables from dry regions), but it is
ecologically rich. It occurs in all northeastern states except
Maranhão, and in the north of Minas Gerais, in the Southeast Region.
• Coastal vegetation and riparian forests: in the category of
coastal vegetation, one can include mangroves, a rich local ecosystem
where crabs live and reproduce and are important for the
preservation of rivers and lakes. Sandbanks and dunes can also be
included. Riparian forests or gallery forests are common in cerrado
regions, but can also be seen in the Zona da Mata. They are small
forests that follow the banks of rivers, where there is a greater
concentration of organic materials in the soil, and act as a protection
for rivers and seas.
Hydrography
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, in the state of Maranhão.
The Northeast river basins are:
• São Francisco Basin: is the main one in the region, formed by
the São Francisco rivers and their tributaries. Fishing, navigation
and electricity production activities are practiced by the Três
Marias, Sobradinho, Paulo Afonso, Luiz Gonzaga and Xingó
hydroelectric plants. The basin delimits the natural borders of Bahia
with Pernambuco and also of Sergipe and Alagoas, which is where its
mouth is located.
• Parnaíba Basin: is the second most important, occupying an area
of about 344,112 km² (3.9% of the national territory) and drains
almost the entire state of Piauí, part of Maranhão and Ceará. The
Parnaíba River is one of the few in the world to have a delta in the
open sea, with a mangrove area of approximately 2,700 km².
• East Northeast Atlantic Basin: occupies an area of 287,384
km², covering six states: Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Paraíba
and Rio Grande do Norte. The main rivers are the Jaguaribe,
Piranhas-Açú, Apodi, Acaraú, Curimataú, Mundaú, Paraíba,
Capibaribe, Ipojuca and Una, (these last three in the state of
Pernambuco).
• Western Northeast Atlantic Basin: located between the
Northeast and North regions, it is located almost entirely in the
state of Maranhão. Some of its sub-basins constitute rich
ecosystems, such as mangroves, babassu and floodplains. The main
rivers are the Gurupi, Turiaçu, Mearim, and Itapecuru.
• East Atlantic Basin: comprises an area of 364,677 km², divided
between 2 states in the Northeast (Bahia and Sergipe) and two in
the Southeast (Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo). In the basin,
fishing is used as a subsistence activity.
geographic zones
Northeast sub-regions: 1 Mid-North, 2 Sertão, 3 Agreste and 4
Zona da Mata.
Due to its different physical characteristics, the Northeast region
is divided into four zones or sub-regions:
• Mid-North: It is a transition zone between the Amazon and the
northeastern Sertão. It encompasses the state of Maranhão and the
west of the state of Piauí. This geographical area is also known as
Mata dos Cocais. On the coast, it rains about 2 000 mm per year.
Going further east or inland, that number drops to 1,500 mm per
year, and in southern Piauí, a region more like the Sertão, it rains on
average 700 mm per year.
• Sertão: It is located, almost entirely, in the interior of the
Northeast Region, being its largest geographic area. It has a semiarid climate. In states like Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte it reaches
the coast, and, going further south, it reaches the border between
Bahia and Minas Gerais. Rainfall in this sub-region is irregular and
scarce, with constant periods of drought occurring. The typical
vegetation is the caatinga.
• Agreste: It is a transition zone between the Sertão and the
Zona da Mata. It is the smallest geographic zone in the Northeast
Region. It is located at the top of the Borborema Plateau, a natural
obstacle to the arrival of rain in the hinterland. It extends from Rio
Grande do Norte to the south of Bahia. On the east side of the
plateau are the wetter lands (Zona da Mata); on the other side,
towards the interior, the climate becomes increasingly drier
(Sertão).
• Zona da Mata: Located in the east, between the Planalto da
Borborema and the coast, it extends from Rio Grande do Norte to
the south of Bahia. Rainfall is abundant in this region. It received
this name because it was covered by the Atlantic Forest. Sugarcane
and cocoa plantations replaced forested areas. It is the most
developed area of the Northeast Region.
Demography
Nighttime satellite image highlights the urban concentration,
recognized by the lights emitted, in the Zona da Mata.
List of the 100 most populous municipalities in the Northeast region
of Brazil
According to IBGE data, the region has more than 49 million
inhabitants, almost 30% of the Brazilian population. It is the second
most populous region in the country, behind only the Southeast
region. It is also the third region in terms of population density, with
32 inhabitants per square kilometer. The largest Northeastern
cities, in terms of population, are: Salvador, Fortaleza, Recife, São
Luís, Natal, Teresina, Maceió, João Pessoa, Feira de Santana,
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Aracaju, Olinda, Campina Grande, Caucaia,
Paulista, Vitória da Conquista, Caruaru, Petrolina, Mossoró,
Parnamirim, Juazeiro do Norte, Itabuna and Juazeiro, all with more
than two hundred thousand inhabitants.
Urbanization
As in the entire Brazilian territory, the Northeastern population is
unevenly distributed. About 60.6% of it is concentrated on the coast
and in the main capitals. In the hinterland and interior, population
density levels are lower, mainly because of the semi-arid climate.
Even so, the population density in the northeastern semi-arid region
is one of the highest in the world for this type of climate area.
According to IBGE data (2004), 71.5% of the population from the
Northeast are in urban areas. Urbanization in the Northeast was
slower than in the rest of the country, but it has accelerated in
recent decades. In the period 1991-1996, the rural population in the
total population fell by 45.8%.
metropolitan areas
The Metropolitan Region of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco, is
the largest urban agglomeration in the Northeast.
The Metropolitan Region of Patos, in the state of Paraíba, is the
metropolitan region with the most municipalities in the Northeast.
There are 24 municipalities in total.
The region of Petrolina and Juazeiro and Cariri together with Sousa
make up a dynamic triangular urban network in the central semi-arid
region of Brazil, centered in the regional capitals Petrolina
(PE)/Juazeiro (BA) and Juazeiro do Norte (CE) and in the subcentral regional Sousa (PB).
All capitals in the Northeast region have a metropolitan region (RM),
with the exception of Teresina, which has an integrated economic
development region (RIDE), as it houses municipalities from
different federative units. In addition to the capitals, other
metropolitan areas appear in the interior. The oldest metropolitan
regions are those of Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza, which were
created by the Complementary Federal Law of Brazil 14 of 1973, and
are also the most populous. The others were created through
complementary state laws, such as the Metropolitan Region of Feira
de Santana.
All nine northeastern states have at least one metropolitan area in
their territory, either in its entirety (such as Rio Grande do Norte
and Sergipe) or partially (Piauí). In this sense, Maranhão has three in
total. There are two (São Luís and Sudoeste Maranhense), located
entirely within the territory of Maranhão, and another (Grande
Teresina) expands across Piauí. The state of Paraíba has the largest
number of metropolitan regions (twelve in total).
Data from the 2010 IBGE census confirm the Metropolitan Region
of Recife as the most populous in the Brazilian Northeast, the fifth
in Brazil and the 107th in the world. The Metropolitan Region of
Salvador dropped one place in the regional and national
classification, being overtaken by the Metropolitan Region of
Fortaleza; it occupies the second position in the Northeast, the
sixth in Brazil and the 108th in the world. ethnic composition
Indigenous Peoples in Northeast Brazil
For the formation of the Northeastern people, three ethnic groups
participated: the indigenous, the white and the black.
The ethnic and cultural miscegenation of these three elements was
the pillar for the composition of the population of the Northeast,
however, this mixture of races did not happen uniformly. In some
regions, such as Ceará, Piauí, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and in the
west and central region of Pernambuco, caboclos predominate. In
others, such as Bahia and eastern Pernambuco, mulattos
predominate. Cafuzos are also very common in Maranhão.
The states with the largest white population are Pernambuco
(36.6%), Paraíba (36.4%) and Rio Grande do Norte (36.3%); those
with the largest black population, Bahia (16.8%), Maranhão (6.6%)
and Piauí (5.9%); those with the largest indigenous population,
Maranhão (0.9%), Bahia (0.3%) and Paraíba (0.3%); and those with
the largest brown population, Piauí (69.9%), Maranhão (68.6%) and
Alagoas (67.7%).
genetic studies
Salvador, Bahia, is the city with the largest number of people of
African descent in Brazil; however, the municipality with the highest
percentage of black individuals in the country is Riacho Frio-PI
(61.71%). Bahia (16.8%), Maranhão (6.6%) and Piauí (5.9%) are the
northeastern states with the highest percentage of blacks.
According to the 2011 autosomal study, carried out by Brazilian
geneticist Sérgio Pena, the European component is predominant in
the population of the Northeast, with African and indigenous
contributions. According to the study carried out, the composition
of the Northeast can be described as follows: 60.10% of European
heritage, 29.30% of African heritage and 8.90% indigenous. This
study was carried out based on blood donors, and most blood donors
in Brazil come from the lower classes (in addition to nurses and
other people who work in public health entities, thus representing
well the Brazilian population ). This study found that Brazilians from
different regions are genetically much more homogeneous than
expected, as a result of European predominance (which had already
been shown by several other autosomal genetic studies, as seen
below). “Using the criteria of color and race still used in the census
today, we had the vision of Brazil as a heterogeneous mosaic, as if
the South and North were home to two different peoples”,
comments the geneticist. “The study goes to show that Brazil is a
much more integrated country than we thought.” Brazilian
homogeneity is, therefore, much greater between regions than
within them, which values individual heterogeneity. This conclusion of
the work indicates that characteristics such as skin color are, in
fact, arbitrary to categorize the population. According to a 2009
autosomal genetic study, European heritage is dominant in the
Northeast, accounting for 66.70% of the population, the remainder
being African (23.30%) and Amerindian (10%). According to an
autosomal genetic study carried out in 2010 by the Catholic
University of Brasília, published in the American Journal of Human
Biology, European genetic inheritance is predominant in Brazil,
accounting for around 80% of the total, and in the South this
percentage rises to 90%. The results also showed that, in Brazil,
indicators of physical appearance, such as skin, eye and hair color,
bear relatively little relation to each person's ancestry (ie, a
person's phenotype does not clearly indicates its genotype).
According to this study, the European contribution accounts for
77.40% of the ancestry of Northeasterners, African, 13.60% and
indigenous, 8.90%. This study was carried out based on samples of
free paternity tests, as explained by the researchers: "the
paternity tests were free, the population samples involved people of
varying socioeconomic profile, although probably with a bias towards
the 'brown' group. '".
Baía da Traição, in the state of Paraíba, is home to the largest
indigenous population in northeastern Brazil. It is traditional
territory of the Potiguara Indians.
According to a genetic study carried out in 1965 by the American
researchers DF Roberts and RW Hiorns, "Methods of Analysis of a
Hybrid Population" (in Human Biology, vol. 37, number 1), the Middle
Age ancestry of Northeasterners is predominantly European (degree
around 65%), with smaller but important contributions from Africa
and Brazilian indigenous people (25% and 9% respectively).
According to an older autosomal DNA study (from 2003), heritage in
the Northeast can be characterized as follows: 75% European
ancestry, 15% African and 10% indigenous. The researchers were
cautious about completing the study, as it was based on samples of
people who took the paternity test, which may have contributed, in
part, to skew the results in some way. Recent genetic research
carried out by a Brazilian laboratory showed that around 1/5 of
Northeasterners (19%) have a type 2 paternal haplogroup originating
in Europe, a higher percentage than that present (13%) in the
Portuguese population. This "excess" in the frequency of haplogroup
2 could be due to the genetic influence of miscegenation with Dutch
colonists, who were in the Northeast between 1630 and 1654. At the
time of the Dutch invasion, although miscegenation was not officially
stimulated, there are reports of many unions interracial. The
absence of Dutch women encouraged the union and even marriage of
Dutch officers and colonists with daughters of wealthy LusoBrazilian plantation owners and, more informally, of these with local
Indians, black women, caboclas and mulatto women. These colonizers
were divided into two groups: the Dienaaren ("servants", mainly
soldiers in the service of the Dutch Crown) and the Vrijburghers
("free men", the colonists who came to exercise the function of
traders). Genetic analyzes can reveal European ancestry in black and
mulatto people. Singer Djavan, from Alagoas, as well as the father of
actress Ildi Silva, from Bahia, for example, discovered that they
have European ancestry in their paternal lineage, which they
attribute to hypothetical Dutch ancestors.
White Cholocate bonbon:
Location of Ouro Branco-RN, the northeastern city with the highest
percentage of whites (86.07%).
In the interior of Pernambuco, especially in the Sertão do Araripe
and in communities in the Agreste, there are many people with very
fair skin, blond hair and light eyes. Tradition states that they are
descendants of Dutch people who went into hiding during the
Pernambucan Insurrection, which enabled a unique ethnic
configuration in the state. God's.
Genetic studies carried out on inhabitants of Northeastern capitals
have confirmed the mestizo origin of this population, formed by the
miscegenation of Europeans, Africans and Indians. The contribution
of each ethnic group varies from capital to capital, with Europeans
being the most prevalent. For example, for the population of Natal,
the ancestry found was 58% European, 25% African and 17%
indigenous. For the population of Aracaju, 62% European, 34%
African and 4% indigenous. In the case of São Luís, the ancestry
found was 42% European, 39% Amerindian and 19% African. In
Salvador, the predominant ancestry is African (49.2%), followed by
European (36.3%) and indigenous (14.5%). The study also concluded
that Salvadorans who have surnames with religious connotations tend
to have a higher degree of African ancestry (54.9%) and to belong
to less favored social classes. The ancestry of northeastern
migrants living in São Paulo would be 59% European, 30% African and
11% indigenous, according to a very old study from 1965, based on
blood polymorphisms. According to another study, from 1997, for
the entire Northeastern population, the estimated ancestry would
be 51% European, 36% African and 13% indigenous. According to a
2011 genetic study, pardos and whites from Fortaleza, who
constitute the majority of the population, showed European ancestry
(around 70%) with the rest basically divided into important African
and indigenous contributions. According to a 2015 genetic study, the
population of Fortaleza has the following genetic makeup: 48.9%
European contribution, 35.4% indigenous contribution and 15.7%
African contribution. According to a 2013 genetic study, the genetic
makeup of Pernambuco's population is 56.8% European, 27.9%
African and 15.3% Amerindian. In the same year, another study
carried out in Alagoas concluded that the genetic makeup of 54.7%
of the state's population is European, 26.6% African and 18.7%
Amerindian.
Brachycephalic individuals are common in part of the northeastern
sertão, especially in the area that today comprises the state of
Ceará. This peculiar characteristic was inherited from their
ancestors: the Cariri Indians. A large part of the brown population
of Ceará, which corresponds to 66.1% of the state's total
population, shares this characteristic. Some people from other
countries have the same type of skull.
migratory flows
Map of migration in Brazil between the 1960s and 1980s.
Due to the enormous inequality of income, the great land
concentration and the problem of drought in the Northeastern
Sertão, the Northeast is since the time of the empire of D. Pedro II
and especially in the second half of the 20th century a region of
strong population repulsion. Due to the offer of jobs in other regions
of Brazil, mainly in the 60s, 70s and 80s, northeastern migration has
been highlighted in the Brazilian population dynamics, especially in
the North and Southeast regions of Brazil.
In the 1990s, however, due to the economic crises and the
saturation of markets in several large cities, the offer of jobs
decreased, the quality of education deteriorated and income
continued to be poorly distributed, causing most of the
Northeasterners who had migrated to fleeing poverty, and their
descendants continued with a precarious life structure. Because of
the vision propagated in previous decades, the supposed imaginary
ideal that was formed in relation to the Southeast region and the
promise of a better quality of life, easy job opportunities, higher
wages, among others; deceived by this dream, when a northeasterner
migrates to the Southeast in search of an improvement in the quality
of life, he usually ends up finding the opposite, in addition to
suffering, not infrequently, social prejudice in his day-to-day life. In
recent years, the traditional movement of emigration has reduced or
even reversed in the Northeast region. According to the study "New
Geoeconomics of Employment in Brazil", by the State University of
Campinas (Unicamp), the states of Ceará, Paraíba, Sergipe and Rio
Grande do Norte received more migrants between 1999 and 2004
than they sent to other regions. The state of Paraíba, according to
the same survey, was the most radical example of the
transformation that migration patterns in the region have
undergone: it reversed the migration pattern from a negative
balance of 61 thousand people to a positive balance of 45 thousand.
In all other states that continue to have a negative migration
balance, the number of migrants decreased in the same period
analyzed: in Maranhão, it decreased from 173 thousand to 77
thousand; in Pernambuco, from 115 thousand to 24 thousand; and in
Bahia, from 267 thousand to 84 thousand.
Social problems
Drought Polygon, Northeastern Migration and Northeast
Development Superintendence
In the northeastern sertão there are still victims of droughts, which
are constant. The states with the highest concentration of extreme
poverty are Maranhão, Alagoas and Piauí.
The northeast region of Brazil maintains historical problems:
backward and little diversified agriculture, large landowners, income
concentration and a little diversified and low productivity industry;
in addition to the natural phenomenon of constant droughts (see:
Polygon of droughts). The distinct characteristics between the
northeast and other regions of the country, in addition to
accentuating regional inequalities, formed a favorable scenario for
northeastern migration, especially to urban areas. However, despite
showing great improvement in recent years in terms of the quality of
life of its population, it still has the lowest socio-economic indicators
in the country, such as the Human Development Index (HDI). The
low indicators are more serious in rural areas and in the
northeastern sertão, which suffers from long periods without rain;
however, its indicators are better than those of countries such as
South Africa (the largest economy on the African continent), Bolivia
and Guyana. 18.7% of Northeasterners were illiterate in 2009
according to information released by the Brazilian Institute of
Geography and Statistics (IBGE); and, according to Ibope, 22%
benefited from the Bolsa Família income transfer program in 2010.
The fertility rate in the Northeast was 2.04 children per woman in
2009, above the national average (1.94 children per woman) and the
rates of the Southeast (1.75 children per woman), South (1.92
children per woman) and Midwest (1.93 children per woman) regions,
and below the rate of the North Region (2.51 children per woman)
woman). It should be noted that the Northeastern birth rate is
below the population replacement rate, which is 2.1 children per
woman – two children replace the parents and the fraction 0.1 is
needed to compensate for individuals who die before reaching the
reproductive age – and it is similar to the rates of some developed
countries, such as the United States and Iceland (both with a rate
of 2.05 children per woman).
Economy
Pernambuco's GDP grew 15.78% in 2010, more than double the
national average for the same year, which stood at 7.5%. The Suape
Industrial Complex, responsible for this growth, houses projects
such as the Atlântico Sul Shipyard. The oil tanker João Cândido
(pictured) was the first ship launched by the Pernambuco naval
industry.
The economy of the Northeast Region of Brazil was the historical
basis of the beginning of the economy in Brazil, since the activities
around brazilwood and sugarcane predominated and were initiated in
the Northeast of Brazil. The Northeast was the richest region in
the country until the mid-eighteenth century.
The Northeast Region is currently the third largest economy in
Brazil among the major regions. Its share in the Brazilian Gross
Domestic Product was 13.4% in 2011, after the South Region (16.2%
share in GDP) and ahead of the Midwest Region (9.6% share in GDP).
Even so, it is the region with the lowest GDP per capita. Income
distribution in this region improved significantly in the 2000s:
according to data from the 2009 National Household Sample Survey
(Pnad), the average income in the Northeast experienced a real
increase (after discounting inflation) of 28.8% between 2004 and
2009, going from R$570 to R$734. Between 2008 and 2009, the
increase was 2.7%. It was the region that presented the greatest
increase in the average salary of workers in this period.
In 2011 its nominal GDP was R$555.3 billion, surpassing that of
countries such as Chile, Singapore and Portugal; and its nominal GDP
per capita, of R$ 10,379.55, surpassing that of countries such as
Ukraine, Thailand and China. The largest economies in the Northeast
Region are, respectively, Bahia, Pernambuco and Ceará, states that
together account for 8.5% of the national GDP. The Northeastern
states with the highest GDP per capita are Sergipe, Pernambuco,
Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte, followed by Ceará, Paraíba, Alagoas,
Maranhão and Piaui. In 2011, Ipojuca, in Pernambuco, was the
municipality with the highest GDP per capita in the Northeast
Region, with R$ 116,198.31, in addition to being the sixteenth in
Brazil. Other Northeastern municipalities were also among the 100
with the highest GDP per capita in the country, such as Guamaré-RN,
São Francisco do Conde-BA, Cairu-BA and Candeias-BA. On the other
hand, the city with the third lowest GDP per capita in Brazil is also
located in the Northeast: São Vicente Ferrer, in Maranhão, with R$
2,679.66. The 56 municipalities with the lowest GDP per capita
(which correspond to 1.0% of the 5,570 municipalities in the
country) had GDP per capita below R$ 3,492.99 and were located in
six states: Maranhão (19), Alagoas (7), Piauí (7), Bahia (6) and Ceará
(1), in the Northeast Region; and Pará (16), in the North Region.
Among the northeastern states, only Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba,
Pernambuco and Sergipe do not have municipalities with a per capita
GDP of less than R$ 4,000.00. The Camaçari Petrochemical Complex,
in the state of Bahia, is the largest integrated industrial complex in
the Southern Hemisphere.
The installed energy capacity is 10,761 MW.
The Northeast Region has enjoyed strong economic growth since the
end of the 2000s. Even during the 2008-2009 world economic crisis,
the Region's GDP increased: while Brazil's GDP fell by 0.2% in 2009,
Pernambuco's GDP grew by 4%; Ceará's GDP, 3.4%; and the GDP of
Bahia, 2.2%. This growth softened the impact of the biggest crisis
of capitalism in the last 80 years on the Brazilian economy.
The Banco do Nordeste increased the growth projection for the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Northeast in 2010 to 8.3%.
2010.
Tourism
Genipabu, in the Metropolitan Region of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte,
is internationally famous for its dunes, for buggies and Arabian
camel rides and for its good hotel infrastructure.
The coast is the main attraction of the region. Millions of tourists
disembark at northeastern airports. For some years, the states have
been investing intensively in improving infrastructure, creating new
tourist centers, and some in the development of ecotourism.
According to the survey "Consumption Habits of Brazilian Tourism
2009", carried out by Vox Populi in November 2009, Bahia is the
preferred tourist destination of Brazilians,[69] since 21.4% of
tourists chose the state. Pernambuco, with 11.9%, and São Paulo,
with 10.9%, are, respectively, in second and third place in the
surveyed categories.
Among the most popular beaches in the Northeast are: Arraial
d'Ajuda and Morro de São Paulo, in Bahia; Atalaia and Pirambu, in
Sergipe; Pajuçara and Maragogi, in Alagoas; Porto de Galinhas and
Itamaracá, in Pernambuco; Cabedelo and Tambaba, in Paraíba;
Genipabu and Pipa, in Rio Grande do Norte; Jericoacoara and Canoa
Quebrada, in Ceará; Coqueiro and Pedra do Sal, in Piauí; and Curupu
and Atins, in Maranhão.
The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha is gaining national and
world prominence. It is possible to see jumping dolphins on the
islands. Also noteworthy is Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, which
enchants its visitors and surprises with the number of caves,
caverns, waterfalls and trails it has, being an excellent place to visit
at any time of the year.
Another outstanding place is the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park,
a complex of dunes, rivers, lakes and mangroves. In Bahia, there is
the Costa do Sauípe, the largest tourist complex in Brazil, and the
Abrolhos Archipelago, which has an excellent area for scuba diving
and snorkeling, as well as attractions such as the humpback whale
season, which begins in July. In Piauí, there are the Sete Cidades,
Serra das Confusões and Serra da Capivara national parks with rock
formations and cave paintings; in addition to its coast having the
Parnaíba Delta. Other highlights are the largest cashew tree in the
world and Forte dos Reis Magos, both in Rio Grande do Norte.
In the latest surveys by TAM VIAGENS, Natal is the most popular
national destination for Brazilians. And when the ranking also
considers international destinations, Natal is in second place, behind
only Florida. At the end of 2015, Natal was chosen by the magazine
NATIONAL GEOGRAFIA TRAVELER as one of the 20 world
destinations to visit in 2016. This was the only place in Brazil
mentioned by the magazine.
Fernando de Noronha, in Pernambuco, is one of the biggest tourist
centers in the country.
Ecotourism is still little explored in the Northeast, but it has great
potential. Even so, among the ten main Brazilian ecotourism
destinations, there are four landscapes located in the Northeast
region of Brazil, where it is possible to choose between islands
(Fernando de Noronha Archipelago in Pernambuco), dunes (Lençóis
Maranhenses in Maranhão), high-altitude Atlantic forest (Chapada
Diamantina in Bahia) and archeology in the caatinga (Serra da
Capivara National Park in Piauí).
The region's culture is also an attraction for tourists. All states
have different festivals and traditions. Olinda, in Pernambuco, with
vestiges of Dutch Brazil; São Luís, in Maranhão, with those from
Equinoctial France; São Cristóvão, in Sergipe, and its Praça de São
Francisco, surrounded by imposing historic buildings; Salvador,
Bahia, with those from the political-administrative headquarters of
Colonial Brazil; and Porto Seguro and Santa Cruz de Cabrália, also in
Bahia, with the historical marks of the arrival of the squadrons of
the discovery of Brazil; are some of the main historical and cultural
attractions in the region, the first four of which are considered
cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO.
Religious tourism has been growing in the region, especially in the
municipalities of Juazeiro do Norte and Canindé, both in Ceará; and
Bom Jesus da Lapa in Bahia. Also noteworthy is the municipality of
Santa Cruz in Rio Grande do Norte, with the statue of Alto de Santa
Rita de Cássia, which is the largest statue in America. Another city
that has stood out is São José de Ribamar, in Maranhão, which in
September brings together a large number of faithful from the
northeastern states and the State of Pará. There is even a large
statue of Saint Joseph, which can be accessed by visitors, which has
a view of the sea.
Infrastructure
Science and technology
Porto Digital, located in Recife's old neighborhood in the capital of
Pernambuco, is the largest technological park in Brazil and a world
reference in software production.
The field of science and technology in Northeast Brazil is in full
process of growth and expansion, since the end of the 1990s and
continued in the 2000s. Northeastern cities are receiving national
and international recognition for their poles, centers and
technological institutes. One example is Recife, which is home to
Porto Digital, a software development center created in July 2000.
A world reference, the Pernambuco center is recognized as the
largest technological park in Brazil in terms of revenue and number
of companies.
Already in the interior of Paraíba, Campina Grande gains relevance as
one of the nine prominent cities in the world that present a new
model of technological center, the only one mentioned in all of Latin
America in the April 2001 edition of the American magazine
Newsweek. And in another study, it appears alongside the city of
São Paulo, the only Latin American cities, in the area of world
technological innovation. All this technological prominence in Campina
Grande is the result of the formation of a solid academic base,
which began in the 1960s, when the current Federal University of
Campina Grande (UFCG), then Polytechnic School, acquired one of
the first five computers in universities in the country. (first in the
North-Northeast), giving rise to the current undergraduate and
graduate courses in the areas of electrical engineering and
computing. Another notable initiative is the International Institute
of Neurosciences of Natal, inaugurated in 2006 in the capital of Rio
Grande do Norte and idealized by the neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis
(considered one of the 20 most important neuroscientists in activity
in the world). It was created to decentralize national research,
currently restricted to the Southeast and South regions of Brazil.
Ratifying the process of decentralization of science and technology
research, in Salvador, on July 17, 2009, after a year of construction
and an investment of 30 million reais, the first biotechnology center
located in the North and Northeast: the Center for Biotechnology
and Cell Therapy at Hospital São Rafael (CBTC), the most modern
and advanced center for studying stem cells in Latin America. In
addition, in 2010 the so-called "Campus do Cérebro" was inaugurated
in Macaíba in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which is a center for
research and development of neuroscience and which has a social
inclusion project, as well as the scientific part. Other projects are
Cidade da Ciência and Metropole Digital, also in Rio Grande do Norte.
Transport
Viaduct complex on Avenida do Contorno in Feira de Santana, part of
the division between BRs 116 and 324.
The region's road network has 394,700 km of highways. The main
roadways and transport routes are the BR-116 and BR-101, with the
city of Feira de Santana, in Bahia, as the largest road junction in the
region.
Its rail system is still precarious, but works such as the
Transnordestina Railroad are in progress, which will connect the Port
of Suape, in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, to the Port of
Pecém, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza, crossing practically
the entire territory of Pernambuco and Ceará. and linking these two
states to the state of Piauí, and will allow the outflow of agricultural
production from the southwest of Piauí and the São Francisco Valley
and the production of the plaster pole of Araripina at a lower cost,
which will make prices more competitive; and the Oeste-Leste
Railroad, which will connect the city of Figueirópolis in Tocantins to
Porto Sul in Ilhéus in Bahia and will allow the transportation of
soybeans from the states of Mato Grosso, Goiás and Tocantins and
the west of Bahia, as well as iron ore, uranium, cocoa and cellulose
from the south of Bahia.
Recife International Airport is the largest and most modern airport
in the North-Northeast and one of the five best in Brazil.
Its most important cities have an adequate airport structure, with
the international airports of Natal/São Gonçalo do Amarante,
Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza being the largest. The main airports
in the Northeast receive millions of tourists annually and maintain
regular flights to the main cities in Europe and the United States,
with Recife International Airport being the busiest airport terminal
in the region. In São Gonçalo do Amarante, in Greater Natal, there is
the Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport, which is the
most modern, has the largest runway capacity in the Northeast, in
addition to being the only one hundred percent privatized and the
only one with a runway prepared for aircraft. of large size like the
A380 (3000x60). Currently, only Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza
have a subway system. There are also VLT projects under study to
be implemented in the region. The VLTs in Maceió, Natal, João
Pessoa and Teresina are already in operation. Other projects outside
the capitals are the VLT of Cariri in Juazeiro do Norte and
Arapiraca, in addition to the interconnection of the center to the
Airport of Natal.
Education
The Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Pernambuco
obtained an 81.3% in the Bar Examination in 2010.1. The faculty,
which was born from the transfer of the Faculty of Law of Olinda, is
the oldest faculty of Law in Brazil.
The Northeast of Brazil has a long history in the area of education,
since the first Jesuits, who in the 16th century installed schools in
this region. The main educational facilities are concentrated in
capitals and medium-sized cities.
Three universities in the Northeast Region are among the 1,000 best
in the world in 2014, according to the CWUR study (Center for
World University Rankings): the Federal University of Pernambuco
(15th nationally and 940th in the global ranking); the Federal
University of Ceará (16th place nationally and 964th in the global
ranking); and the Federal University of Bahia (17th place nationally
and 967th position in the global ranking).
The State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS) obtained the best
performance in the North-Northeast and the 15th in Brazil in the
National Student Performance Examination (Enade) in 2012.
According to ENADE indicators, the State University of Feira de
Santana (UEFS) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
(UFRN) are among the top 20 in the country in 2012, in 15th and
18th positions, respectively. The Scimago Institutions Ranking (SRI)
2012 shows the State University of Feira de Santana in the 181st
position in the Ibero-American ranking among 1,401 higher education
institutions, and in the 118th position in the ranking of universities in
Latin America and the Caribbean in the scientific production index .
The Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Pernambuco,
located in Recife, obtained the second best performance in the Bar
Examination in 2010.1, with a rate of 81.3%, surpassed by the Law
course at the University of Brasília. At the Recife Faculty of Law,
important names in Brazilian history studied, including names such as
Ruy Barbosa, Barão do Rio Branco, Castro Alves, Clóvis Beviláqua,
Tobias Barreto, Joaquim Nabuco, Eusébio de Queirós, Teixeira de
Freitas, Marquês de Paranaguá , Epitácio Pessoa, Assis
Chateaubriand, José Lins do Rego and Pontes de Miranda. Three
other northeastern law schools are among the top ten in the country.
They are, in order of approved students: Federal University of
Paraíba (75.2%); Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (72.3%);
and Federal University of Ceará (69.4%).
The Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, the oldest medical school in
Brazil, was founded in 1808 by the Pernambucan physician Correia
Picanço under the name of Escola decirurgia da Bahia, shortly after
the arrival of Dom João VI in the country.
The state of Pernambuco stands out in technological education. The
Informatics Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CIn
UFPE), responsible for courses in Computer Science, Information
Systems and Computer Engineering, is a major supplier of skilled
labor in technology for Microsoft. Its courses are considered among
the best in Latin America. UFPE was one of the five educational
institutions selected worldwide for Microsoft's worldwide research
program, which allowed access to the source code of Visual Studio
components. The other four universities selected were Yale
University (United States); Monash University (Australia); the
University of Hull (England); in addition to UNESP, Brazil being the
only country that had two universities chosen. UFPE was honored by
Microsoft for the participation of students from the institution's
IT Center in the Imagine Cup, an event promoted by the company.
Students of the Mechanical Engineering course at the Federal
University of Pernambuco participated, in 2011, in the Baja SAE
BRASIL-PETROBRAS Competition and secured a place for Baja SAE
Kansas, in the United States. Only UFPE and two São Paulo
universities, USP and FEI, won the right to represent Brazil in the
international edition of the competition.
Univasf is the first Federal University established in the
northeastern hinterland. It is located in the states of Pernambuco,
Bahia and Piauí, with headquarters in the city of Petrolina. It
started its academic activities in 2004.
Ceará is the state with the highest rate of approvals in the ITA,
considered the most difficult entrance exam in the country. Every
year about 30% of the freshmen of this higher education institution
are from this northeastern state. The exemplary performance in
exact sciences achieved by people from Ceará is due to the work
carried out in a group of schools in the state capital, Fortaleza.
Another highlight of the Northeast Region at ITA is the state of
Pernambuco, which had 12 students approved in the Vestibular 2011,
which represents almost 10% of the 130 vacancies offered by this
institution. Pernambuco was in 3rd place in approvals, surpassed only
by the states of Ceará and São Paulo. ITA, an institution founded by
Casimiro Montenegro Filho in the state of São Paulo, was the embryo
of Embraer, and provides manpower for the third largest aircraft
manufacturer in the world. The Northeast Region was the second
region in Brazil in number of schools among the top 20 of the ENEM
2009, next to the Center-West Region: there were 4 schools from
each of these two regions. The Southeast Region led the ranking,
with twelve schools. South and North regions were not included in
the list. The highlight in the Northeast Region was the city of
Teresina, in the state of Piauí, with three of the twenty best schools
in the country: Instituto Dom Barreto (2nd place); the Antoine
Lavoisier Teaching Institute (12th place); and Educandário Santa
Maria Goretti (19th place). The fourth Northeastern school that
made it into the list of the twenty best educational institutions in
Brazil was Colégio Helyos, from Feira de Santana, Bahia, which took
9th place. Among the institutions of the public network, the best
placed in the Northeast Region was the CE Application College of
UFPE, located in Recife-PE, which obtained the 6th place among
public schools in the country and the 40th place in the general
classification.
The Northeast Region, historically recognized for having the largest
number of illiterates in the country, achieved notable advances in its
educational indicators during the 2000s: its illiteracy rate fell from
22.4% in 2004 to 18.7% in 2009, according to information released
by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Health
The Januário Cicco Maternity School, a work of neoclassical
architecture belonging to UFRN, is the most important maternity
hospital in Rio Grande do Norte.
The main medical centers in the Northeast Region are the cities of
Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza.
Among the main hospitals in Recife is the Hospital da Restauração,
the largest public emergency and the most complex emergency and
trauma service in the North-Northeast, receiving patients from all
over the state and neighboring states. The Hospital da Restauração,
a reference in the areas of trauma, neurosurgery, neurology, general
surgery, internal medicine and orthopedics, has 482 beds registered
with the Ministry of Health (MS), but, including the extras, it
operates with a total of 723 beds to serve your demand. Private
hospitals in Recife make the capital of Pernambuco the second
largest medical and hospital center in Brazil. In Salvador, Bahia, the
Roberto Santos General Hospital (HGRS) – the largest in the state –
and the State General Hospital (HGE) stand out. HGRS provides an
average of 1,000 outpatient consultations and 350 emergency
consultations on weekdays; it is a reference in oral and maxillofacial
and vascular surgeries and a medical clinic in neurosurgery and
nephrology; and has almost 2,600 employees. The Roberto Santos
building also houses the Antivenom Information Center, a reference
in the treatment of poisoning in Bahia. Other hospitals worth
mentioning: Hospital Santo Antônio (founded by Sister Dulce); the
Sarah Kubitschek Hospital; and the Professor Edgard Santos
University Hospital Complex.
The main public hospitals in the state of Ceará are concentrated in
Fortaleza. Among these hospitals, the Instituto Doutor José Frota,
better known as IJF, which is the largest emergency hospital in the
state, managed by the city hall, deserves special mention; and the
Hospital Geral de Fortaleza, which is the largest public hospital,
administered by the state government. Private medical care is highly
developed, with a total of 127 hospitals, with emphasis on São
Mateus, Antônio Prudente, Unimed, Monte Klinikum and SARAHFortaleza hospitals.
Culture
Culture of the Northeast region of Brazil
As it was the first region effectively colonized by the Portuguese,
back in the 16th century, who found native populations there and
were accompanied by Africans brought there as slaves, the
northeastern culture is quite particular and typical, despite being
extremely varied. Its base is Luso-Brazilian, with great African
influences, especially on the coast from Pernambuco to Bahia and
Maranhão, and Amerindians, especially in the semi-arid hinterland.
In João Pessoa, there is a great architectural project designed by
Architect Oscar Niemeyer. This is the Cabo Branco Science, Culture
and Arts Station, where weekly exhibitions of arts, culture and
technology projects developed in the region take place.
Literature
José de Alencar.
Northeastern literature has made great contributions to the
Brazilian literary scene, highlighting names such as Jorge Amado,
Nelson Rodrigues, José de Alencar, João Cabral de Melo Neto,
Rachel de Queiroz, Gregório de Matos, Clarice Lispector, Graciliano
Ramos, Gonçalves Dias , Aluísio Azevedo, Manuel Bandeira, Joaquim
Nabuco, Tobias Barreto, Arthur Azevedo, Castro Alves, Coelho Neto,
Álvaro Lins, Jorge de Lima, Ariano Suassuna, Viriato Correia,
Ferreira Gullar, José Lins do Rego, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Dias Gomes,
Raimundo Correia, Josué Montello, among many others. Gilberto
Freyre represents a milestone in the history of Brazil, thanks to his
book Casa-Grande & Senzala, which demonstrates the importance of
slaves for the formation of the country. In Ceará, the Spiritual
Bakery movement, at the end of the 19th century, anticipated some
of the renovations brought about by modernism, in the 1920s of the
following century.
In literature, one can also mention the popular cordel literature that
dates back to the colonial period (cordel literature was brought by
the Portuguese and originated in the European Middle Ages) and
numerous artistic manifestations of a popular nature that manifest
themselves orally, such as the singers suddenly and bluntly.
Music and dance
Frevo, typical manifestation of Pernambuco. As music, it is one of
the most influential genres in the country: it revealed great MPB
musicians and, in addition to being a symbol of the Recife/Olinda
carnival, it was the rhythm used in the Salvador Carnival before the
emergence of axé music.
In classical music, Alberto Nepomuceno and Paurillo Barroso stood
out as composers, as well as Liduíno Pitombeira today, and Eleazar de
Carvalho as a conductor. Northeastern rhythms and melodies also
inspired composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos (whose Brazilian
Bachiana nº 5, for example, in its second part - Dança do Martelo -
alludes to the hinterland of Cariri in Ceará).
In popular music, rhythms such as coco, xaxado, hammer agalopado,
samba de roda, baião, xote, forró, axé and frevo, among other
rhythms, stand out. The armorial movement in Recife, inspired by
Ariano Suassuna, did an erudite work in valuing this northeastern
popular rhythmic heritage. One of its best-known exponents is the
singer Antônio Nóbrega.
In dance, maracatu, practiced in various parts of the Northeast,
frevo, bumba-meu-boi, xaxado, several variants of forró,
tambourine-de-crioula (characteristic of Maranhão), etc. Folk music
is almost always accompanied by dancing.
Craftsmanship
Handicrafts are also an important part of the cultural production of
the Northeast, and are even the livelihood of thousands of people
throughout the region. Due to the regional variety of handicraft
traditions, it is difficult to fully characterize them, but the woven
hammocks stand out, often embroidered with great detail; products
made of clay, wood (for example, carnaúba, a typical tree from the
sertão) and leather, with very particular features; in addition to
lace, which gained prominence in Ceará handicrafts. Another
highlight are the bottles with images made manually in colored sand,
an article produced for sale to tourists. In Maranhão, handicrafts
made from buriti fiber (palm tree) stand out, as well as handicrafts
and products from babassu (palm tree native to Maranhão).
cooking
Munguzá, a typical northeastern delicacy.
Northeastern cuisine is varied, reflecting the economic and
productive conditions of the region's diverse geoeconomic
landscapes. Seafood and fish are widely used in coastal cuisine, while
in the sertão, recipes that use meat and derivatives from cattle,
goats and sheep predominate. Even so, there are several regional
differences, both in the variety of dishes and in the way they are
prepared. For example, in Ceará, the salty mugunzá - also called
macunzá or mucunzá - predominates, while in Pernambuco the sweet
predominates). In Bahia, the main highlights are foods made with
palm oil and shrimp, such as moquecas, vatapá, acarajé and bobós;
However, foods accompanied by pirão such as mocotó and oxtail are
no less appreciated, as well as sweets such as cocada, which is
present throughout the northeast. In Maranhão, stand out the cuxá,
the rice of cuxá, the bobó, the stone fish and the shrimp pie. Also in
Maranhão stands out the Guaraná Jesus, Maranhão heritage of
national fame. The bolo-de-rolo is an intangible heritage of
Pernambuco.
Some typical foods of the region are: baião de dois, sun-dried meat,
coalho cheese, vatapá, acarajé, pan, buchada, hominy, coconut beans
and rice, green beans and sururu , as well as various sweets made
from papaya, pumpkin, orange, etc. Some regional fruits - not
necessarily native to the region - are ciriguela, cajá, buriti, cajarana,
umbu, macaúba, juçara, bacuri, cupuaçu, buriti, murici and pitomba,
among others.
festivities
Dolls of Olinda, in Olinda. The Recife/Olinda Carnival is considered
the most democratic and culturally diverse in the country.
In terms of festivities, the Northeast region has a variety of events
that take place throughout the year:
During Carnival, the highlights are the parties in Salvador and
Olinda-Recife. The first is the biggest popular festival on the planet
according to the Guinness Book, with around 2.7 million revelers in
six days of celebration (equivalent to the number of residents of the
city), and internationally known for the parades of famous artists in
the electric trios; and the second is popularly considered the most
democratic carnival in the country, and is known for its
characteristic olinda dolls, for the rhythm of frevo and maracatu, in
addition to having the largest carnival block in the world, the Galo da
Madrugada.
The most prominent micaretas (out of season carnivals) are
"Carnatal" in Natal; the "Fortal" in Fortaleza; the "Pre-Caju" in
Aracaju; the "Micarande" in Campina Grande. There is also the
"bumba-meu-boi" in Maceió and São Luís do Maranhão, the "Micareta
de Feira" in Feira de Santana and the "Lavagem do Kimarrei" in
Barreiras.
As São João approaches, the cities of Caruaru in Pernambuco and
Campina Grande in Paraíba compete for the title of "Capital of
Forró". In addition, in Patos, in the state of Paraíba, the Best São
João in the World takes place - considered the 4th largest in Brazil
and the World.
There are also music festivals, such as "Festival de Verão de
Salvador" (biggest annual festival in Brazil), "Piauí Pop" in Teresina,
"Mada" in Natal, "Abril Pro Rock" in Recife, "Ceará Music " in
Fortaleza, the "Fest Verão Paraíba" in João Pessoa, the "Maceió
Fest" in Maceió and the "Festival de Inverno Bahia" in Vitória da
Conquista.
sports
Arena Castelão, in Fortaleza.
As in the rest of the country, the main sport in the Northeast is
football. The main northeastern clubs are CSA, CRB and ASA in
Alagoas; Bahia and Vitória in Bahia; Fortaleza, Ceará and Ferroviário
in Ceará; Sampaio Corrêa, Moto Club and Maranhão in Maranhão;
Treze, Campinense and Botafogo-PB in Paraíba; Sport, Santa Cruz
and Náutico in Pernambuco; River, Flamengo and Parnahyba in Piauí;
America of Natal and ABC in Rio Grande do Norte; and Sergipe,
Confiança and Itabaiana in Sergipe.
The Brazilian soccer team usually plays matches in the Northeast.
The Castelão stadium, in Fortaleza, the Arruda stadium, in Recife,
the Rei Pelé stadium in Maceió and, recently, the Pituaçu stadium, in
Salvador, are the places where the national team usually plays. The
Estádio da Fonte Nova, in Salvador, also hosts such matches,
however, it was marked by an accident involving fatal victims in
2007.
Autodromo Internacional de Caruaru, Pernambuco.
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Northeast had four host
cities: Salvador, Recife, Natal and Fortaleza. Transport networks,
hotels and hospitals were built, expanded or renovated, in addition
to the renovation and construction of new stadiums. In Salvador, the
Estádio da Fonte Nova was completely renovated, as was the Estádio
Castelão, in Fortaleza. In Recife, the Arena Pernambuco was built,
located in São Lourenço da Mata. In Natal, the old Machadão was
demolished and, in its place, the Arena das Dunas stadium was built.
The four stadiums were refurbished or built following FIFA
standards. Other northeastern capitals also applied to host the
competition: João Pessoa, Teresina and Maceió. It was the second
time that the Northeast participated in a World Cup: in 1950, Recife
hosted the match between Chile and the United States, with the
game being played on that occasion at Ilha do Retiro.
In motorsport, the Northeast region also hosts two annual Formula
Truck stages, one at the Ayrton Senna International Circuit in
Caruaru, and one at the Virgílio Távora International Circuit in
Eusébio, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza. In addition, since
2009, a stage of Stock Car Brasil takes place in the region, more
specifically at Circuito Ayrton Senna, in the streets of Centro
Administrativo da Bahia, in Salvador.
In other sports, the following regional sports competitions can be
mentioned: Campeonato Nordestão Governador Miguel Arraes
(chess), Desafio Costa do Sol (athletics), Nordeste Sevens (rugby
sevens), Supercopa do Nordeste de Basquete (basketball), among
many .
Separatism
separatist movement
The idea of turning the Northeast Region into an independent
country began in the late 1980s, in a Master's class in Economics at
UFPE. In this period, the separatist movement had about fifteen
people who supported the idea. Currently, there are about seven
people engaged in Pernambuco and about fifty spread across the
Northeast (some outside the initial group). Jacques Ribemboim,
engineer, economist and professor of environmental economics,
reports that the group is pacifist and wants to dialogue; for him, the
region becoming independent would break with internal
neocolonialism and would provide conditions to negotiate directly in
the international market and with other countries. He also points out
that the current model experienced by the region benefits the
growth of the Southeast Region of Brazil and suggests holding a
plebiscite so that the northeastern states decide on the separation.
Even without having the main symbols and capital defined, the group
has a flag on its Facebook page in white, black and yellow, with a
nine-pointed star representing the nine northeastern states. The
yellow color symbolizes the sun of the region; the white, the pacifist
movement; and black, the lack of a federative pact and the
neocolonialism experienced by the states.
Northeast Interstate Sustainable Development Consortium
In 2019, the governments of the states of northeastern Brazil, with
the support of Federal Law No. 11,107, of April 6, 2005, established
the Interstate Consortium for Sustainable Development of the
Northeast, named Consortium Northeast. Entity with the legal
nature of a public consortium autarchy which, among others, has the
purpose of strengthening the capabilities of the consortium entities
by merging resources and developing synergies.
São João de Caruaru is a June festival held in the municipality of
Caruaru, in Pernambuco, Brazil. It is the largest regional outdoor
party in the world according to Guinness World Records. In the
event, which is annual, the festivities extend throughout the month
of June and attract thousands of tourists from all over Brazil and
abroad. A typical feast of São João in the Brazilian Northeast, it
offers attractions such as the June square dances, fireworks,
bonfires and traditional corn-based delicacies.
Since the end of the 19th century, the June festivities in Caruaru
have already attracted people from surrounding municipalities and
from the capital of Pernambuco, Recife. The festivities were at the
time organized on private rural properties. Currently, the city
celebrates São João throughout the month of June. Since 1994, the
event has taken place at the Pátio de Eventos Luiz Gonzaga — a
44,000-square-meter complex that houses the Fundação de Cultura
de Caruaru, the Barro and Forró Museums, a pavilion for exhibitions,
the Municipal Secretariat of Tourism and a stage. for concerts — in
addition to the various venues spread across the municipality, such
as Alto do Moura and the Railway Station.
Northeastern culture is quite diverse, since it was influenced by
indigenous peoples, Africans and Europeans. Customs and traditions
often vary from state to state.
As it was the first region effectively colonized by the Portuguese,
back in the 16th century, who found native populations there and
were accompanied by Africans brought there as slaves, the
northeastern culture is quite particular and typical, despite being
extremely varied. Its base is Luso-Brazilian, with great African
influences, especially on the coast from Pernambuco to Bahia and
Maranhão, and Amerindians, especially in the semi-arid hinterland.
The cultural wealth of the northeast region is visible beyond its
folkloric and popular manifestations. Northeastern literature has
made a great contribution to the Brazilian literary scene,
highlighting names such as João Cabral de Melo Neto, José de
Alencar, Jorge Amado, Nelson Rodrigues, Rachel de Queiroz,
Gregório de Matos, Clarice Lispector, Graciliano Ramos, Ferreira
Gullar and Manuel Bandeira, among many others.
In literature, we can mention the popular cordel literature that
dates back to the colonial period (cordel literature came with the
Portuguese and originated in the European Middle Ages) and
numerous artistic manifestations of a popular nature that are
manifested orally, such as the singers of sudden and bumpy. In
classical music, Alberto Nepomuceno and Paurillo Barroso stood out
as composers, as well as Liduíno Pitombeira from Ceará today, and
Eleazar de Carvalho as conductor. Northeastern rhythms and
melodies also inspired composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos (whose
Brazilian Bachiana nº 5, for example, in its second part - Dança do
Martelo - alludes to the hinterland of Cariri).
In popular music, rhythms such as coco, xaxado, hammer agalopado,
samba de roda, baião, xote, forró, axé and frevo, among other
rhythms, stand out. The armorial movement in Recife, inspired by
Ariano Suassuna, did an erudite work in valuing this northeastern
popular rhythmic heritage (one of its best-known exponents is the
singer Antônio Nóbrega).
In dance, maracatu, frevo (also characteristic of Pernambuco)
bumba meu boi, xaxado, several variants of forró, the Creole drum
(characteristic of Maranhão), etc. stand out. Folk music is almost
always accompanied by dancing.
Handicrafts are also an important part of the cultural production of
the Northeast, including being the source of income for thousands
of people throughout the region. Due to the regional variety of
handicraft traditions, it is difficult to characterize them all, but the
woven hammocks stand out and, sometimes, embroidered with great
detail; products made of clay, wood (for example, carnaúba, a typical
tree from the sertão) and leather, with very particular features; in
addition to lace, which gained prominence in Ceará handicrafts.
Another highlight are the bottles with images made manually in
colored sand, an article produced for sale to tourists. In Maranhão,
handicrafts made from buriti fiber (palm tree) stand out, as well as
handicrafts and products from babassu (palm tree native to
Maranhão).
Northeastern cuisine is varied, almost always reflecting the
economic and productive conditions of the region's diverse
geoeconomic landscapes. Seafood and fish are widely used in coastal
cuisine, while in the sertão, recipes that use meat and derivatives
from cattle, goats and sheep predominate. Even so, there are several
regional differences, both in the variety of dishes and in the way
they are prepared.
Popular parties
Carnival
Bloco-Afro Ilê Aiyê in Salvador.
During Carnival, the highlights are the parties in Salvador and
Recife-Olinda. The first is the biggest popular festival on the planet
according to the Guinness Book, with around 2.7 million revelers in
six days of celebration (equivalent to the number of residents in the
city), and internationally known for the parades of famous artists in
the electric trios; and the second is considered the most culturally
diverse carnival in the country — known for the rhythm of frevo and
maracatu and for its characteristic Bonecos de Olinda — and also
the most democratic, since revelers do not have to pay to play, in
addition to having the largest carnival block in the world according
to the Guinness Book, Galo da Madrugada. The most outstanding
micaretas (out of season carnivals) are: "Carnatal" in Natal; the
"Fortal" in Fortaleza; the "Pre-Caju" in Aracaju; the "Micareta de
Feira" in Feira de Santana; "Marafolia" in São Luís; and the
"Micarande" in Campina Grande.
Pianco Horse
Bumba meu boi, a dance from the Northeast Region whose first
record took place in Pernambuco, is today the main folkloric
manifestation of Maranhão.
It is originally from the municipality of Amarante (PI). The blacks on
the banks of the Canindé River, to chase away sleep on moonlit
nights, usually dance imitating the trot of a lame horse. Gentlemen
and ladies, in pairs, form a circle and go trotting happily, sometimes
well paced, hitting the ground firmly with their left foot, sometimes
hurriedly, always changing partners.
bumba-meu-boi
The State of Maranhão stands out in this folkloric manifestation.
There are more than 200 groups of bumba-meu-boi in Maranhão
distributed in the accents (types) of orchestra, rattle, pandeirão,
zabumba and costa demão. The State of Maranhão exported this
game to the State of Amazonas, which with the process takes place
throughout Brazil, with the Northeast being pointed out as its origin.
With significant variations in name, props, music, rhythm, dance...
but the plot is always the same: "Pregnant Catirina wants to eat the
tongue of the Captain's ox". Only through acculturation did he
become the boi bumbá. Thus, according to research, the origin of
the bumbá ox is from the bumba-meu-boi of Maranhão.
Other typical dances from Maranhão are the Creole drum, the
cacuriá and the box bambaê.
Scenographic bonfire of São João in Campina Grande, Paraíba.
June parties
São João is undoubtedly the most common festival in the region.
Caruaru, which is the "Capital of Forró", and Campina Grande
compete for the title of the largest São João in the world: in both
cities, the festivities last the entire month of June. Other cities,
such as Aracaju, Juazeiro do Norte, Mossoró, Teresina, São Luís and
Patos have more modest celebrations (about fifteen days), and
dispute the title of third largest party.
The fireworks are one of the main attractions. The best known are
Estrelinha, Marcianito and fireworks. In addition to the various
fireworks, we have dance, such as Quadrilha and Forró.
Literature
String literature printouts.
Gilberto Freyre, from Pernambuco, represents a milestone in the
history of Brazil due to his book Casa-Grande & Senzala, which
demonstrates the importance of slaves for the formation of the
country and that whites and blacks are absolutely equal.
In Bahia, one of the first prominent writers in the country was born.
This is Gregório de Matos, a member of the baroque school. In
Romanticism the first generation stood out Gonçalves Dias (MA), in
the second José de Alencar (CE) and in the third Castro Alves (BA)
and Sousândrade (MA). In the so-called Generation of 30, a revival
of romanticism, Rachel de Queiroz (CE), Graciliano Ramos (AL), José
Lins do Rêgo (PB) and Jorge Amado (BA) emerged.
Aluísio Azevedo, from Maranhão, was one of the main authors of
Realism/Naturalism. Augusto dos Anjos (PB) and Graça Aranha (MA)
were precursors of Modernism, a school that later revealed João
Cabral de Melo Neto and Manuel Bandeira (PE), as well as Jorge de
Lima (AL).
Ariano Suassuna, from Paraíba, created the Movimento Armorial in
the 1970s, an initiative to bring together elements of Northeastern
culture in favor of the formation of a genuinely Brazilian erudite art.
This initiative resulted in works such as Auto da Compadecida and O
Santo e a Porca, both by Suassuna.
In Ceará, Patativa do Assaré surprised by its complex verses that
followed metered forms similar to the verses of Camões. Cordel
literature is widespread in the region, with Leandro Gomes de
Barros, from Paraíba, being one of the greatest authors of the
genre.
Music
Several genres have emerged in the Northeast over the years.
Luiz Gonzaga, from Pernambuco, was the forerunner of the baião, a
rhythm that, along with others like xote, xaxado and coco, is part of
the so-called forró. Several artists continued the legacy of Luiz
Gonzaga, such as Dominguinhos, Sivuca, Jackson do Pandeiro and
Waldonys.
Frevo, typical manifestation of Pernambuco. As music, it is one of
the most influential genres in the country: it revealed musicians such
as Alceu Valença, Geraldo Azevedo, Antônio Nóbrega, among many
others, and, in addition to being a symbol of the Recife/Olinda
Carnival, it was the rhythm used in the Carnival of Salvador before
the emergence of from axé music. In 2012, frevo was declared
Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Frevo, more common in the states of Pernambuco and Paraíba, is
characterized by its fast pace and the steps reminiscent of
capoeira. This genre has already revealed great musicians such as
Alceu Valença, Elba Ramalho and Geraldo Azevedo. These three,
alongside Zé Ramalho, mixed frevo, forró, rock, blues and other
rhythms.
The quartet usually performs under the name of O Grande Encontro.
In the 1960s, tropicalism emerged in Bahia, inspired by the
anthropophagic movement and which would become a landmark in
Brazil.
The artists Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé and Torquato Neto,
among others, were part of this group.
Caetano Veloso, one of the main representatives of Tropicália, a
Bahian cultural movement that emerged in the 1960s.
Bahia would again become the cradle of another musical genre in the
1980s, with the creation of axé music, having as precursors Luiz
Caldas, Chiclete com Banana, Daniela Mercury, Timbalada and
Olodum.
The genre revolutionized the Bahian carnival, as frevo, a rhythm
from Pernambuco, was used in Salvador's parties until then.
Currently, the Bahian music industry is the one that generates the
most stars in Brazil and already has a "constellation" with national
and international notoriety, mainly Ivete Sangalo, who is considered
the most popular singer in Brazil today and sales leader in the
national music industry. , has the capacity to drag a legion of fans
wherever it goes, including in international lands.
An example of this was Rock in Rio Lisboa in 2004, where the singer
broke the attendance record.
Ivete owns Caco de Telha, an entertainment company that holds the
title of the largest company in the industry in the North-Northeast
and among the five largest on the national scene.
Caco de Telha has already brought major events to Brazil, such as
the I am... tour by pop singer Beyoncé, The End tour by the Black
Eyed Peas, The Grand Moscow Classical Ballet show and Cirque du
Soleil performances at the Brazil. It has already provided the state
of Bahia, in addition to these events with international artists, great
concerts with national artists such as the Roberto Carlos 50 years
of music tour.
Through Caco de Telha, Ivete Sangalo was the star of a megaproduction at Madison Square Garden, the temple of modern
international music.
In Bahia, João Gilberto was born, considered among all the other
precursors of Bossa Nova: Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and Luiz
Bonfá Bossa Nova, the best known Brazilian rhythm in the world.
João Gilberto is considered among the precursors of Bossa Nova to
be the main creator of the rhythm.
Manguebeat, a musical genre from Pernambuco that emerged in the
underground scene of the 1990s, revealed and influenced several
musical groups and artists in the state, such as Chico Science, Nação
Zumbi, Mundo Livre S/A, Cordel do Fogo Encantado, Fred Zero
Quatro, Otto, Lenine (photo), among many others.
In the 1980s, the first major reference for Punk/Hardcore music in
the Northeast emerged in Pernambuco, with the main name being the
band Câmbio Negro HC, a pioneer in the style and the first to
produce records of the genre in the region, in addition to being a
great reference in music. undergroud of the country.
In the 1990s, Manguebeat also appeared in Pernambuco, a rhythm
that combines rock, hip hop, maracatu and electronic music.
The musical genre from Recife emerged in the underground scene,
revealing and influencing several musical groups and artists from
Pernambuco, such as Chico Science, Nação Zumbi, Mundo Livre S/A,
Fred Zero Quatro, Otto, Lenine, among many others.
The repente is quite widespread in the interior, with Cearense Cego
Aderaldo as a highlight.
Banda Cabaçal by the Aniceto Brothers, a fife band from Ceará, is
internationally famous.
In Ceará, Fagner, Belchior and Ednardo, MPB icons, stand out.
It was also in the Northeast that brega was born, whose main
representatives are Reginaldo Rossi from Pernambuco and Waldick
Soriano from Bahia.
Maranhão has a great diversity of rhythms, such as: Tambor de
Crioula, Tambor de Mina, Tambor de Taboca, Tambor de Caroço, the
four accents of bumba-meu-boi, in addition to being one of the main
Brazilian strongholds of reggae. Tribo de Jah, one of the main bands
of the genre, emerged in the state.
Other prominent people from Maranhão are: João do Vale; Claudio
Fontana; Rita Benneditto; Catulo da Paixão Cearense; Flavia
Bittencourt; Zeca Baleiro; and Alcyone.
Raul Seixas, born in Bahia, is considered the main name of rock in
Brazil. He was part of the Jovem Guarda movement as a composer.
Currently, also from Bahia, Pitty is very successful in rock. In
addition to the Pernambuco group Cordel do Fogo Encantado
significantly marking contemporary Brazilian popular music.
cooking
The first records of Brazilian feijoada are from Recife, considered
the national dish of Brazil.
Northeastern cuisine is varied, almost always reflecting the
economic and productive conditions of the region's diverse
geoeconomic landscapes. Seafood and fish are widely used in coastal
cuisine, while in the sertão, recipes that use meat and derivatives
from cattle, goats and sheep predominate. Even so, there are several
regional differences, both in the variety of dishes and in their
preparation (for example, in Ceará, salty mungunzá predominates,
while in Pernambuco, sweet predominates). The cuisine of
Pernambuco stands out for its so-called "pernambucan sweets", that
is, the sweets developed during the colonial and imperial periods in
its sugar mills, such as bolo de rolo, nego bom and top hat; and also
for the drinks and savory delicacies discovered or probably
originated in the state, such as cachaça, beiju and Brazilian feijoada.
In Bahia, the main highlights are foods made with palm oil and
shrimp, many of them of African origin such as acarajé and vatapá,
or even moquecas and bobós; however, foods accompanied by mush
like mocotó and oxtail and sweets like cocada are no less
appreciated. In Maranhão, stand out the cuxá, the rice of cuxá, the
bobó, the stone fish and the shrimp pie, in the Maranhão style. Also
in Maranhão, the soft drink Jesus or Guaraná Jesus stands out,
which is Maranhão heritage. Some typical dishes of the region are:
baião de dois, sun-dried meat, coalho cheese, stew and goat stew,
hominy, coconut beans and rice, green beans and sururu, as well as
various sweets made from papaya, pumpkin, orange, among others.
Some regional fruits — not necessarily native to the region — are
the ciriguela, the cajá, the buriti, the cajarana, the umbu, the
macaúba, the Maranhão fruits juçara (açaí), bacuri, cupuaçu, buriti,
murici and pitomba, in addition to others also common in other
regions.
Religion
Pilgrims at the foot of the statue of Padre Cícero in Juazeiro do
Norte, Ceará.
The predominant religion is Catholic. Some people are venerated as
saints, despite the non-recognition of the Catholic Church, as is the
case of Padre Cícero, Frei Damião, Padre Ibiapina and Maria de
Araújo.
Until 2019, Sister Dulce was not recognized as a saint by the
Catholic Church. However, on October 13, 2019, she was canonized
by Pope Francis, becoming the first woman demonstrably born in
Brazil to be canonized and the 37th Brazilian saint, in addition to the
31st saint from the Northeast, after the thirty Santos Martyrs of
Cunhaú and Uruaçu from Rio Grande do Norte.
Pilgrimages of pilgrims to certain cities in the northeast are
common, notably Juazeiro do Norte and Canindé (CE), Bom Jesus da
Lapa (BA) and Santa Cruz dos Milagres (PI).
Every year in January, the washing of Bonfim takes place in
Salvador, a traditional religious celebration whose high point is the
washing of the stairs of the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim by
the faithful.
Candomblé has several followers in Bahia, who tend to revere
Iemanjá by offering gifts to the entity. Such offerings are thrown
overboard or deposited in small boats released on the high seas.
In Maranhão, the Tambor de Mina is a heritage of the African
religion in that State. Instead of orixás - entities - as it happens in
Bahia, there are voduns, gentiles and caboclos or cabocos (popular
language) which are entities that download in the parents and
children of saints.
Also in Maranhão there is the Festa de São José de Ribamar, patron
saint of the State, as well as countless other festivals of saints that
take place in the capital and in the interior of Maranhão, and the
Festa do Divino Espírito Santo, which has syncretism with African
religions.
Cangaceiro:
Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, commonly known as Lampião (Serra
Talhada, June 4, 1898 — Poço Redondo, July 28, 1938), was a
Brazilian cangaceiro who worked in the northeastern hinterland. He
became known as King of Cangaço, for being the most successful
bandit leader in history.
Origin
There is controversy over Lampião's date of birth. The most cited
are:
June 4, 1898: date on his baptismal certificate, one of the most
cited in cordel literature. This day is generally accepted by many due
to the custom in the semi-arid regions of baptizing children first
and then registering them later, due to a mixture of religiosity and
distrust in relation to the constituted civil power and an
"administrative framework" on the part of this . February 12, 1900:
date given according to Antônio Américo de Medeiros by Lampião
himself in an interview with the Ceará writer Leonardo Mota, in
1926, in Juazeiro do Norte.
The issue of his date of birth becomes even more relevant in the
context in which commemorative dates are instituted in his name
(July 18), and July 7, which corresponds to the day of his civil
registration, as the "Dia do Xaxado ", by the project of the
Municipality of Serra Talhada.
Profile
Lampião, center, and his wife, Maria Bonita, right, photographed by
Benjamin Abrahão Botto (1936).
Lampião, Maria Bonita and group of cangaceiros (1936)
Born in the city of Vila Bela, currently Serra Talhada, in the semiarid region of the state of Pernambuco, he was the third child of
José Ferreira dos Santos and Maria Sucena da Purificação.
Until the age of 21, he worked as an artisan. He was literate and
wore reading glasses, characteristics that were quite unusual for the
rural and poor region where he lived. One of the versions regarding
his nickname is that his ability to fire continuously, lighting up the
night with his shots, earned him the nickname of lampion.
His family fought a dispute with other local families, usually over
land limits, until his father was killed in a confrontation with the
police in 1919. Virgulino swore revenge, and along with two other
brothers, he joined the group of cangaceiro Sinhô Pereira . In 1922,
he became leader of the gang until then commanded by Sinhô Pereira
in Pernambuco. In the same year, he killed the informant who handed
his father over to the police, and carried out the biggest robbery in
the history of cangaço at that point, against Baronesa de Água
Branca in Alagoas.
In addition to the main group, Lampião had command of several
parallel subgroups, appointing other cangaceiros at the head, such as
Corisco and Antonio de Engracia.
In 1930, he became emotionally attached to Maria Bonita in Bahia. In
the same year, it appeared in The New York Times. In 1936, his daily
life in the caatinga was photographed and filmed by Benjamin
Abrahão Botto.
For almost 20 years, Lampião traveled with his band of cangaceiros,
all on horseback and in leather clothes, hats, sandals, coats,
ammunition belts and pants to protect them from the bushes with
thorns typical of the caatinga vegetation. To protect the "captain"
(as Lampião was called) and carry out attacks on farms and
municipalities, everyone always used a potent military power. As
there were no arms contrabands to acquire, most were stolen from
police and paramilitary units. The Mauser shotgun and a wide variety
of semi-automatic pistols and revolvers were also acquired during
skirmishes. The most commonly used weapon was the Winchester
rifle. The gang called the members of the flying groups "monkeys" -
an allusion to the way the soldiers fled when they saw Lampião's
group: "jumping".
Lampião and his gang attacked farms and cities in seven states, in
addition to stealing cattle, looting, kidnapping, murder, torture,
mutilation and rape. Its passage caused terror and indignation in the
residents, a fact widely cited in the local press:
“Isn't it a shame what is happening or rather continues to happen in
the Brazilian northeast? And the public authorities, what guarantee
do they offer to the unhappy sertanejo and beaten by all the
calamities? Even magistrates no longer escape Lampeão's assorted
ways. (...) This is why the sertanejo always has an expression of
disbelief on his lips when he is promised the application of measures
in the sense of ridding the sertão of hordes of horrible cangaceiros
that make the region the most unhappy in the world”.
Despite this, Lampião and his band were often protected by
coiteiros, known as farmers, small farmers or even local authorities
who offered shelter and food to the bands for a short period of
time within the limits of their lands, facilitating the movement of
cangaceiros across the Northeast and their escape from the volatile
forces of the state.
Personal life
His companion, Maria Gomes de Oliveira, known as Maria Déa or as
Maria Bonita as nicknamed by the press, joined the band in 1930,
being the first of the women to integrate it.
Virgulino and Maria Déa had a daughter, Expedita Ferreira Nunes,
born on September 13, 1932. The couple reportedly had two
stillbirths.
Religion
He was devoted to Padre Cícero and respected his beliefs and
advice. The two met only once, in 1926, in Juazeiro do Norte.
Death
Crosses marking the place of death of Lampião and his gang, in Poço
Redondo, Sergipe.
The heads of cangaceiros including Lampião (on the first step) and
Maria Bonita (in the center, on the second step) in the city of
Piranhas in Alagoas.
On July 27, 1938, the band camped on the Angicos farm, located in
the hinterland of Sergipe, a hideout considered by Lampião to be the
most secure. It was night, it was raining heavily and everyone was
sleeping in their tents. The steering wheel arrived so silently that
even the dogs didn't notice. Around 5:00 am on the 28th, the
cangaceiros got up to say the office and were getting ready to have
breakfast; when a cangaceiro raised the alarm, it was already too
late.
It is not known for sure who betrayed them. However, in that safest
place, the pack was caught completely off guard. When the police of
Lieutenant João Bezerra and Sergeant Aniceto Rodrigues da Silva
opened fire with portable machine guns, the cangaceiros were unable
to undertake any viable attempt at defense.
The attack lasted about twenty minutes and few managed to escape
the encirclement and death. Of the thirty-four cangaceiros present,
eleven died right there. Lampião was one of the first to die. Soon
after, Maria Bonita was seriously injured. Some cangaceiros, upset
by the unexpected death of their leader, managed to escape. Quite
euphoric with the victory, the police seized the goods and mutilated
the dead. They seized all the money, gold and jewels.
The flying force, in a rather inhuman way for today, but following
the custom of the time, severed Lampião's head. Maria Bonita was
still alive, despite being seriously injured, when she was beheaded.
The same happened with Quinta-Feira, Mergulhão (the two also had
their heads torn off in life), Luís Pedro, Elétrico, Enedina, Moeda,
Alecrim, Colchete (2) and Macela. One of the policemen, showing
hatred towards Lampião, strikes his head with a rifle butt,
deforming it. This detail contributed to spread the legend that
Lampião had not been killed and had escaped the ambush, such was
the change caused in the cangaceiro's physiognomy. "That done, they
salted their victory trophies and placed them in kerosene cans
containing brandy and lime." The mutilated and bloodied bodies were
left in the open, attracting vultures. To prevent the spread of
disease, days later creoline was placed on the bodies. As some
vultures died intoxicated by creolin, this fact helped spread the
belief that they had been poisoned before the attack, with food
delivered by the traitorous coiteiro.
The Memorial da Resistência located in Mossoró in Rio Grande do
Norte is a museum that portrays the history of the only
northeastern city to resist the invasion of Lampião's gang.
Traveling through the northeastern states, Colonel João Bezerra
displayed the heads - already in an advanced state of decomposition
- wherever he went, attracting a crowd of people. First, the trophies
were in Piranhas, where they were carefully arranged on the steps
of the City Hall, along with the cangaceiros' weapons and equipment,
and photographed. Afterwards, they were taken to Maceió and to
the southeast of Brazil.
At the IML in Aracaju, the heads were observed by Dr. Carlos
Menezes. After measurements, weighed and examined, the
criminalists changed the theory that a good man would not become a
cangaceiro, and that he should have sui generis characteristics.
Contrary to what they thought, the heads did not show any sign of
physical degeneration, anomalies or dysplasia, having been classified,
purely and simply, as normal.
From the southeast of the country, despite the poor state of
conservation, the heads went to Salvador, where they remained for
six years at the Faculty of Dentistry of the UFBA. There, they were
again measured, weighed and studied, in an attempt to discover any
pathology. Subsequently, the remains were on display at the Estácio
de Lima Anthropological Museum located in the building of the
Instituto Médico Legal Nina Rodrigues, in Salvador, for more than
three decades.
For a long time, the families of Lampião, Corisco and Maria Bonita
struggled to give their relatives a dignified burial. Economist Sílvio
Bulhões, son of Corisco and Dadá, in particular, undertook many
efforts to give a burial to the remains of the cangaceiros and stop,
once and for all, the macabre public exhibition. According to the
economist's testimony, ten days after his father's burial, the grave
was violated, the body was exhumed, and his head and left arm were
cut off and placed on display at the Nina Rodrigues Museum.
The burial of the mortal remains of the cangaceiros only took place
after Bill No. 2,867, of May 24, 1965. Such a project had its origin
in the university circles of Brasília (in particular, in the lectures of
the poet Euclides Formiga), and the pressures of the people
Brazilian and the Clergy reinforced it. The heads of Lampião and
Maria Bonita were buried on February 6, 1969. The other members
of the gang were buried a week later.
Pernambuco is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It is located
in the center-east of the Northeast region and is bounded by the
states of Paraíba (N), Ceará (NO), Alagoas (SE), Bahia (S) and Piauí
(W), in addition to being bathed by the Atlantic ocean (L). It
occupies an area of 98,149,119 km² (6.57% larger than Portugal).
Also part of its territory are the archipelagos of Fernando de
Noronha and São Pedro and São Paulo. Its capital is Recife and the
administrative headquarters is the Palácio do Campo das Princesas.
The current governor is Paulo Câmara (PSB).
Pernambuco was the first economic nucleus in Brazil, as it stood out
in the exploitation of pau-brasil (also referred to as pau-depernambuco) and was the first part of the country where the
sugarcane culture effectively developed. The Captaincy of
Pernambuco, the richest captaincy in Portuguese America during the
Sugar Cycle, reached the rank of the world's largest producer of
the commodity. Many of the first historical facts of the New World
took place in the state: in Cabo de Santo Agostinho Brazil was
discovered by the Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón on
January 26, 1500; and on the island of Itamaracá, in 1516, the first
"Governor of the Parts of Brazil" was established, Pero Capico, who
built the first sugar mill in Portuguese America. Pernambuco also
took an active part in several episodes of Brazilian history: it was
the setting for the Guararapes Battles, decisive battles in the
Pernambucan Insurrection and considered the origin of the Brazilian
Army; and served as the cradle for movements of a nativist
character or libertarian ideals, such as the Guerra dos Mascates,
the Pernambuco Revolution, the Confederation of Ecuador and the
Praieira Revolution. The state gave rise to internationally renowned
personalities: physicists and mathematicians such as Mário
Schenberg, José Leite Lopes, Leopoldo Nachbin, Paulo Ribenboim,
Samuel MacDowell and Aron Simis; writers such as Paulo Freire,
João Cabral de Melo Neto, Manuel Bandeira, Clarice Lispector,
Oliveira Lima and Nelson Rodrigues; polymaths like Gilberto Freyre,
Joaquim Nabuco, Josué de Castro, Joaquim Cardozo, Antônio
Austregésilo and Cristovam Buarque; businessmen such as José
Ermírio de Moraes, Norberto Odebrecht, Antônio de Queiroz
Galvão, Edson Mororó Moura, Anita Harley and Flávio Rocha;
historical leaders and characters such as Frei Caneca, Lampião,
Araújo Lima, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Correia Picanço and Cardeal
Arcoverde; musicians such as Luiz Gonzaga, Alceu Valença, Geraldo
Azevedo, Dominguinhos, Bezerra da Silva and Naná Vasconcelos;
audiovisual professionals such as Chacrinha, Marco Nanini, Arlete
Salles, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Guel Arraes and Aguinaldo Silva;
visual artists and designers such as Romero Britto, Francisco
Brennand, Marianne Peretti, Cícero Dias, Tunga and Aloísio
Magalhães; athletes such as Rivaldo, Vavá, Ademir de Menezes,
Jaqueline, Dani Lins and Karol Meyer; among many other names.
Pernambuco is the seventh most populous federal unit in Brazil, and
has the tenth largest GDP in the country and the highest GDP per
capita among the northeastern states. Its capital, Recife, is home to
the richest and most populous urban concentration in the NorthNortheast. In the interior of the state, the most important cities
are Caruaru and Petrolina. Known for its active and rich popular
culture, Pernambuco is the birthplace of several traditional
manifestations, such as capoeira, coco, frevo and maracatu, as well
as the holder of a vast historical, artistic and architectural
heritage, especially with regard to the period colonial. In 1970, the
Armorial Movement emerged in the state, with the writer Ariano
Suassuna as its central figure. Two decades later, another important
movement appeared that constituted a kind of counterpoint to the
Armorial: Manguebeat, whose greatest exponent was the artist
Chico Science. Pernambuco has the nickname of Leão do Norte, an
expression that originates in the figure of arms of the former
captain-donatário Duarte Coelho, in allusion to the courage and
combative spirit of the Pernambuco people. The term is currently
symbolized both in the state coat of arms and in the flag of the city
of Recife, and was also the inspiration for the song of the same
name by composer Lenine.
Etymology
For some scholars, the origin of the name "Pernambuco" is related to
the Santa Cruz Channel, which surrounds the Island of Itamaracá.
Paranãbuku, from Tupi: for a portion of the researchers, a probable
allusion to the Capibaribe River.
The origin of the name Pernambuco is controversial. Some scholars
claim that it comes from the agglutination of the Tupi terms
para'nã, which means “big river” or “sea”, and buka, “hole”. Thus,
Pernambuco would be a “hole in the sea”, referring to the Santa Cruz
Channel on the Island of Itamaracá or the opening that exists in the
reefs between Olinda and Recife. According to others, it was the
name in the local indigenous languages of the discovery period for
pau-brasil. A third hypothesis would also come from the Tupi,
paranãbuku, that is, “long river”, a probable allusion to the river of
the capivaras, the Capibaribe, since primitive maps indicate a socalled “Pernambuco river” to the north of Cabo de Santo Agostinho.
There is also a fourth hypothesis, suggested by the researcher
Jacques Ribemboim, according to which the etymology would have its
origin in the Portuguese language: the Santa Cruz Canal, in the
beginning of the 16th century, was known as "Boca de Fernão" (a
reference to the explorer of pau- brasil Fernão de Noronha), and
the Indians possibly called him something close to "Pernão Boca" or
"Pernambuka", which would have given rise to the name Pernambuco.
Bento Teixeira, in his poem Prosopopeia published in 1601 — the first
poem in Brazilian literature, which tells in an epic style, inspired by
Camões, the exploits of the Albuquerque family, having been
dedicated to the then governor of Pernambuco, Jorge de
Albuquerque Coelho —, wrote a stanza in which he tells the meaning
of the word Pernambuco:
"In the midst of this alpine work, and hard,
A mouth broke the swollen Sea,
That in the dark language of barbarians,
Paranambuco, everyone is called.
From Parana which is Sea, Puca - rupture,
Made with fury from that salty Sea,
That without drifting, committing lack,
Cova do Mar is called in our language."
The native inhabitants of the state of Pernambuco are called
Pernambuco.
History of Pernambuco
Prehistory and Antiquity
Cave Paintings in the Catimbau Valley. Pernambuco is home to
archaeological sites dating back at least 11,000 years.
The Brazilian Northeast concentrates some of the oldest known
archaeological sites in the country, dating back more than 40,000
years before the present. In the region that today corresponds to
the state of Pernambuco, safe traces of human occupation over 11
thousand years were identified, in the regions of Chã do Caboclo, in
Bom Jardim, and Furna do Estrago, in Brejo da Madre de Deus. In
this last region, an important prehistoric necropolis was discovered,
with 125 square meters of covered area, from which 83 human
skeletons in good condition were rescued.
Among the indigenous groups that inhabited the state, the Itaparica
cultural tradition was identified, responsible for the manufacture of
chipped lithic artifacts more than 6 thousand years ago. In the rural
areas of Pernambuco, there are cave paintings dated approximately
2,000 years before the present, attributed to the subtradition
called Cariris Velhos. At the time of Portuguese colonization, the
caetés and tabajaras, now disappeared, inhabited the coast of
Pernambuco. In the highland swamps of the state, it is still possible
to find indigenous groups remaining from ancient traditions, such as
the Pankararu (in Tacaratu) and the Atikum (in Floresta).
Discovery of Brazil by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón
Discovery of Brazil
Cabo de Santo Agostinho, on the south coast of Pernambuco, was the
site of the discovery of Brazil by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón on January
26, 1500.
Many scholars claim that the discoverer of Brazil was the Spanish
navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, who on January 26, 1500 landed at
Cabo de Santo Agostinho, on the south coast of Pernambuco — this
is considered the oldest proven voyage to Brazilian territory.
The squadron, made up of four caravels, set sail from Palos de la
Frontera on November 19, 1499. After crossing the Equator, Pinzón
faced a strong storm, and then, on January 26, 1500, he sighted the
cape and anchored its ships in a sheltered port with easy access to
small vessels, with a depth of 16 feet, according to the rig's
indications. That port was the Suape cove, located on the southern
slope of the promontory, which the Spanish expedition called Cabo
de Santa María de la Consolación. Spain did not claim the discovery,
meticulously recorded by Pinzón and documented by important
chroniclers of the time such as Pietro Martire d'Anghiera and
Bartolomeu de las Casas, due to the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed
with Portugal.
Juan de la Cosa's map, from the 15th century, shows the South
American coast adorned with Castilian flags from Cabo da Vela (in
present-day Colombia) to the easternmost tip of the continent.
There is a text that says "Este cavo se descubrio en año de mily
IIII XC IX por Castilla syendo descubridor vicentians" ("This cape
was discovered in 1499 by Castile, the discoverer being Vicente
Yáñez") and which most likely refers to the arrival of Pinzón at the
end of January 1500 to Cabo de Santo Agostinho.
For having discovered Brazil, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was decorated by
King Ferdinand II of Aragon on September 5, 1501.
Pre-colonial period and early colonial period
Sugar Cycle, Sack of Recife, Iberian Union and Anglo-Spanish War
Olinda was the richest city in Colonial Brazil from its creation until
the Dutch Invasion, when it was vandalized. It is the oldest of the
Brazilian cities declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Convento de São Francisco, the oldest Franciscan convent in Brazil,
located in Olinda.
The Church of Santos Cosme and Damião, in Igarassu, is the oldest
church in Brazil according to IPHAN.
In 1501, the year following the arrival of Europeans in Brazil, the
territory of Pernambuco, defined by the Treaty of Tordesilhas as a
region belonging to Portuguese America, was explored by the
expedition of Gonçalo Coelho, who would have created trading posts
along the coast of the colony, including , possibly in the current
location of Igarassu, whose defense would later be entrusted to
Cristóvão Jacques. Soon Pernambuco would become the main
exploration area for pau-brasil (or pau-de-pernambuco) in the New
World. Pernambuco wood was of such superior quality that it
regulated the price in European trade, which explains the fact that
the brazilwood tree has the main name "pernambuco" in languages
such as French and Italian. In 1516, the first sugar mill known to
exist in Portuguese America was built on the coast of Pernambuco,
more precisely in the Factory of Itamaracá, entrusted to the
colonial administrator Pero Capico — the first "Governor of the
Parts of Brazil". In 1526, rights over sugar from Pernambuco already
appeared in the Lisbon Customs.
In the year 1532, Bertrand d'Ornesan, the baron of Saint
Blanchard, tried to establish a trading post in Pernambuco. With the
ship A Peregrina, belonging to the French nobleman, Captain Jean
Duperet took the Factory of Igarassu and fortified it with several
cannons, leaving it under the command of a certain lord of La Motte.
Months later, off the coast of Andalusia in Spain, the Portuguese
captured the French vessel, which was stuffed with 15,000
brazilwood logs, 3,000 jaguar skins, 600 parrots and 1.8 tons of
cotton, in addition to medicinal oils, pepper, cottonseed and mineral
samples. And at the exact moment that A Peregrina was
apprehended in the Mediterranean Sea, the Portuguese captain Pero
Lopes de Sousa was fighting the French in Pernambuco. Once the
trading post was retaken, the French soldiers were arrested and La
Motte was hanged. After being informed of the mission that A
Peregrina had carried out in Pernambuco, King Dom João III decided
to begin the colonization of Brazil, dividing its territory into
hereditary captaincies. Then began the effective settlement of the
territory of Pernambuco. The current state of Pernambuco is
equivalent to part of the Captaincy of Pernambuco, donated by Dom
João III on March 10, 1534 to Duarte Coelho, and part of the
Captaincy of Itamaracá, donated to Pero Lopes de Sousa. The Foral
of the Captaincy of Pernambuco served as a model for the charters
of other captaincies in Brazil. In 1535, Duarte Coelho took
possession of the captaincy that was granted to him, at first named
"Nova Lusitânia", but which shortly afterwards received the name it
retains to this day. In 1537, the villages of Igarassu and Olinda,
established in the year of the donatário's arrival, were elevated to
village status. Olinda received the status of administrative capital,
and its port, inhabited by fishermen, gave rise to the current city of
Recife.
The villages of Olinda and Igarassu, among the first settlement
centers in Brazil, served as a starting point for pioneering
expeditions into the interior of the captaincy. One of these
expeditions, led by the son of the donatário, Jorge de Albuquerque,
penetrated the hinterland to the São Francisco river, ensuring
dominion and expansion of the interior of the territory and fighting
the hostile Indians. Duarte Coelho, in turn, set about installing large
sugar mills in Pernambuco, also encouraging the planting of cotton. In
a short time, the Captaincy of Pernambuco became the main sugar
producer in the colony. Consequently, it was also the most
prosperous and influential of the hereditary captaincies. The
prototype of the sugar society of the great sugarcane landowners
appears in Pernambuco, which will last for the most part in the
following two centuries. The cultivation of sugar cane easily adapted
to the climate of Pernambuco and the massapê soil. Greater
geographical proximity to Portugal, lowering the cost of transport,
the abundance of brazilwood, the cultivation of cotton and the large
investments made by the grantee in founding villages and in the
pacification of the Indians are other factors that help to explain
the progress of the captaincy. Discussing the center of the colonial
economy, Father Fernão Cardim said that "in Pernambuco one finds
more vanity than in Lisbon", an opulence that seemed to derive, as
suggested by Gabriel Soares de Sousa in 1587, from the fact that,
at that time, it was the captaincy " so powerful (...) that there are
more than a hundred men in it with an income of one thousand to five
thousand escudos, and some of eight, ten thousand escudos. . The
prosperity of Pernambuco, however, transformed the captaincy into
a coveted spot for European pirates and corsairs. Already in 1595,
during the Anglo-Spanish War, the English admiral James Lancaster
took the port of Recife by storm, where he stayed for almost a
month plundering the riches transported from the interior, in the
episode known as Saque do Recife. It was the only privateering
expedition from England that had Brazil as its main objective, and
represented the richest booty in the history of privateering in the
Elizabethan period.
Around the beginning of the 17th century, the Captaincy of
Pernambuco was the largest and richest sugar producing area in the
world.
Pernambuco and the foreign invasions in Maranhão and Bahia
Matias de Albuquerque, Count of Alegrete, administered the State
of Brazil from Olinda between 1624 and 1625.
The first decades of the 17th century were turbulent on the coast
of what is now Northeast Brazil. In Pernambuco, efforts were
concentrated on the expulsion of foreign forces that invaded the
coast of Brazil.
In 1612, the French founded a colony in Maranhão lands that became
known as Equinoctial France. Jerônimo de Albuquerque, a soldier
from Olinda, was then tasked by the Captain General of Pernambuco,
Alexandre de Moura, to expel the French from Maranhão. Troops
left Recife, and in November 1614 the final battle took place, the
Combat of Guaxenduba, with the victory of the forces commanded
by Jerônimo. Six days later, the fights were suspended, with a
treaty signed by the French commander Daniel de La Touche, Senhor
de la Ravardière, and Jerônimo de Albuquerque, in which la
Ravardière committed to hand over the Fort of São Luís in five
months, which effectively occurred . In view of this conquest,
Jerônimo de Albuquerque, by act of King Philip III of Spain,
officially received the surname Maranhão.
Years later, on May 10, 1624, an expedition from the Dutch West
India Company attacked and conquered Salvador. The Governor of
the Captaincy of Pernambuco, Matias de Albuquerque, was then
appointed Governor-General, administering the colony from Olinda,
and sending significant reinforcements to the guerrillas based in
Arraial do Rio Vermelho and in the Recôncavo. However, the Dutch
were only expelled from there the following year, with the arrival of
a powerful Portuguese-Spanish fleet made up of ships from the
ports of Cádiz, Lisbon and Recife. Francisco de Moura Rolim, who
commanded the fleet of caravels in Pernambuco, became GovernorGeneral in 1625, appointed by his predecessor Matias de
Albuquerque. They were, therefore, the first governors-general
born in Brazil. In mid-1626, Matias de Albuquerque sought to
establish fortified positions in the port of Recife so that the Dutch
West India Company could be dissuaded from the idea undertaken in
Bahia.
Dutch invasion of Pernambuco (1630-1654)
Recife was the most cosmopolitan city in America during the
government of the German count (in the service of the Dutch crown)
Maurício de Nassau.
Kahal Zur Israel, the first synagogue on the American continent.
Dutch invasions of Brazil, New Netherland and Luso-Dutch War
In possession of the resources obtained in the sacking of the
Spanish silver fleet, Holland set up a new expedition, this time
against Pernambuco, the richest of all Portuguese possessions. Its
stated aim was to restore the sugar trade with the Netherlands,
which had been banned by the Crown of Spain. The Dutch saw in the
taking of Olinda and Recife an opportunity to strike a heavy blow on
the reign of Philip IV.
On December 26, 1629, an extraordinary fleet of 67 ships and about
7,000 men left Cape Verde for Pernambuco, the largest ever seen in
the colony, under the command of Admiral Hendrick Lonck. The
Dutch, disembarking on the beach of Pau Amarelo, conquered the
captaincy in February 1630 and established the colony Nova Holanda.
The fragile Portuguese resistance at the crossing of the Doce River
was defeated, and the Dutch invaded Olinda without major setbacks.
The residents, in panic, fled taking what they could. Some pockets of
contention were eliminated, highlighting the brave fight of Captain
André Temudo in defense of the Misericórdia Church. In a few days,
Olinda and its port, Recife, were taken.
Count Maurice of Nassau landed in Nieuw Holland, New Holland, in
1637, accompanied by a team of architects and engineers. At that
point, the construction of Mauritsstad (now Recife) began, which
was equipped with bridges, dikes and channels to overcome the local
geographic conditions. Architect Pieter Post was responsible for
designing the new city and buildings such as the Palace of Freiburg,
seat of power in Nassau in New Holland, which had an astronomical
observatory — the first in the Southern Hemisphere — and housed
the first lighthouse and the first zoobotanical garden on the
American continent. On February 28, 1643, Recife (currently the
Recife neighborhood) was connected to Mauritius with the
construction of the first large bridge in Latin America. During
Nassau's government, Recife was considered the most cosmopolitan
city in America, and had the largest Jewish community on the entire
continent, which built, at the time, the first synagogue in the New
World, Kahal Zur Israel, as well as the second, to Magen Abraham.
In Nova Holanda, the first coins were minted on Brazilian soil: the
florins (gold) and the soldi (silver), which contained the word Brazil.
For several reasons, one of the most important being the
exoneration of Maurício de Nassau from the captaincy's government
by the Dutch West India Company, the people of Pernambuco
rebelled against the government, joining the weak resistance that
still existed, in a movement called Insurreição Pernambucana .
Olinda was sacked and destroyed by the Dutch, who chose Recife as
the capital of New Holland. Nicolaes Visscher's map shows the siege
of Olinda and Recife in 1630.
Naval Battle of Abrolhos, confrontation between PortugueseSpanish and Dutch fought on the coast of Pernambuco in September
1631.
An ill-fated attack by a Portuguese-Spanish fleet against the Dutch
in Recife in 1636.
Pernambuco Insurrection (1645-1654)
Pernambuco Insurrection
The Guararapes Battles, decisive episodes in the Pernambucan
Insurrection, are considered the origin of the Brazilian Army.
On May 15, 1645, gathered at Engenho de São João, 18 insurgent
leaders from Pernambuco signed a commitment to fight against
Dutch domination in the captaincy. With the agreement signed, the
counterattack against the Dutch invasion begins. The first important
victory of the insurgents took place at Monte das Tabocas (today
located in the municipality of Vitória de Santo Antão), where 1,200
insurgent Mazombos armed with firearms, scythes, sticks and
arrows defeated 1,900 well-armed and well-trained Dutchmen in an
ambush. The success gave leader Antônio Dias Cardoso the nickname
Master of Ambushes. The Dutch who survived went to Casa Forte,
being defeated again by the alliance of mazombos, native Indians and
black slaves. They retreated again to the fortifications in Cabo de
Santo Agostinho, Pontal de Nazaré, Sirinhaém, Rio Formoso, Porto
Calvo and Fort Maurício, being successively defeated by the
insurgents. Surrounded and isolated by the rebels in a strip that
became known as Nova Holanda, running from Recife to Itamaracá,
the invaders began to suffer from a lack of food, which led them to
attack manioc plantations in the villages of São Lourenço, Catuma
and Tejucupapo. On April 24, 1646, the famous Battle of Tejucupapo
took place, where peasant women armed with agricultural implements
and light weapons expelled the Dutch invaders, humiliating them
definitively. This historical fact was consolidated as the first
important military participation of women in the defense of Brazilian
territory.
The Friburgo Palace (1642), place of residence and offices of
Maurício de Nassau, was demolished in the 18th century due to
damage caused during the Pernambuco Insurrection.
With the gradual arrival of Portuguese reinforcements, the Dutch
were finally expelled in 1654, in the second Battle of Guararapes.
The date of the first of the Guararapes Battles is considered the
origin of the Brazilian Army. Once the Dutch colony was taken, the
Jews were given a period of three months to leave or convert to
Catholicism. Afraid of the fire of the Inquisition, almost all of them
sold what they had and left Recife in 16 ships. Part of the Jewish
community expelled from Pernambuco fled to Amsterdam, and
another part settled in New York. Through this last group,
Manhattan Island, the current financial center of the United
States, experienced great economic development; and descendants
of Jews emigrated from Recife played an active role in US history:
Gershom Mendes Seixas, George Washington's ally in the US War of
Independence; his son Benjamin Mendes Seixas, founder of the New
York Stock Exchange; Benjamin Cardozo, a US Supreme Court
justice associated with Franklin Roosevelt; between others. Due to
the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch Republic was unable to assist
the Dutch in Brazil. With the end of the war against the British,
Holland demands the return of the colony in May 1654. Under threat
of a new invasion of the Brazilian Northeast, Portugal signs an
agreement with the Dutch and indemnifies them with 4 million
Cruzados and two colonies: the Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and
the Moluccas (part of present-day Indonesia). On August 6, 1661,
the Netherlands formally ceded the region to the Portuguese Empire
through the Peace of The Hague.
Quilombo dos Palmares
Pátio do Carmo, in Recife, where the head of Zumbi dos Palmares
was exposed until complete decomposition.
Quilombo dos Palmares
Quilombo dos Palmares was a quilombo from the Brazilian colonial
era. It was located in the then Captaincy of Pernambuco, in the
Serra da Barriga, a region that today belongs to the municipality of
União dos Palmares in Alagoas. Palmares was the largest of the
colonial period quilombos. In 1602, there are already reports of its
existence and the dispatch of expeditions by the governor-general
of the Captaincy of Pernambuco to put an end to the settlement. It
reached an area of 150 kilometers long and 50 kilometers wide,
located in the Captaincy of Pernambuco, between the current states
of Alagoas and Pernambuco, in a region of palm trees (hence its
name). Its population would have reached an estimated number
between 6 thousand and 20 thousand people. Both for its
proportions and for its prolonged resistance, it became a symbol of
slave resistance. The movement of slaves to flee to the forest came
from afar, but the Dutch invasion of Pernambuco was a great
opportunity for them. For almost 70 years, fugitive blacks lived in
peace, installing in Palmares a type of African state based on
smallholdings and polyculture. With the end of Dutch rule in
Pernambuco, the quilombo began to suffer attacks from landowners
and authorities, who saw it as a threat. As long as it existed,
Palmares lured slaves to escape. The resistance of the blacks lasted
many years and the existence of the quilombo lasted for almost a
century, with King Ganga Zumba and his successor, Zumbi, standing
out among its leaders.
Pernambuco was the richest captaincy in Colonial Brazil. The
territory of Pernambuco, at its height (map), extended from the
current state of Ceará to the current West of Bahia.
Nativist, libertarian and separatist movements
Conjuration of "Our Father", War of the Mascates, Conspiracy of
the Suassunas, Pernambuco Revolution, Beberibe Convention,
Confederation of Ecuador and Praieira Revolution
Conjuration of "Our Father" (1666)
The Captaincy of Pernambuco struggled to rebuild Recife and Olinda,
both destroyed in the struggle against the Dutch invaders. The
plantation owners, based in Olinda and with reservations about the
port of Recife, believed they deserved greater recognition from the
Portuguese Crown, for their contribution to the expulsion of the
Dutch. Portugal, however, sent to govern the captaincy Jerônimo de
Mendonça Furtado, a stranger, thus going against the interests of
many Pernambuco, who thought they were worthy of occupying the
function, and not a foreigner. Mendonça Furtado was pejoratively
nicknamed Xumberga (or, in some other versions, Xumbregas), a
reference to Field Marshal Friedrich Von Schönberg — hired by the
Count of Soure as a mercenary and who had fought in the
Restoration War —, for having a mustache similar to his. The trigger
for the movement, which culminated in the arrest and deposition of
the governor, was the stay, in the port of Recife, of a French
squadron, which, by order of the Court, were well treated. The
insurgents spread the news that the governor was in the service of
foreigners, who were preparing an attack on the captaincy, and its
consequent sacking.
Pernambuco Revolution, the only libertarian movement of the period
of Portuguese domination that surpassed the conspiratorial phase.
Frei Caneca, who was involved in the Pernambuco Revolution, was a
leader and martyr of the Confederation of Ecuador.
War of the Peddlers (1710-1711)
After the Dutch invasion, many merchants from Portugal —
pejoratively called "peddlers" — settled in Recife, bringing
prosperity to the village. The development of Recife was viewed with
distrust by the people of Olinda, most of whom were plantation
owners in economic difficulties. The conflict of political and
economic interests between the Pernambuco sugar nobility and the
new bourgeoisie gave rise to the War of the Peddlers, during which
Recife was the scene of combats and sieges. The Guerra dos
Mascates is considered a nativist movement by historiography in
Brazilian history.
Conspiracy of the Suassunas (1801)
The Suassuna Conspiracy was a revolt project that took place in
Olinda at the dawn of the 19th century. Influenced by the ideas of
the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, some people, including
Manuel Arruda Câmara — a member of the Literary Society of Rio
de Janeiro, founded in 1796 in the Pernambuco municipality of
Itambé the first Masonic lodge in Brazil, Areópago de Itambé, from
which Europeans did not participate. The same ideas were also
discussed by priests and students of the Seminary of Olinda,
founded by Bishop José Joaquim da Cunha Azeredo Coutinho on
February 16, 1800. This institution had among its members Father
Miguelinho, one of the future people involved in the Pernambuco
Revolution. from 1817.
Pernambuco Revolution (1817)
The so-called Pernambuco Revolution, also known as the "Revolution
of the Priests", was an emancipationist movement that broke out on
March 6, 1817 in Pernambuco. Among its causes, the influence of
Enlightenment ideas propagated by Masonic societies, Portuguese
monarchical absolutism and the enormous expenses of the Royal
Family and its entourage, newly arrived in Brazil, the Captaincy of
Pernambuco, then the most profitable in the colony, was highlighted.
forced to send large sums of money to Rio de Janeiro to pay for
salaries, food, clothes and Court parties, which made it difficult to
face local problems (such as the drought that occurred in 1816) and
caused delays in paying soldiers, generating great discontent among
the people of Pernambuco. It was the only libertarian movement of
the period of Portuguese domination that surpassed the
conspiratorial phase and reached the revolutionary process of taking
power. The repression was bloody: many rebels were speared or
hanged with their bodies quartered after death, while others died in
prison. Also in retaliation, the Comarca das Alagoas was
dismembered from Pernambuco, with the sanction of Dom João VI,
whose landowners had remained faithful to the Crown, and as a
reward, were able to form an independent captaincy.
Luís do Rego Barreto, the executioner of the Pernambuco Revolution,
returned to Europe in 1821: Pernambuco was the first Brazilian
province to expel the Portuguese armies.
The revolutionaries, coming from various parts of the colony, had as
their main objective the conquest of Brazil's independence from
Portugal, with the implantation of a liberal republic. The movement
shook confidence in the construction of the American empire
dreamed of by Dom João, and for this reason it is considered the
forerunner of the independence conquered in 1822.
Convention of Beberibe (1821)
Pernambuco was the first Brazilian province to separate from the
Kingdom of Portugal, eleven months before the proclamation of the
Independence of Brazil by Prince Dom Pedro de Orleans e Bragança.
On August 29, 1821, an armed movement began against the
government of Captain General Luís do Rego Barreto — the
executioner of the Pernambuco Revolution —, culminating in the
formation of the Junta de Goiana, becoming victorious with the
surrender of the Portuguese troops. in a capitulation signed on
October 5 of the same year, at the Convention of Beberibe,
responsible for the expulsion of Portuguese armies from Pernambuco
territory. The Constitutionalist Movement of 1821 is considered the
first episode of the Independence of Brazil.
Confederation of Ecuador (1824)
The Confederation of Ecuador was a revolutionary movement, of a
separatist and republican nature, which took place in Pernambuco. It
is considered an offshoot of the Pernambuco Revolution, and
represented the main reaction against the absolutist tendency and
the centralizing policy of the government of Emperor Dom Pedro I
(1822-1831), outlined in the Letter Granted in 1824, the first
Constitution of the country.
Army of the Empire of Brazil attacks Confederate forces in Recife,
in 1824, in the context of the Confederation of Ecuador.
Dom Pedro I, even after the Independence of Brazil, remained
linked to the interests of the Portuguese Crown, and was
sympathetic to a proposal, made by his father Dom João VI, to
recreate the United Kingdom based on a formula that would grant
Brazil a broad autonomy, as this would preserve their rights to the
Portuguese throne. The formula, however, was seen by many people
from Pernambuco as an attempt at recolonization. In addition, the
province of Pernambuco resented paying high taxes to the Empire,
which justified them as necessary to carry out the postindependence provincial wars (some provinces resisted separation
from Portugal). Pernambuco expected that the first Constitution of
the Empire would be of the federalist type, and would give autonomy
to the provinces to resolve their issues.
Repression of the movement was severe. The Emperor asked for
loans from England and hired troops abroad, who went to Recife
under the command of Thomas Cochrane. The rebels were subdued,
and several leaders of the revolt, such as Frei Caneca, were hanged
or shot. Also in retaliation, Dom Pedro I disconnected from
Pernambuco territory, through a decree of July 7, 1824, the
extensive Comarca of Rio de São Francisco (current Oeste Baiano),
passing it, initially, to Minas Gerais and, later, to to Bahia. This was
the last piece of land dismembered from Pernambuco, imposing on
the province a major reduction in territorial extension, from
250,000 km² to 98,000 km².
Praieira Revolution (1848-1850)
Map of the Province of Pernambuco, 1889. National Archive.
The Praieira Revolution, also called "Praieira Insurrection", "Praieira
Revolt" or simply "Praieira", was a liberal and separatist movement
that took place in the province of Pernambuco between 1848 and
1850. The last of the provincial revolts is linked to the politicalpartisan struggles that marked the Regency Period and the beginning
of the Second Reign. Its defeat represented a demonstration of
strength by the government of Dom Pedro II (1840-1889). The
Brazilian monarchy was strongly contested by the new liberal ideas
of the time. In addition to dissatisfaction with the imperial
government, a large part of the Pernambuco population was
dissatisfied with the concentration of land and political power in the
province, the most important in the Northeast. It was in this
context that the Praia Party emerged, created to oppose the Liberal
Party and the Conservative Party, both dominated by two powerful
families who lived making political agreements with each other.
There were a series of power struggles until, on November 7, 1848,
the armed struggle began. In Olinda, the beach leaders launched the
“Manifesto to the World”, and began to fight against the troops of
the imperial government, which intervened and put an end to the
biggest insurrection that occurred in the Second Reign.
Geography
Pernambuco Geography
Topographic map of Pernambuco territory
Pernambuco is one of the smallest states in the country. Despite
this, it has varied landscapes: mountains, plateaus, swamps, semi-arid
conditions and diverse beaches.
The state has 187 km of coastline, with increasing altitude from the
coast to the hinterland. The coastal plains have an altitude of up to
200 meters, featuring peneplan (mamelon) relief, and some points on
the Borborema Plateau exceed 1,000 m in altitude. On the west bank
of the agreste, there is the Sertaneja Depression, a relative
depression with an average altitude of 400 m that extends to the
eastern bank of Chapada do Araripe. Pernambuco borders Paraíba
and Ceará to the north, Alagoas and Bahia to the south, Piauí to the
west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. More than half of the
state is located in the northeastern sertão — west and central
Pernambuco. It is a place where there is little rainfall, and the
climate is semi-desert (semi-arid), due to the retention of part of
the rainfall in the Borborema Plateau and the dry air currents
coming from the south of Africa. It is in the domain of the caatinga,
with a rainy season restricted to about four months of the year, and
in periodic years the rains can be below average or even above
average.
Climate
The state of Pernambuco is characterized by two types of climate:
humid tropical (predominant on the coast) and semi-arid
(predominant inland), respectively As' and BSh in the Köppen-Geiger
climate classification.
It should be noted, however, that there are variations of these two
climate types in some regions: in the center-east of Pernambuco, the
high-altitude tropical climate (Cwa) is relatively common, especially
in the Borborema Plateau and in other mountain regions with the
occurrence of microclimates, areas where temperatures are milder,
with a minimum of 10°C; and in the center-west of the state there
are regions that have climates such as the very hot semi-arid
(BSs'h'), areas where temperatures are higher, with maximums that
can exceed 40 °C. Pernambuco has one of the biggest water deficits
in Brazil. In the hinterland, average rainfall varies between 400 mm
and 600 mm per year. In the agreste, they are comprised between
500 mm and 900 mm. And in the forest zone, the average annual
rainfall varies between 1,500 and 2,000 mm.
Hydrography
Stretch of the São Francisco river in Petrolina, in the hinterland.
The brazilwood, better known as "pau-de-pernambuco" in countries
like France and Italy, was almost completely decimated in the state,
as well as the Atlantic Forest (photo).
There are two hydrographic domains that divide the state of
Pernambuco. The first comprises small independent hydrographic
basins formed by coastal rivers that flow directly into the Atlantic
Ocean, forming the basins of the Goiana, Capibaribe, Ipojuca,
Beberibe, Camarajibe and Una rivers. The second domain consists of
the Pernambuco portion of the São Francisco river basin, which has
as small tributaries, on its left bank, the sertanejo rivers (so called
because they run through the interior of the state): Moxotó, Pajeú,
Ipanema and Riacho do Navio.
In Pernambuco, the São Francisco is the main river, and with the
exception of this and the coastal rivers, all rivers in the state have
temporary regimes, that is, they flow only in the rainy season.
Two Brazilian hydrographic regions cover the territory of
Pernambuco: São Francisco and the East Northeast Atlantic.
Environment
The vegetation cover of Pernambuco is composed of perennial
tropical forest, semi-deciduous tropical forest and caatinga. The
tropical forest (Mata Atlântica) once covered the entire area
located east of the eastern slope of the Planalto da Borborema,
which is why the region came to be called the Zona da Mata.
Currently, little remains of the primitive vegetation, which gave way
to crop fields and artificial pastures. The transition area between
the humid and semi-arid climates is covered by peculiar forest
vegetation, where species from the Atlantic forest and the caatinga
are mixed. It is the vegetation of the wild, which also gives its name
to the region. Finally, in the rest of the state, that is, in the
interior, the caatinga, characteristic of the hinterland, dominates.
Catimbau National Park
Carneiros Beach
State Law 13,787/09, of June 8, 2009, instituted the State System
of Nature Conservation Units (SEUC). In 2015, Pernambuco had 80
State Conservation Units: 40 of Integral Protection (31 Wildlife
Refuges — RVS; 5 State Parks — PE; 3 Ecological Stations — ESEC;
and 1 Natural Monument — MONA) and 40 of Sustainable Use (18
Environmental Protection Areas — APA; 13 Private Natural Heritage
Reserves — RPPN; 8 Urban Forest Reserves — FURB; and 1 Area of
Relevant Ecological Interest — ARIE).
In Pernambuco, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity
Conservation manages 11 conservation units: two national parks, an
ecological station, a national forest, three environmental protection
areas, an extractive reserve and three biological reserves. The
conservation units managed by the Brazilian government in
Pernambuco are the Marine National Park of Fernando de Noronha
(in Fernando de Noronha), the Catimbau National Park (in Buíque,
Ibimirim, Sertânia and Tupanatinga), the Environmental Protection
Area of Fernando de Noronha (in Fernando de Noronha), the Costa
dos Corais Environmental Protection Area (in Barreiros, Rio Formoso,
São José da Coroa Grande and Tamandaré), the Chapada do Araripe
Environmental Protection Area (in Araripina, Bodocó, Cedro, Exu,
Ipubi, Serrita, Moreilândia and Trindade), the Acaú-Goiana
Extractive Reserve (in Goiana), the Negreiros National Forest (in
Serrita), the Tapacurá Ecological Station (in São Lourenço da Mata),
the Serra Negra Biological Reserve (in São Lourenço da Mata). in
Floresta, Inajá and Tacaratu), the Pedra Talhada Biological Reserve
(in Lagoa do Ouro) and the Saltinho Biological Reserve (in Rio
Formoso and Tamandaré).
Demography
Pernambuco Demographics
According to the 2010 demographic census carried out by the IBGE
(last official count), the population of Pernambuco was 8,796,448
inhabitants, making it the seventh most populous state in Brazil,
representing 4.7% of the Brazilian population. Of these, 4 230 681
inhabitants were men and 4 565 767 inhabitants were women. Still
according to the same census, 7,052,210 inhabitants lived in the
urban area and 1,744,238 in the rural area. The largest urban
agglomeration in the state is the Urban Concentration of Recife,
which, in addition to the capital, has 14 more municipalities, and, with
3,741,904 registered inhabitants, was in 2010 the fourth most
populous urban concentration in Brazil, and the most populous in
North- North East. The demographic density of Pernambuco was
89.47 inhab./km² in 2010, the sixth highest in Brazil. This indicator,
however, presented pronounced contrasts according to the region
analyzed, ranging from 1,342.86 inhab./km² in the Metropolitan
Region of Recife, to the minimum value of 23.2 inhab./km² in the
extinct Mesoregion of São Francisco Pernambucano .
According to data from the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), the state's Human Development Index (HDI-M), considered
high, was 0.727 in 2017. The municipality with the highest HDI was
Fernando de Noronha (actually a state district), with a value of
0.788 in 2010; while Manari, located in the extreme Sertão do
Moxotó, had the lowest value, 0.487. Recife, the capital, had an HDI
of 0.772. The level of social development in Pernambuco is higher
than that of less advanced countries, but it is still below the
Brazilian average. Nevertheless, Pernambuco has the best sewage
collection service in the North, Northeast and South of Brazil and
the fifth largest number of doctors per thousand inhabitants in
Brazil, in addition to having the lowest infant mortality rate, the
best prevalence of food security and the highest per capita income
in the Northeast of the country.
Most populous counties:
racial composition
Immigration in Pernambuco
According to data published by the IBGE, for the year 2009, the
population of Pernambuco is made up of: Brown (multiracial) (57.6%);
Whites (36.6%); Blacks (5.4%); and Yellow and Indigenous (0.3%).
According to a 2013 genetic study, the genetic makeup of
Pernambuco's population is 56.8% European, 27.9% African and
15.3% Amerindian.
indigenous
The presence of indigenous people in Pernambuco dates back over
10,000 years. Cave paintings are found in various areas of the
state's hinterland and wilderness, the best known being those in the
Catimbau Valley in the municipality of Buíque, Pernambuco's rugged
countryside. According to data from FUNAI, Pernambuco currently
has around 40,000 Indians.
Africans
It was in the Captaincy of Pernambuco, between the years 1539 and
1542, that the first black slaves from Colonial Brazil arrived, to
work in the cultivation of cane and in the manufacture of sugar.
The Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos de Olinda was
the first church in Brazil belonging to a brotherhood of blacks.
Carving in the Portuguese National Style at Capela Dourada, in
Recife.
The Murillo La Greca Museum, in Recife, was created in honor of the
Pernambucan painter Murillo La Greca, son of Italian immigrants.
Deutscher Klub Pernambuco
Derby barracks, former Mercado Modelo Coelho Cintra, built where
an English racecourse used to be.
Old Rua dos Judeus in Recife, 1855.
The number of captives of African origin has grown significantly
since then. In 1584, 15,000 slaves worked on at least 50 sugar mills.
This number rose to 20,000 slaves in 1600. In the mid-17th century,
the slave population numbered between 33 and 50,000 people.
Pernambuco was one of the regions that most received African
slaves in Brazil. During the slave trade, 824,312 Africans, 17% of all
slaves brought to Brazil, entered through the coast of Pernambuco.
Of the Africans in the state, 79% were from West Central Africa.
Currently, the countries of Angola, Republic of Congo and
Democratic Republic of Congo are located in this region.
Portuguese
In addition to all the genetic, architectural, musical and dialect
legacy, Portugal is present in Pernambuco, with the Clube Português
do Recife, the Real Hospital Português and the Gabinete Português
de Leitura. The emergence of traditional roller hockey in
Pernambuco in the 1950s, for example, is a consequence of
Portuguese immigration. The Portuguese also participated in the
settlement of the regions of São Francisco and the hinterland of
Pernambuco, acquiring land for extensive cattle raising.
Spanish
In the early days of colonization, alongside the Portuguese, the
Spanish were present. Between the last decades of the 19th century
and the beginning of the 20th century, Recife also received
immigrants from Spain.
Italians
The Italian presence in Pernambuco dates back to the 16th century.
The plantation owner Filippo Cavalcanti, a nobleman from the city of
Florence, married Catarina de Albuquerque, daughter of the
governor Jerônimo de Albuquerque and the Indian Maria do Espírito
Santo Arcoverde, giving rise to the Cavalcanti clan (or Cavalcantes,
in the variant aportuguesada), recognized as the largest family in
Brazil. Filippo and Catarina's marriage defined one of the genetic
patterns of families in the country, whereby 90% of Brazilians have
European genes on their father's side and 60% have Amerindian or
African genes on their mother's side. Italian immigration to the
state between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the
20th century, on the other hand, was small, concentrated along the
coast and in the capital, with Italians coming mainly from the
provinces of Cosenza, Salerno and Potenza. Currently, there is a
significant number of Italian descendants in the state: around
200,000.
Dutchmen
There are many myths about the genetic heritage left by the Dutch
during their rule in Pernambuco. Culturally, the state's auburn
inhabitants are considered to be of Dutch descent, but most of
them actually descend from northern Portuguese, which is why they
are still called "galegos", a reference to the Kingdom of Galicia.
However, in 2000, the Federal University of Minas Gerais collected
DNA samples from 50 individuals from the state for analysis —
during the study "Molecular Portrait of Brazil" —, and in the result
it was verified that these people had on average 19% haplogroup 2
genes, very common in the Netherlands and Germany. It should be
noted that this percentage was the second highest found in Brazil,
just after the South region, with 28%, and even higher than the
average found in Portugal, which was 13%. There is also other
evidence that the Dutch, although the majority left after the
Pernambucan Insurrection, left descendants in Brazil. An example is
the Buarque de Hollanda family, which descends from the cavalry
captain of the troops of the Netherlands Gaspar Nieuhoff Van Der
Ley, and which includes, among other personalities, the singer and
composer Chico Buarque, grandson of the pharmacist from
Pernambuco Cristóvão Buarque de Holland. Gaspar Van Der Ley
married Maria Gomes de Mello and went to live on the north coast of
Pernambuco between 1630 and 1640.
Germans
The first records of Germans date back to the 17th century, with
the arrival of the Dutch in the state. The two world wars boosted
the German colony in Recife, which had more than 1,200 immigrants.
This presence can be observed at the Deutscher Klub Pernambuco,
founded in 1920, which was previously restricted to the German
colony and its descendants.
English
At the beginning of the 19th century, when Prince Regent Dom João
VI opened the country's ports, the English began to arrive in Brazil
— especially in Recife, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. At
that time, the city of Recife had approximately 200,000 inhabitants,
and the English colony was already quite expressive. The English
Cemetery and the Anglican Chapel date back to the period.
Jews
Judaism has been present in Pernambuco since the 16th century.
Sephardic Jews who converted to Christianity were considered New
Christians, many of whom were plantation owners. There was
however the suspicion of hidden practice of the Jewish religion.
They obtained freedom to profess their religion in the times of
Maurício de Nassau, which was soon opposed when the Portuguese
returned to the domain of the sugar economy. Between the end of
the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a second
community settled in the city of Recife, made up mostly of Jews of
Ashkenazi origin from countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Russia,
Austria and Germany. Some members of the Ashkenazi community in
Pernambuco became notorious, such as Mário Schenberg, Leopoldo
Nachbin, Paulo Ribenboim, Aron Simis, Israel Vainsencher, Clarice
Lispector, Leôncio Basbaum, Noel Nutels, among others.
Arabs
In Recife, one of the hallmarks of Arab immigrants is the Clube
Líbano Brasileiro, built by the Lebanese colony in the Pina
neighborhood. The first Arab contact with Pernambuco, however,
was with Syrian Catholic missionaries who arrived in Portuguese
caravans. The state is also home to the second largest Palestinian
community in Brazil, concentrated in the city of Recife, which began
to receive the first immigrants in 1903. Today the community has
around 5,000 people.
brown
Miscegenation occurs in Pernambuco since the beginning of
colonization. An emblematic case is that of Jerônimo de
Albuquerque, who was nicknamed "Adão Pernambucano" by Brazilian
historians. Jerônimo arrived at the Captaincy of Pernambuco in 1535
with his sister, Brites de Albuquerque, and her husband, the captaindonatário Duarte Coelho, and soon began a series of unions with
indigenous women — marrying, for example, Princess Muyrã Ubi
(baptized with the Christian name of Maria do Espírito Santo
Arcoverde), in the tabajara ritual —, which helped to seal the peace
between the Europeans and the native peoples. He also had children
with Felipa de Mello, whom he later married in accordance with
Church law as required by Queen Catarina of Portugal, and, it is
suspected, with African women who were beginning to arrive in the
colony. It is not known for sure how many children he left, but 36
were recognized, among them famous names like Jerônimo de
Albuquerque Maranhão, hero of the conquest of Maranhão and
founder of the city of Natal in Rio Grande do Norte.
Religion
Petrolina Cathedral, built in neo-Gothic style.
Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in America.
Candomblé shed in Pernambuco.
According to data from the 2010 IBGE census, 5,834,601
inhabitants were Catholic (66.33%), of which 5,801,397 were Roman
Apostolic Catholics (65.95%), 26,526 Brazilian Apostolic Catholics
(0.30% ) and 6,678 Orthodox Catholics (0.08%); 1,788,973
evangelicals (20.34%), with 1,102,485 of Pentecostal origin (12.53%),
376,880 of mission (4.28%) and 309,608 not determined (3.52%);
123,798 spiritists (1.41%); and 43,726 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.50%).
Another 914,954 had no religion (10.40%), including 10,284 atheists
(0.12%) and 5,638 agnostics (0.06%); 80,591 followed other religions
(0.90%); and 9,805 did not know or did not declare (0.12%).
Christianity
The traditional schools in Pernambuco are mostly Catholic, such as
Colégio Damas da Instrução Médica, Colégio Marista São Luís and
Liceu Nóbrega de Artes e Ofícios. The largest, oldest, best known
and most visited temples by tourists belong to the Catholic Church,
such as the Basilica of Carmo, the Basilica of São Bento, the Igreja
Matriz do Santíssimo Sacramento de Santo Antônio, the
Concathedral of São Pedro dos Clérigos, the Golden Chapel, the
Church of Carmo de Olinda, the Church of Nossa Senhora das Neves,
the Cathedral Sé de Olinda, the Church of Santos Cosme and
Damião, the Madre de Deus Church, the Church of Nossa Senhora do
Rosário dos Pretos de Olinda and the one in Recife, the Basilica da
Penha, the Basilica Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora, the
Church of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres dos Montes Guararapes,
among others, which is a sign that Roman Catholicism is the most
professed religion among the Pernambuco. The Catholic Church in
Pernambuco is administratively divided into an archdiocese and nine
dioceses: the archdiocese of Olinda and Recife, currently
commanded by Archbishop Dom Antônio Fernando Saburido, and the
dioceses of Afogados da Ingazeira, Caruaru, Floresta, Garanhuns,
Nazaré, Palmares, Pesqueira, Petrolina and Salgueiro. Pernambuco is
the federative unit in the Northeast Region with the highest
concentration of evangelicals, both in absolute numbers and in
proportional terms. 20.34% of the state's population, which
corresponds to more than 1.78 million Pernambuco, declares itself
Protestant according to the 2010 IBGE census, a percentage much
higher than the percentages found in other northeastern states.
Pernambuco has the most diverse Protestant denominations, such as
the Assembly of God, the Protestant church with the largest
number of faithful and temples in the state. Other Pentecostal and
Neo-Pentecostal denominations present in Pernambuco are, among
many: Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Christian
Congregation in Brazil, Casa da Benção Church, God is Love Church,
Foursquare Gospel Church, O Brasil para Cristo Church, Maranatha
Church and Church New life. Among the traditional evangelical
denominations, the Baptist churches, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Anglican
Church, the Methodist Church and the Congregational Church have
temples in the state.
other religions
Among non-Catholic and non-Protestant Christians, Spiritists,
Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter-day Saints stand out. The bestknown Afro-Brazilian temple is the Terreiro do Pai Adão, in Recife.
Jews are also present. Some of the Jewish personalities who lived in
the capital of Pernambuco were the writer Clarice Lispector, the
philosopher Luiz Felipe Pondé, the engineer Mário Schenberg, the
landscaper Roberto Burle Marx, among others. Buddhists, Hindus and
Muslims have no relevance in the population of the state.
government and politics
Pernambuco policy
List of governors of Pernambuco
The state of Pernambuco is governed by three powers: the
Executive, represented by the State Governor; the Legislature,
represented by the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco; and the
Judiciary, represented by the Court of Justice of the State of
Pernambuco. Popular participation in government decisions through
referendums and plebiscites is also permitted. The current
constitution of the state of Pernambuco was enacted on October 5,
1989, with the addition of changes resulting from subsequent
constitutional amendments. The Executive Power of Pernambuco is
centralized in the Governor of the State, who is elected by universal
suffrage and direct and secret vote, by the population, for a term of
four years, and may be re-elected for another term for the same
period. Its headquarters is the Palácio do Campo das Princesas, built
in 1841 by the engineer Morais Âncora at the behest of the then
governor Francisco do Rego Barros. Several politicians have passed
through the Government of Pernambuco, the most recent being Paulo
Henrique Saraiva Câmara, an economist from Recife who graduated
from the Federal University of Pernambuco. In addition to the
governor, the state also has the function of vice-governor, currently
held by Luciana Santos. The Pernambuco Legislative Power is
unicameral, constituted by the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco,
located in the Boa Vista district, in the city of Recife. It is made up
of 49 deputies, who are elected every four years. In the National
Congress, Pernambuco is represented by three senators and 25
federal deputies.
The Judiciary Power is exercised by the judges and has the capacity
and prerogative to judge, in accordance with the constitutional rules
and laws created by the Legislative Power. Currently, the presidency
of the Court of Justice of Pernambuco is exercised by the judge
Leopoldo de Arruda Raposo. Representations of this power are
spread throughout the state through comarcas.
Campo das Princesas Palace, seat of the Executive Power of
Pernambuco.
Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco, seat of the Pernambuco
Legislative power.
Court of Justice of Pernambuco, seat of the state judiciary.
Political-administrative division
List of intermediate and immediate geographic regions of
Pernambuco, List of municipalities in Pernambuco and List of
municipalities in Pernambuco by population
Pernambuco is separated into geographic subdivisions called
intermediate geographic regions and immediate geographic regions,
and into administrative subdivisions called municipalities. The
intermediate geographic regions were presented in 2017, with the
update of the regional division of Brazil, and correspond to a revision
of the former mesoregions, which had been in force since the 1989
division. The immediate geographic regions, in turn, replaced the
microregions. The 2017 division was intended to cover the
transformations related to the urban network and its hierarchy that
occurred since past divisions, and should be used for planning actions
and public policy management and for the dissemination of IBGE
statistics and studies. Intermediate geographic regions comprise
the large regions of the state, which bring together several
municipalities in a geographic area. Created by the IBGE, this
division system has important applications in the elaboration of
public policies and in the subsidy to the decision-making system
regarding the location of socioeconomic activities. The four
intermediate geographic regions of the state are: the Intermediate
Geographical Region of Recife; the Intermediate Geographic Region
of Caruaru; the Intermediate Geographic Region of Serra Talhada;
and the Intermediate Geographic Region of Petrolina. These
intermediate regions are, in turn, subdivided into immediate
geographic regions.
Pernambuco has eighteen immediate geographic regions: Recife,
Goiana-Timbaúba, Palmares, Limoeiro, Vitória de Santo Antão,
Carpina, Barreiros-Sirinhaém, Surubim, Escada-Ribeirão, Caruaru,
Garanhuns, Arcoverde, Belo Jardim-Pesqueira, Serra Talhada,
Afogados da Ingazeira, Salgueiro, Petrolina and Araripina. Finally,
there are the municipalities, which are territorial circumscriptions
that have relative autonomy and concentrate local political power,
whose system works with two powers, the Executive being the City
Hall and the Legislative being the Chamber of Councillors. In total,
Pernambuco is divided into 185 municipalities, which makes it the
eleventh unit of the federation with the largest number of
municipalities. Some of these municipalities form conurbations.
Officially, Pernambuco has a metropolitan region, Recife, and an
integrated economic development region, Petrolina and Juazeiro.
Economy
Economy of Pernambuco
Export products from Pernambuco in 2015.
At the time of Colonial Brazil, Pernambuco was the richest of the
captaincies, and responsible for more than half of Brazilian sugar
exports. Its wealth was the target of interest from other nations
and, in the 17th century, the Dutch settled in the state. Sugarcane
remains the main agricultural product in the Pernambuco forest
zone, although the state is no longer the country's largest producer.
Despite the decline of sugar, Pernambuco remained among the five
largest state economies in the country until the mid-1940s: in 1907,
the state had the fourth largest industrial production in Brazil,
after Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul and ahead of
states like Minas Gerais and Paraná; and in 1939, Pernambuco was
still the fifth largest economy among Brazilian states, after São
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul. After
having stagnated during the so-called "lost decade" (1985 to 1995),
the state witnessed an important change in its economic profile, with
investments in the naval, automotive, petrochemical,
biotechnological, pharmaceutical and information technology sectors,
which are giving new boost to its economy, which has been growing
above the national average.
In 2017, the state registered a nominal GDP of 181.551 billion reais,
the tenth largest in the country, with a 2.8% share of the Brazilian
GDP. In the same year, it registered a nominal GDP per capita of
19,164.52 reais, the highest in the Brazilian Northeast.
The main venture of the Pernambuco naval industry is the Atlântico
Sul Shipyard, the largest shipyard in the Southern Hemisphere.
Pernambuco is currently the largest producer of acerola and guava,
the second largest producer of grapes, the third largest producer of
mango and coconut, the third largest floriculture center and the
seventh largest producer of sugarcane in Brazil. Pernambuco is still
the fourth largest national producer of eggs, the sixth of broiler
chickens and the eighth largest dairy basin in the country.
Pernambuco's industrial production is among the largest in the
North-Northeast. The naval, automotive, chemical, metallurgical,
flat glass, electronics, non-metallic minerals, textile and food
industries stand out. Currently, the Industrial and Port Complex of
Suape, located in the area of the homonymous port, Metropolitan
Region of Recife, is the main industrial center of Pernambuco.
The state capital is home to Porto Digital, recognized as the largest
technology park in Brazil, with more than 200 companies, including
multinationals such as Accenture, Oracle, ThoughtWorks, Ogilvy,
IBM and Microsoft, employing around six thousand people and
accounting for 3 .9% of Pernambuco's GDP. The Recife Medical
Center, considered the second largest in the country, serves
patients from Brazil and abroad. Foreigners who go to Recife in
search of medical care, mostly Africans and North Americans, seek
quality services and affordable prices.
Tourism
Tourism in Pernambuco
Porto de Galinhas was elected the Best Beach in Brazil for ten
consecutive times — according to the magazine Viagem e Turismo.
Cine Teatro Guarany, in the mountain town of Triunfo, located at
1,004 meters above sea level, in the hinterland. Tourism in
Pernambuco offers several historical, natural and cultural
attractions. The main tourist locations in the state are: Fernando de
Noronha, Ipojuca, Tamandaré, Cabo de Santo Agostinho and
Itamaracá (Sun and Beach); Bonito, Bezerros and Petrolina
(Ecotourism and Adventure); Buíque (Archaeological); Garanhuns,
Gravatá and Triunfo (Serrano); Olinda, Igarassu, Jaboatão dos
Guararapes and Caruaru (Cultural); Vicencia, Moreno, Carpina, Goiana
and Nazaré da Mata (Rural); and Recife (Cultural, Sun and Beach,
Business and Health). According to the survey "Consumption Habits
of Brazilian Tourism 2009", carried out by Vox Populi, Pernambuco
was the second preferred tourist destination for Brazilian potential
customers, since 11.9% of tourists chose the state in the surveyed
categories; and according to the International Congress And
Convention Association (ICCA), Pernambuco was the third largest
hub for international events in Brazil in 2011.
The coast of Pernambuco is about 187 km long, between beaches and
cliffs, urban areas and virtually untouched places. It borders Paraíba
to the north and Alagoas to the south. In addition to the continental
coast, the state has the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and its
16 beaches.
On the south coast, the most popular beaches are, among others,
Porto de Galinhas, Carneiros, Serrambi, Maracaípe, Muro Alto,
Calhetas, Paiva and Ilha de Santo Aleixo.
The tourist attractions of the north coast are also very relevant.
The most popular beaches are Ilha de Itamaracá, Ilhota da Coroa do
Avião and Praia de Maria Farinha, the latter known for hosting the
Veneza Water Park, one of the largest water parks in Brazil.
Constructions from the colonial period such as the Orange Fort on
the Island of Itamaracá and the Church of Santos Cosme and
Damião (the oldest church in Brazil according to IPHAN) in Igarassu
are also very popular with tourists passing through the region.
Fernando de Noronha is one of the best known national destinations
abroad. Some of its main attractions are Baía do Sancho — voted the
best beach in the world by users of the TripAdvisor travel site —,
Baía dos Porcos, Baía dos Golfinhos, Morro Dois Irmãos, Fort Nossa
Senhora dos Remédios de Fernando de Noronha and Vila dos
Remédios. The islands are very popular for diving, and are the only
place in the Atlantic Ocean where groups of spinner dolphins can be
seen. The archipelago was declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO.
The Borborema Plateau and the highland swamps are options for
those looking for a mild climate. Mountain towns in the interior of
Pernambuco such as Garanhuns, Triunfo and Gravatá attract
thousands of visitors. The Winter Festival of Garanhuns (FIG),
created in 1991, presents a marathon of national and international
attractions of musical styles such as rock, MPB, blues, jazz, forró
and instrumental music in the squares and parks of the city.
Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco archipelago declared Natural
Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. In the photo, the Bay of Pigs.
Infrastructure
Health
The former Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Olinda (image center) was
the first hospital in Brazil.
Real Hospital Português, the largest hospital complex in the NorthNortheast.
Pernambuco has a great tradition in the field of medicine. It was in
the state that the first hospital in Brazil appeared: the Santa Casa
de Misericórdia de Olinda, founded in 1540 and extinguished in 1860
with the creation of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Recife. And
it was in Recife that the country's first cesarean section was
performed, in 1817, by the Pernambuco physician Correia Picanço —
founder of the first medical schools in Brazil and acclaimed
"Patriarch of Brazilian Medicine".
In 2009 there were 4,149 hospitals in Pernambuco, with 19,204
beds. Some of the main hospitals in the state are the Real Hospital
Português, IMIP, Hospital da Restauração, Hospital Getúlio Vargas,
Hospital Agamenon Magalhães, Hospital das Clínicas of the Federal
University of Pernambuco, Hospital Ulysses Pernambucano, Hospital
Barão de Lucena , the Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital and the
Pernambuco University Cardiological Emergency Room. The Hospital
da Restauração is the largest public emergency and the most
complex emergency and trauma service in the North-Northeast,
receiving patients from all over the state and neighboring states.
Reference in the areas of trauma, neurosurgery, neurology, general
surgery, internal medicine and orthopedics, they have 704 beds
registered with the Ministry of Health (MS) to meet the demand
submitted to them. In June 2010, the former General Emergency
was split into three emergencies with independent entrances and
spaces: Pediatric Emergency, Traumatological Emergency and Clinical
Emergency. Pernambuco is home to one of the three hide banks in
Brazil, with the other two located in São Paulo and Rio Grande do
Sul.
In 2013, the state had the fifth largest number of physicians per
thousand inhabitants in Brazil, and its capital, Recife, had the second
largest number of physicians per thousand inhabitants in the country
— according to the Federal Council of Medicine.
Education
List of higher education institutions in Pernambuco
The main Pernambuco educational facilities are concentrated in the
capital.
The Faculty of Law of Recife is the oldest law school in Brazil
alongside the law course at the University of São Paulo (USP).
The Federal University of Pernambuco, the main institution of
higher education in the state, was classified in 2013 by the QS
World University Rankings as the best university in the NorthNortheast and the 8th best Brazilian federal university, as well as
the 15th best university in the country, having occupied the 43rd
position among institutions in Latin America; and although it was
overtaken by UFPR in relation to the previous year, it continues to
be ahead of institutions such as UFSC and UFBA. UFPE is also the
best university in the North-Northeast according to the 2012 Folha
University Ranking, in addition to being the only university in these
two regions among the top ten in the country.
Pernambuco has its main colleges and universities founded in the
19th century, and some stand out nationally. The centenary Faculty
of Law of Recife, born from the transfer of the Faculty of Law of
Olinda and now linked to UFPE, was the first higher education course
of law in Brazil, together with the course of São Paulo, still under
the government of Dom Pedro I. important names in Brazilian history
studied, highlighting exponents such as Barão do Rio Branco, Castro
Alves, Clóvis Beviláqua, Tobias Barreto, Ruy Barbosa, Joaquim
Nabuco, Eusébio de Queirós, Teixeira de Freitas, Raul Pompeia, Nilo
Peçanha, Augusto dos Anjos, Epitácio Pessoa , Assis Chateaubriand,
José Lins do Rego, Graça Aranha, Pontes de Miranda, among
countless others. Even today, the celebrated Faculty of Law of
Recife, honoring its tradition, is a center of excellence in the
teaching of law, being, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate
levels, among the five best legal courses in Brazil, according to the
OAB and the MEC.
In addition to the Federal University of Pernambuco, other
important higher education institutions located in the state are: the
Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), founded in 1912 as
the Higher School of Agriculture; the University of Pernambuco,
formerly FESP, a state public university that has campuses in
several cities in the interior of the state; and the Federal University
of Vale do São Francisco, the first federal university established in
the northeastern hinterland.
Pernambuco stands out in technological education. The Informatics
Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CIn UFPE),
responsible for courses in Computer Science, Information Systems
and Computer Engineering, is a major supplier of skilled labor in
technology for Microsoft. And the state also has outstanding
secondary education institutions: the Colégio de Administração da
UFPE was elected the best public school in Brazil three times.
Transport
Multimodal map. Pernambuco has the largest extension of duplicated
highways in the North-Northeast. The Port of Suape was elected
the best port in Brazil in 2010.
Recife-Guararapes International Airport is the largest and busiest
airport complex in the Northeast and North of the country.
Pernambuco was the second state in Brazil to have a railroad, four
years after Rio de Janeiro. It is the first section, 31 km long, of The
Recife and São Francisco Railway Company, inaugurated in 1858,
being the largest in the country in that year and the first managed
by a company from abroad. Less than a decade later, Recife became
the first city in the world to operate steam locomotives built
especially to run on the streets. The system, known as
"maxambomba" (from the English machine pump), had locomotives
built by Manning Wardle & Co., and was inaugurated in 1867. Before,
canoes were the main means of transporting people and cargo in the
capital of Pernambuco , and for the more affluent, horses and
carriages. The maxambomba itinerary was 22 kilometers long and
had 20 stations, until in 1919 it was replaced by electric trams. In
1930, Recife became the first city in South America with direct
connection (non-stop) to Europe, especially to Germany, by means of
airships. Nowadays, the capital of Pernambuco has the only airship
docking station in the world preserved in its original structure, the
Zeppelin Tower.
Currently, the state has coverage of all types of transport: air, rail,
waterway and road.
Infraero manages two airports in Pernambuco. Recife-Guararapes
International Airport is the largest and busiest airport complex in
the North-Northeast, with capacity for 16.5 million passengers per
year, and one of the most modern airports in Brazil. And Petrolina
International Airport has the second largest landing strip in the
Northeast, which makes it possible to operate large cargo planes for
the export of fruits produced in the São Francisco Valley.
The state also has two maritime ports: Suape, located in the
municipality of Ipojuca; and Recife, one of the oldest in Brazil, which
many scholars claim to have started the city of Recife. It also has a
river port, in Petrolina. The Port of Suape, the most important port
in Pernambuco, is one of the largest in Brazil, and operates ships 365
days a year, with no restrictions on tide times, and has a laser ship
mooring monitoring system that enables a effective and secure
control, offering technical conditions in line with the standards of
the most important ports in the world.
Pernambuco's road network consists of fourteen federal highways,
seventy-four state highways and municipal highways. The most
important are the BR-101, which, advancing along the coast of the
state, connects the north to the south — the stretch in Pernambuco
is completely duplicated —, passing through Greater Recife; and the
BR-232, which connects the capital to the interior of the state in an
east-west direction — with a 237 km stretch duplicated (Recife to
São Caetano) —, passing through important cities such as Vitória de
Santo Antão, Gravatá, Caruaru, Belo Jardim , Pesqueira, Arcoverde,
Serra Talhada and Salgueiro. The Salgueiro-Petrolina connection is
made by the BR-116, BR-316 and BR-428 highways. Pernambuco has
the largest duplicate road network in the North-Northeast
according to the 2016 CNT Transport Yearbook, with 462.8 km of
dual carriageways in 2015.
The Transnordestina, 1,752 km long, is the main railway project
underway in the state, and intends to connect the city of Eliseu
Martins (in Piauí) to the Port of Suape and the Port of Pecém (in
Ceará). The Recife Metro, the first subway system in the North-
Northeast, was inaugurated in March 1985, with the WerneckCentro line. It is operated by CBTU, and carries around 400,000
passengers a day.
Media
Rede Globo Nordeste, headquartered in the state, is Globo's only
own broadcaster in the North-Northeast.
Newspapers were the state's first mass media. Aurora
Pernambucana was the first newspaper in Pernambuco and the third
published in Brazil. Issue No. 1 circulated on March 27, 1821, in a 25
x 17 cm format, with four pages, on linen paper and printed at the
Pernambuco National Train Workshop, in Recife.
Pernambuco has three major newspapers: Diario de Pernambuco
(oldest newspaper in circulation in Latin America); the Jornal do
Commercio; and Folha de Pernambuco. The first radio station
appeared at the end of the 1910s. Rádio Clube de Pernambuco is the
oldest radio station in Brazil: it carried out its first radio
transmission from an improvised studio in Ponte d'Uchoa, in Recife,
in 6 April 1919, led by radiotelegraph operator Antônio Joaquim
Pereira. Pernambuco has several television generators, affiliates and
retransmitters. Some of the stations — branches and affiliates —
present in the state are: TV Globo Nordeste (Globo - Recife); TV
Asa Branca (Globo - Caruaru); TV Grande Rio (Globo - Petrolina); TV
Clube (RecordTV - Recife); TV Jornal Interior (SBT - Caruaru); TV
Jornal (SBT - Recife); TV Tribuna (Band - Recife); and TV
Pernambuco (TV Brasil - Caruaru/Recife).
Science and technology
Porto Digital, located in the Recife Antigo neighborhood in the state
capital, is the largest technological park in Brazil and a world
reference in software production.
In 1895, the Pernambuco School of Engineering was created, the
first engineering school outside the Southeast region. In it, which
soon became one of the main scientific institutions in the country, a
wave of great Brazilian scientists emerged, such as Mário
Schenberg, José Leite Lopes and Leopoldo Nachbin, thanks to the
catalytic action of professor Luís Freire, known for actively
participating in movements in favor of the creation of schools
capable of training researchers in mathematics and physics.
Recognized as the birthplace of outstanding scientists and famous
names in the exact sciences, Pernambuco also gave rise to names
such as Paulo Ribenboim, Aron Simis, Samuel MacDowell, Gauss
Moutinho Cordeiro, Israel Vainsencher, Josué de Castro, Joaquim
Cardozo, Norberto Odebrecht, Cristovam Buarque, Fernando de
Souza Barros, Ricardo de Carvalho Ferreira, Leandro do Santíssimo
Sacramento, José Tibúrcio Pereira Magalhães, Edson Mororó Moura,
Fernando Antonio Figueiredo Cardoso da Silva, Antônio de Queiroz
Galvão, João Santos, among many others.
Following its tradition in the exact sciences, Pernambuco is currently
one of the most prominent Brazilian states in the area of
information technology. Porto Digital, an IT business environment
created in 2000 in the historic center of Recife, is recognized by
AT Kearney as the largest technological park in Brazil in terms of
revenue and number of companies. only Brazilian city with the
exception of São Paulo that hosts editions of the Campus Party
technology event.
The state also stands out in technological education. The
Informatics Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CInUFPE), considered one of the main academic centers in informatics
in Latin America and responsible for courses in Computer Science,
Information Systems and Computer Engineering, is a major supplier
of labor specialized in technology for Porto Digital and for several
multinationals in the technology sector. The Federal University of
Pernambuco was one of the five educational institutions selected
worldwide for Microsoft's worldwide research program, which
allowed access to the source code of Visual Studio components. The
other four universities selected were Yale University - United
States; Monash University - Australia; the University of Hull -
England; in addition to UNESP, Brazil being the only country that
had two universities chosen.
Pernambuco has two Federal Institutes of Education, Science and
Technology: the Federal Institute of Pernambuco and the Federal
Institute of Sertão Pernambucano.
Culture
Culture of Pernambuco
Literature
It was in Pernambuco that the first poem in Brazilian literature
appeared: Prosopopeia, by Bento Teixeira. The work tells in an epic
style, inspired by Camões, the exploits of the Albuquerque family,
having been dedicated to the then governor of Pernambuco, Jorge
de Albuquerque Coelho. Prosopopeia was published in the year 1601.
Another milestone in Pernambuco literature is the book Historia
Naturalis Brasiliae, the first treatise on natural history in Brazil,
authored by the Dutch physician and naturalist Guilherme Piso, who
conceived it through observation of the zoobotanical garden of the
Palace of Friburgo, Maurício de Nassau's residence in the Recife
during Dutch rule.
Two hundred and fifty years after Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, the
Pernambuco abolitionist Joaquim Nabuco was completing Minha
Formação, a classic work of Brazilian literature. Years later, at the
Modern Art Week, the poem Os Sapos by Recife-born Manuel
Bandeira is read, considered the movement's opening-winger.
Pernambucan literati are many. Some of them: João Cabral de Melo
Neto, Manuel Bandeira, Nelson Rodrigues, Joaquim Nabuco, Clarice
Lispector, Paulo Freire, Gilberto Freyre, Joaquim Cardozo, Josué de
Castro, Álvaro Lins, Marcos Vilaça, Martins Júnior, Mauro Mota,
Mário Pedrosa, Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Barbosa Lima Sobrinho,
Osman Lins, Dantas Barreto, Geraldo Holanda Cavalcanti, Evaldo
Cabral de Mello, Evanildo Bechara, Olegário Mariano, João Carneiro
de Sousa Bandeira, Adelmar Tavares, among many others. Clarice
Lispector, a Ukrainian naturalized Brazilian and one of the biggest
names in national literature, declared herself from Pernambuco
because she lived most of her childhood and adolescence in Recife.
Other artistic-cultural manifestations
Capoeira is considered to have emerged in Quilombo dos Palmares, in
the then Captaincy of Pernambuco. Frevo, declared Intangible
Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Maracatu, the oldest Afro-Brazilian rhythm.
Nova Jerusalem, located in the wild of Pernambuco, is the largest
open-air theater in the world.
Pernambuco's cinematographic production is highly respected by the
critics, and has won awards at several film festivals.
Carnival in Olinda. The Recife–Olinda Carnival is considered the most
democratic and culturally diverse in the country.
Folklore and musical genres
Several folkloric manifestations appeared in Pernambuco over the
years. Frevo, one of the main ones, is a symbol of the Recife–Olinda
Carnival, and is characterized by its fast musical rhythm and dance
steps that are reminiscent of capoeira. This genre has already
revealed and influenced great Brazilian musicians. Before the
creation of axé music in the 1980s, frevo was also used at Carnival in
Salvador. In a ceremony held in the city of Paris, France, in 2012,
UNESCO announced that, unanimously approved by voters, frevo was
elected Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Maracatu Nação, also known as "Maracatu de Baque Virado", is a
cultural manifestation of traditional Afro-Brazilian Pernambuco
music. It is formed by a percussive musical ensemble that
accompanies a royal procession. The groups present a show full of
symbologies and marked by aesthetic richness and musicality. The
most outstanding moment consists of going out to the streets for
parades and presentations during the carnival period.
The Maracatu Rural, also referred to as "Maracatu de Baque Solto",
is another cultural manifestation of Pernambuco, in which the wellknown "caboclos de lance" appear. It differs from Maracatu Nação in
organization, characters and rhythm. Maracatu "Cambinda
Brasileira" is the oldest in activity in the country. For its members,
Maracatu Rural means something more than a joke: it is a centuriesold legacy, a source of great pride and admiration. The Maracatu
Rural procession differs from other maracatu due to its own musical
characteristics and the essence of its origin reflected in the
syncretism of its characters.
Baião, a genre of music and dance, had Luiz Gonzaga, from
Pernambuco, as its greatest exponent. The rhythm, along with others
such as xote, is part of the so-called forró. The Xaxado, on the
other hand, is a typical dance originating in the backlands of
Pernambuco, is exclusively male and was disseminated over a vast
area of the northeastern interior by the cangaceiro Lampião and the
members of his gang. Fife Bands are also very common in
Pernambuco, in addition to other music and dances from the state,
such as Coco, Ciranda, Cavalo-Marinho, Caboclinhos, Pastoril,
Embolada, among other manifestations.
In the 1990s, Manguebeat emerged in Pernambuco, a counterculture
movement that mixes regional rhythms, such as maracatu, with rock,
hip hop, funk and electronic music.
theater
Every year, in the weeks leading up to Easter, the show of the
Passion of Christ of Nova Jerusalem takes place at Fazenda Nova, in
the Brejo da Madre de Deus district, in the rural region of
Pernambuco. The event is recognized as the largest open-air theater
in the world. The city-theatre of Nova Jerusalem impresses with its
architecture: the construction is a replica of the holy Judea, with
artificial lakes, nine stages, a 3,500 m wall and 70 towers. Several
successful actors and actresses from Rede Globo have already
performed in Nova Jerusalem. The Passion of Christ exists since
1951, as a theatrical show.
Pernambuco gave rise to Mamulengo, the name given to the Brazilian
puppet theater, considered one of the richest popular shows in the
country. It is a representation of dramas through puppets, on a small
elevated stage covered by a empanada, behind which stand the
people who give life and voice to the characters. Glória do Goitá, a
municipality in the Pernambuco forest zone, holds the title of
"cradle of the mamulengo".
visual arts
Pernambuco cinema
The history of cinema in Pernambuco began in 1922, when the
goldsmith Edson Chagas and the engraver Gentil Roiz got together
with the purpose of producing plot films. Hence, the film
"Retribuição", which premiered in 1923 with great success in Recife
cinemas and which is considered the first plot film made in the
Northeast - previously there were only a few experiences with
documentaries. Local cinematographic production has already
received numerous national and international awards and is a record
holder for nominations and awards in several editions of festivals.
Films by Pernambuco filmmakers and screenwriters such as the
dramas Baile Perfumado (1996), Amarelo Manga (2002), Cinema,
Aspirinas e Urubus (2005), O Som ao Redor (2013), Serra Pelada
(2013), Aquarius (2016), or even novels and comedies such as O Auto
da Compadecida (1999), Caramuru - A Invenção do Brasil (2001),
Lisbela e o Prisioneiro (2003), The Machine (2005), Stay With Me
This Night (2006), O Bem Amado (2010) ), among many other
productions, achieved great projection.
Pernambuco also stands out in the visual arts and design. Names like
Romero Britto, Tunga, Francisco Brennand, Marianne Peretti, Cícero
Dias, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Mestre Vitalino, Aloísio Magalhães,
Andree Guittcis, Telles Júnior, Abelardo da Hora, Murillo La Greca,
Corbiniano Lins, Reynaldo Fonseca, are from the state. J. Borges,
Eudes Mota, Gilvan Samico, Lula Cardoso Ayres, Paulo Bruscky, Galo
de Souza, among many others. The renowned plastic artist Vik Muniz
is the son of parents from Pernambuco.
festivities
Carnival in Recife is a multifaceted carnival, with different forms of
street carnival, parades by carnival associations and performances
by singers and musical groups on specific platforms. Recife has the
largest carnival block in the world, Galo da Madrugada, which
performs on Carnival Saturday, or "Sábado de Zé Pereira". In 1995
Galo brought together more than a million people, a feat that
included it in the Guinness World Records. The Carnival of Olinda is
known worldwide for the parades of the Bonecos de Olinda, dolls
over two meters tall, colorful and easy to find, which take to the
streets along with the revelers. The party is held in the historic
center of the city.
São João de Caruaru is one of the most famous in Brazil. It has
several animation centers, artistic shows, presentation of folklore
and regional groups and typical cuisine with corn-based delicacies
such as hominy, pamonha, corn cake, pé de moleque and others. In
the biggest São João party in the world, the audience reaches 1.5
million people. Journalists from various parts of the world record
the event, which is in the Guinness World Records, in the category
largest country (regional) outdoor party on the planet.
cultural spaces
Ceramic Workshop Francisco Brennand
Culture house
The state is home to many museums, cultural centers and
institutions aimed at promoting artistic actions, such as the Gilberto
Freyre Foundation, the Francisco Brennand Ceramic Workshop, the
Ricardo Brennand Institute, the Northeast Man Museum, the Cais do
Sertão Museum, the Paço do Frevo, the Pernambuco Archaeological,
Historical and Geographical Institute, the Portuguese Reading
Cabinet, the Abolition Museum, the Train Museum, the Museum of
the City of Recife, the Museum of the State of Pernambuco, the
Museum of Modern Art Aloísio Magalhães, the Museum of
Contemporary Art of Pernambuco, Caixa Cultural, Centro Cultural dos
Correios, Santander Cultural, Academia Pernambucana de Letras,
Academia de Artes e Letras de Pernambuco, Joaquim Nabuco
Foundation, Museu do Barro e do Forró, the Sertão Museum, the
Santa Isabel Theater, among others. The Museu do Estado de
Pernambuco, created in 1928, has a large eclectic collection, with
around 12,000 items covering the areas of art, anthropology, history
and ethnography. The Museu do Homem do Nordeste, linked to the
Joaquim Nabuco Foundation/Ministry of Education, is an important
anthropological museum that brings together a collection of around
15,000 pieces of cultural heritage from the formation of the
northeastern people. It also has a projection room, the Cinema do
Museu, where alternative films are shown, which are not shown in
the big theaters. Cais do Sertão, an interactive and object museum
considered one of the most modern cultural facilities in the country,
was voted the 18th best museum in South America by users of the
travel site TripAdvisor. Oficina Cerâmica Francisco Brennand is a
monumental complex with 15 km² of built area — art museum and
studio — created by the artist Francisco Brennand, it has a
collection of more than 2 thousand pieces, including sculptures and
paintings. The Ricardo Brennand Institute (IRB), founded by
collector and businessman Ricardo Brennand, is located in a
medieval-style architectural complex, comprising three buildings:
Museu Castelo São João, art gallery and gallery, surrounded by a
vast park. It houses one of the largest collections of bladed weapons
in the world, in addition to a permanent collection of historic-artistic
objects from different sources, covering the period from the Late
Middle Ages to the 21st century, with a strong emphasis on
historical and iconographic documentation related to the colonial
period. and Dutch Brazil.
The Ricardo Brennand Institute, in Recife, houses one of the largest
collections of bladed weapons in the world, with over 3,000 pieces,
including 27 complete medieval armours. It was voted the best
museum in Latin America by TripAdvisor users.
cooking
The roll cake, icon of Pernambucan sweets and one of the symbols of
Pernambuco.
Brazilian feijoada and cachaça are likely from Pernambuco. Beiju, an
indigenous delicacy, was discovered in Pernambuco in the 16th
century.
Pernambuco cuisine
Pernambuco's cuisine was directly influenced by European, African
and indigenous cultures. Several original recipes from other
continents were adapted with ingredients easily found in the region,
resulting in unique combinations of flavors, colors and aromas. It
stands out for its so-called "Pernambucan sweets", that is, the
sweets developed during the colonial and imperial periods in its sugar
mills, such as bolo de rolo, nego bom and top hat; and also for the
drinks and savory delicacies discovered or probably originated in the
state, such as cachaça, beiju and Brazilian feijoada.
The best-known delicacies are, among others, beiju or tapioca,
Brazilian feijoada, tidy, escondidinho, broths such as sururu, shrimp
and fish broths, stew, moqueca from Pernambuco, fish from
Pernambuco, stew, chambaril, beef jerky, coconut bredo, coconut
beans, kibbeh, chicken giblets, angu, salted mungunzá, sarapatel,
buchada and oxtail. Among the most common drinks, cachaça
deserves special mention; and among the sweets from Pernambuco
we can mention the bolo de rolo, the Souza Leão cake, the white bar
cake, the top hat and the good nego. In São João, corn foods are
present in pamonha, hominy, corn cake, sweet mungunzá, among other
delicacies.
The Souza Leão cake, the roll cake and the hat received, by law, the
status of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the State of Pernambuco.
The beiju from Alto da Sé in Olinda, considered the most traditional
in Brazil and preserved by the "Associação das Tapioqueiras de
Olinda", received the title of intangible heritage of the city.
Recife is the third largest gastronomic center in Brazil according to
the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel) — with
around 10,000 establishments —, after Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Pernambuco is the state with the highest number of restaurants
starred by Guia Quatro Rodas in the North, Northeast, Midwest and
South of Brazil, and the fourth in Brazil, behind only São Paulo, Rio
de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Sixteen Pernambuco establishments,
which have renowned chefs and ranging from regional cuisine to
Lusitanian, Italian, French, Japanese and Peruvian cuisine, were
awarded in 2013.
sports
The most popular sport in the state is soccer. Pernambuco is the
leader among the North-Northeast states in the ranking of CBF
federations, and Recife was one of the six venues for the 1950
World Cup (the only Northeastern host), in addition to having hosted
the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2013 FIFA World Cup. World
2014.
Náutico is the boss of the Pernambuco Arena. Sport and Santa Cruz
occasionally use the stadium.
Caruaru International Autodrome
Pernambuco is also the state in the North-Northeast that stands
out the most in other sports: it is the second Brazilian state in
number of national hockey titles, both in the men's and women's
championships, behind only São Paulo, and Sport Club do Recife one
of only two Brazilian clubs to win a South American Hockey
Championship; and it is the only state outside the Center-South with
Brazilian and South American basketball titles, obtained by the
women's team of Sport Club do Recife between 2013 and 2014.
The Pernambuco Football Championship, one of the main state
tournaments in the country, has been played since 1915, always
having a team from the capital as champion. The main teams in the
state are Sport Club do Recife, which has the most state titles (41
in 2017), being still Brazilian Champion in 1987, Champion of the Copa
do Brasil in 2008, Vice-Champion of the Copa do Brasil in 1989 and
Vice -Champion of the 2000 Champions Cup; Santa Cruz Futebol
Clube, with 29 Pernambuco titles, in addition to the Riba Azul do
Brasil title for having returned to the country undefeated after an
international tour in which it faced soccer teams such as Paris SaintGermain and some selections; and Clube Náutico Capibaribe, which
holds the record for the most consecutive state titles (six times
champion) out of a total of 21 achievements and the Brazilian ViceChampion title in 1967. The three main clubs in Pernambuco are
among the oldest and most traditional in Brazil.
Other sports clubs in the state are América (with six state football
titles and the Northeast Trophy), Clube Português do Recife,
Central, Porto, Ypiranga, Salgueiro, Petrolina, Serra Talhada, Belo
Jardim and or Araripine.
The biggest teams in Pernambuco have their own stadiums. The
biggest stadium built is Estádio do Arruda, belonging to Santa Cruz.
Also noteworthy are Ilha do Retiro, belonging to Sport, and Estádio
dos Aflitos, which belongs to Náutico, with Náutico currently playing
at Arena de Pernambuco, a modern stadium built in São Lourenço da
Mata, in the Region Metropolitana do Recife, for the 2014 World
Cup.
Holidays
In the following table are the holidays and optional points previously
scheduled throughout the state of Pernambuco. In the capital,
Recife, there are two municipal holidays: the 16th of July — Day of
the Patron Saint Nossa Senhora do Carmo; and the 8th of December
— Feast of Our Lady of Conception.
Today all history is related to the Brazilian Northeast that in
everything I describe here with a lot of respect and love about my
land that for a cultural simplicity I want to talk about its origins and
the beginning of a tradition that our people started when everything
is said what the Northeast it was the cradle of European
colonization in the country, since the discovery of Brazil took place
there, which refers, in Luso-Brazilian historiography, to the arrival
of the fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral to the territory
called Ilha de Vera Cruz, which occurred on the day April 22, 1500.
This discovery is part of the discoveries and the Portuguese
expedition and the news of the discovery of Brazil were reported by
the expedition's clerk, Pero Vaz de Caminha. The Portuguese
remained in Brazilian lands until May 2, 1500, when, then, they
continued their journey towards India, the great objective of the
expedition. The arrival of the Portuguese in Brazil is one of the final
results of the great navigations, the ocean exploration that took
place throughout the 15th century. Although the Spaniards arrived
on the American continent first, the Portuguese are considered the
pioneers in this exploration process, making great “discoveries” in
this period and we are going to talk here a little about the Brazilian
wilderness that we are going to show here now its history.
Agreste designates an area in the Northeast Region of Brazil in the
transition between the Zona da Mata and the Sertão , which extends
over a vast area of the Brazilian states of Bahia , Sergipe , Alagoas ,
Pernambuco , Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte . The area occupied
by the Agreste is located in a narrow strip, parallel to the coast . Its
main characteristics are deep soils ( latosols and argisols ), with
extremely variable relief , associated with shallow soils ( lithosols ),
relatively fertile soils , variable vegetation with a predominance of
deciduous vegetation (deciduous). It is an area subject to droughts ,
whose rainfall varies between 300 and 1200 mm/year, oscillating
predominantly between 700 and 800 mm/year. It has 5 main poles:
Campina Grande , Caruaru , Arapiraca , Feira de Santana and Vitória
da Conquista .
Geography
It has essentially stony soil, intermittent (temporary) rivers, sparse
vegetation and small size ( myrtaceae , combretaceae , legumes and
cacti ). Technically, the agreste together with the hinterland make
up the ecosystem called caatinga . It has, as it is markedly
transitional terrain, areas where there is greater humidity, the
swamps . The main geographic accident in the region is the
Borborema plateau — which has tropical and forested vegetation,
associated with the humid climate in the high areas and the eastern
slope region; and caatinga vegetation, associated with the semi-arid
and dry climate , in the low areas in the center and west of the
plateau.
half anthropic
The land structure of the Agreste is basically formed by small and
medium-sized properties where polyculture is practiced , often
associated with extensive livestock and dairy farming. As it is
outside the region of coastal influence, predominantly in the
northeastern interior, it is subject to cyclical droughts, so that a
good part of the population there depends essentially on the rainfall
regime, which is irregular and temporary rivers.
The Associação Plantas do Nordeste (APNE), a non-governmental
entity in partnership with the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew ,
England , and the CNPq , has been carrying out studies aimed at the
sustainable use of the local flora , as well as its study and
preservation.
Because of the demographic density and land structure with a
tendency towards smallholdings , the Agreste is an area where the
pressure on the land is quite strong ( pediplanation ). This problem is
serious and ends up leading to migrations to the Southeast.
Demography
Its population density is the second highest among the northeastern
geographic zones, surpassed only by the Zona da Mata .
In the agreste, small and medium-sized rural properties
predominate, where polyculture (cultivation of different types of
plants) and dairy farming are developed. Its products supply the
largest consumer market in the Northeast — the Zona da Mata. The
Agreste is a transition area between the Zona da Mata, with a humid
tropical climate, and the Sertão, with a semi-arid climate.
Cities
The Agreste is the only northeastern sub-region that does not host
any capital, but it is home to important poles, the main cities being:
Feira de Santana , Bahia
Jequié , Bahia
Alagoinhas , Bahia
Vitoria da Conquista , Bahia
Itabaiana , Sergipe
Lizard , Sergipe
Arapiraca , Alagoas
Palmeira dos Índios , Alagoas
Caruaru , Pernambuco
Garanhuns , Pernambuco
Santa Cruz do Capibaribe , Pernambuco
Campina Grande , Paraiba
Ethnic and cultural aspects
Caatinga vegetation are closer to the Sertão , while the agrestine
areas with Atlantic Forest vegetation are closer to the Zona da
Mata . In Caruaru and Campina Grande , large June festivals are
held, which are among the largest in the world, and centered on
maize .
Northeast Region of Brazil:
The Northeast Region is one of the five regions of Brazil defined by
the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 1969.
It has an area equivalent to that of Mongolia or the state of
Amazonas , a population equivalent to that of South Africa and a
high HDI , also comparable with that of South Africa. Compared to
other Brazilian regions, it has the second largest population, third
largest territory , second largest electoral college (36,727,931
voters in 2010), lowest HDI (2017) and third largest GDP (2018).
It is the Brazilian region that has the largest number of states (nine
in total): Alagoas , Bahia , Ceará , Maranhão , Paraíba , Piauí ,
Pernambuco , Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe . Due to its different
physical characteristics, the region is divided into four sub-regions:
Mid-North , Sertão , Agreste and Zona da Mata , with very varied
levels of human development throughout its geographic zones.
The Northeast region was the birthplace of European colonization in
the country , since it was there that Brazil was discovered and
exploratory colonization was consolidated , which consisted, in short,
in the extraction of pau-brasil (or pau-de-pernambuco), whose ink
The wood was used to dye the clothes of Old World nobility . With
the creation of hereditary captaincies in 1534, the village of Olinda
was founded , and years later construction began on the first capital
of Brazil, Salvador , to house the general government . The
Northeast was also the financial center of Brazil until the mideighteenth century , since the Captaincy of Pernambuco was the
main productive center of the colony and Recife the city of greatest
economic importance.
History
Prehistory
Archaeological research in Brazil emerged through the curiosity and
studies of European explorers, naturalists, travelers, botanists,
geologists, and paleontologists. In this sense, the scientific records
of these different areas intertwine and complement each other. In
general, the numerous archaeological information existing in the
bibliography about the northeast, until the 60's, were products of
casual finds and/or hasty surface collections.
Archaeological studies in the Brazilian Northeast began
systematically in the 20th century, from the 1960s onwards. Since
then, centers of studies in this area have been formed, which today
have consolidated national and international recognition. From the
advance of research on the Northeastern archaeological theme
together with the development of new dating technologies, such as
Carbon 14, one can have an idea of the period of the first
occupations established in the region.
Numerous sites in the Northeast are registered under the
conventional name of Rock Art. Gabriela Martín and André Prous
point to the oldest reference to a rock engraving, in Brazil, made by
Feliciano Coelho de Carvalho, in Paraíba , in 1598. mention of places
with cave paintings, with human and animal figures, found during a
trip through the interior of the state in search of saltpeter.
The territory of the Northeast has a huge collection of paintings
and engravings made on a fixed stone support, whether in shelters,
on canyon-like walls or on rocky outcrops. The graphics have been
located so far in almost all northeastern states. The systematic
work of many archaeologists who work in the Northeast, in this field
of Archaeology, allows today to recognize stylistic units that were
called traditions. There are some localized variations made on the
thematic structure of traditions that archaeologists call
subtraditions. The distribution of sites of these traditions varies
from state to state, with some having a higher frequency of one or
the other. On the other hand, we must consider that the
possibilities of finds have not yet been exhausted and that some
territories may present an unsuspected heritage. European
colonization
Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in Porto Seguro on the south coast of
Bahia on April 22, 1500, making the region a colony of the Kingdom
of Portugal . The Northeast was inhabited since prehistoric times by
the indigenous peoples of Brazil , who, at the beginning of
colonization, carried out commercial exchanges with Europeans , in
the form of extraction of brazilwood in exchange for other items.
But, throughout the period of colonization, they were incorporated
into the European domain or eliminated, as a result of the constant
disputes against the sugar mill owners .
The region was the scene of discovery during the 16th century .
Portuguese arrived in an expedition on April 22, 1500, led by Pedro
Álvares Cabral , in the current city of Porto Seguro , in the state of
Bahia .
It was on the northeastern coast that the first economic activity in
the country began, the extraction of pau-brasil. Countries like
France , which did not agree with the Treaty of Tordesillas , carried
out constant attacks on the coast with the aim of smuggling wood to
Europe.
The north coast of the current state of Maranhão was invaded by
France, in the so-called Equinoctial France ( see: French Invasions in
Brazil ). The French colonists founded a village called " Saint Louis "
(now São Luís), in honor of the sovereign, Louis XIII of France .
Aware of the French presence in the region, the Portuguese
gathered troops from the Captaincy of Pernambuco , under the
command of Alexandre de Moura ( see: Batalha de Guaxenduba ).
Military operations culminated in the French capitulation at the end
of 1615.
dutch invasions
In 1630, the Captaincy of Pernambuco was invaded by the Dutch
West India Company ( West Indische Compagnie ). On the occasion
of the Iberian Union (1580 to 1640), the so-called Dutch Republic ,
before dominated by Spain , having later achieved its independence
through force, saw in Pernambuco the opportunity to impose a hard
blow on Spain, at the same time that they would take away the loss
of the failure in Bahia , since Pernambuco was the main productive
center of the colony. On December 26, 1629, a fleet of 66 ships and
7,280 men left São Vicente, Cape Verde , heading for Pernambuco.
The Dutch, disembarking on the beach of Pau Amarelo, conquered
the captaincy of Pernambuco in February 1630 and established the
colony Nova Holanda . The fragile Portuguese resistance at the
crossing of the Rio Doce , invaded, without major setbacks, Olinda
and defeated the small, but fierce, garrison of the fort (which would
later be called Brum), the gateway to Recife through the isthmus
that connected the two cities.
Recife, known as Mauritsstad (Mauritius City), was the capital of
Dutch Brazil , having been governed for most of the time by the
German count (in the service of the Crown of the Netherlands )
Maurício de Nassau . During this period, Recife was considered the
most prosperous and urbanized city on the American continent. The
Dutch empire in the Americas consisted at the time of a chain of
fortresses that ran from Ceará to the mouth of the São Francisco
River , south of Alagoas . The Dutch also owned a series of trading
posts in Guinea and Angola , located on the other side of the
Atlantic , which gave them control over sugar and the slave trade ,
managed by the West India Company.
The Guararapes Battles , decisive episodes in the Pernambucan
Insurrection , are considered the origin of the Brazilian Army .
The earl landed on Nieuw Holland , New Holland, in 1637,
accompanied by a team of architects and engineers. At that point,
the construction of Mauritsstad began, which was equipped with
bridges, dikes and canals to overcome the local geographic
conditions. The architect Pieter Post was responsible for the layout
of the new city and buildings such as the palace of Freeburg, seat of
power in Nassau in New Holland, and the building of the astronomical
observatory, considered the first in the New World. On February
28, 1644, Recife (currently the Bairro do Recife) was connected to
Mauritius with the construction of the first bridge in Latin America.
Mauritius of Nassau carried out a policy of religious tolerance
towards Catholics and Calvinists . In addition, it allowed the
migration of Jews to Recife, which became home to the largest
Jewish community on the entire continent, and the creation of a
synagogue , the Kahal Zur Israel , inaugurated in 1642 and
considered the first Jewish temple in South America, Central and
North.
For several reasons, one of the most important being the
exoneration of Maurício de Nassau from the captaincy's government
by the Dutch West India Company, the people of Pernambuco
rebelled against the government, joining the weak resistance that
still existed, in a movement called Insurreição Pernambucana . With
the gradual arrival of Portuguese reinforcements, the Dutch were
finally expelled in 1654, in the second Batalha dos Guararapes . It
was on this occasion that the Brazilian Army is said to have been
born .
During the colonial period, in the 16th century , quilombola
resistance began in Brazil , with the escape of slaves to Quilombo
dos Palmares , in the region of Serra da Barriga, current territory
of Alagoas . In the various shacks in Palmares, more than twenty
thousand people gathered. In 1694, Macaco, the "capital" of
Palmares, was taken and destroyed, Zumbi dos Palmares was
captured and had his head cut off and exposed in a public square in
Recife .
The city of Salvador was the first seat of the general government in
Brazil, as it was strategically located at a midpoint on the coast. The
general government was an attempt to centralize power to help the
captaincies, which were going through a time of crisis. The sugar
industry is to this day the main agricultural activity in the region.
Geography
NASA satellite image showing the Northeast Region of Brazil and
parts of the North , Southeast and Midwest .
The area of the Brazilian Northeast is 1,554,291,744 km²,
equivalent to 18% of the national territory and it is the region that
has the longest coastline . The region has the states with the
largest and smallest coastline, respectively Bahia, with 932 km of
coastline and Piauí, with 60 km of coastline. The entire region has
3,338 km of beaches.
It is located between the parallels of latitude 07° 12' 35" south and
48° 20' 07" south latitude and between the meridians of 34° 47'
30" and 48° 45' 24", west of the meridian of Greenwich . It is
limited to the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean , to the south
with the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo and to the west
with the states of Pará , Tocantins and Goiás .
Relief
One of the characteristics of the northeastern relief is the
existence of two ancient and extensive plateaus, the Borborema and
the basin of the Parnaíba river , and of some high and flat areas that
form the so-called chapadas, such as Diamantina , where the highest
point in the region is located. , Pico do Barbado , 2,033 meters high,
in Bahia , and Pico do Araripe , on the borders between the states of
Ceará , Piauí , Pernambuco and Paraíba . Between these regions there
are some depressions, in which the sertão is located , a region with a
semi-arid climate .
According to Professor Jurandyr Ross , who with his team compiled
information from the Radam Project (Radar of the Amazon) and
showed a richer division of the Brazilian relief and subdivided into
28 units, in the Northeast are located the aforementioned
Borborema plateau and plateaus and plateaus of Parnaíba river basin,
the Sertaneja-São Francisco depression and part of the east-
southeast plateaus and mountains , in addition to the coastal plains
and tablelands .
Climate
Climate map of the Northeast Region of Brazil according to KöppenGeiger .
Triunfo , in the state of Pernambuco , has a mild temperature
despite being located in the semi-arid region . This is possible thanks
to its altitude (1,004m), one of the highest in the northeastern
hinterland.
The Northeast region of Brazil has an annual average temperature
between 20° and 28° C. In areas located above 200 meters and on
the eastern coast , temperatures vary from 24° to 26°C. Annual
averages below 20 °C are found in the higher areas of Chapada
Diamantina and the Borborema plateau . The annual precipitation
index varies from 300 to 2000 mm . Four types of climates are
present in the Northeast:
Equatorial climate : present in a small part of the state of
Maranhão ;
Humid coastal climate : present on the coasts from Bahia to Rio
Grande do Norte ;
Tropical climate : present in much of Maranhão , western Bahia
and parts of Ceará and Piauí ;
Semi-arid climate : predominant in the sertão and in part of
the agreste region .
With average rainfall of about 300 millimeters per year, which occur
for a maximum of three months, giving rise to droughts that
sometimes last more than ten months, Cabaceiras, in Paraíba, has the
title of the driest municipality in the country. The Northeast Region
has 72.24% of its territory within the drought polygon , according to
data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO).
Vegetation
The northeastern vegetation ranges from the Atlantic Forest on the
coast to the Mata dos Cocais in the Middle North , with ecosystems
such as mangroves , caatinga , cerrado , sandbanks , among others,
which have exuberant fauna and flora , several species endemic and
endangered species .
The caatinga , vegetation typical of the Northeastern Sertão .
Atlantic Forest : also called the tropical humid hillside forest ,
the Atlantic forest originally extended from Ceará to Rio
Grande do Sul , however, as a result of the deforestation that
occurred mainly due to the sugar industry, today only about 5%
remain of the original vegetation , dispersed in "islands". It was
in the northeastern Atlantic Forest that the process of
extracting brazilwood began ; there are also semi-deciduous
and humid forests in the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte,
Paraíba and Bahia, which constitute enclaves of Atlantic Forest
in a non-continuous way as on the coast, occurring only in
mountain ranges and plateaus in the interior of these
territories and characterizing the so-called marsh of altitude .
Mata dos cocais : vegetation formation of transition between
semi-arid , equatorial and tropical climates . The main species
are babassu and carnauba , in addition to buriti . It occurs in
part of Maranhão , Piauí , Ceará , Rio Grande do Norte and
Tocantins in the North region . It represents less than 3% of
the area of Brazil .
Cerrado : occupies 25% of the Brazilian territory , but in the
Northeast it only covers the south of the state of Maranhão ,
the southwest of Piauí , the west of Bahia , interior areas of
the South and Center-South regions of Ceará (in these,
isolated by the caatinga), Microregion of Araripina in
Pernambuco and some areas of the coastal strip that goes from
Piauí to Sergipe . It presents low-sized trees, with twisted
branches, with the ground covered by grasses and soils with
high acidity; in Ceará's Cariri there is also the formation of
cerradão , a cerrado with taller trees.
Caatinga : typical vegetation of the hinterland, its main species
are pear trees , mastic trees , legumes and cacti . It is a
formation of xerophytic plants (vegetables from dry regions),
but it is ecologically rich. It occurs in all northeastern states
except Maranhão .
Coastal vegetation and riparian forests : in the category of
coastal vegetation, one can include the mangroves , a rich local
ecosystem where crabs live and reproduce , and important for
the preservation of rivers and lakes . Sandbanks and dunes can
also be included . Riparian forests or gallery forests are
common in cerrado regions, but can also be seen in the Zona da
Mata. They are small forests that follow the banks of rivers,
where there is a greater concentration of organic materials in
the soil, and act as a protection for rivers and seas.
Hydrography
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park , in the state of Maranhão .
The Northeast river basins are:
São Francisco Basin : it is the main one in the region, formed
by the São Francisco rivers and their tributaries. The main
economic activities are: irrigated agriculture, fishing, fish
farming, navigation and production of electricity by the
hydroelectric plants of Três Marias , Sobradinho , Paulo
Afonso , Luiz Gonzaga and Xingó . The basin delimits the
natural boundaries between Bahia and Pernambuco and also
between Sergipe and Alagoas , which is where its mouth is
located .
Parnaíba Basin : it is the second most important, occupying an
area of about 344,112 km² (3.9% of the national territory) and
drains almost the entire state of Piauí , part of Maranhão and
Ceará . The Parnaíba River is one of the few in the world to
have a delta in the open sea, with a mangrove area of
approximately 2,700 km².
East Northeast Atlantic Basin : occupies an area of 287,384
km², covering six states: Piauí , Ceará , Pernambuco , Alagoas ,
Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte . The main rivers are the
Jaguaribe , Piranhas-Açú , Apodi , Acaraú , Curimataú , Mundaú
, Paraíba , Capibaribe , Ipojuca and Una (these last three in the
state of Pernambuco).
Western Northeast Atlantic Basin : located between the
Northeast and the North region , it is located, almost entirely,
in the state of Maranhão . Some of its sub-basins constitute
rich ecosystems, such as mangroves , babassu and floodplains .
The main rivers are the Gurupi , Turiaçu , Mearim , and
Itapecuru .
East Atlantic Basin : comprises an area of 364,677 km²,
divided between two states in the Northeast ( Bahia and
Sergipe ) and two in the Southeast ( Minas Gerais and Espírito
Santo ). In the basin, fishing is used as a subsistence activity.
geographic zones
Northeast sub-regions: 1 Mid-North , 2 Sertão , 3 Agreste and 4
Zona da Mata .
Due to its different physical characteristics, the Northeast region
is divided into four zones or sub-regions:
Mid-North : It is a transition zone between the Amazon and
the northeastern Sertão . It encompasses the state of
Maranhão and the west of the state of Piauí . This geographical
area is also known as Mata dos Cocais . On the coast, it rains
about 2 000 mm per year. Going further east or inland, that
number drops to 1,500 mm per year, and in southern Piauí, a
region more like the Sertão, it rains on average 700 mm per
year.
Sertão : It is located, almost entirely, in the interior of the
Northeast Region, being its largest geographic area. It has a
semi-arid climate . In states such as Ceará and Rio Grande do
Norte, it reaches the coast, and, going further south, it
reaches the border between Bahia and Minas Gerais . Rainfall
in this sub-region is irregular and scarce, with constant periods
of drought occurring. The typical vegetation is caatinga .
Agreste : It is a transition zone between the Sertão and the
Zona da Mata. It is the smallest geographic zone in the
Northeast Region. It is located at the top of the Borborema
Plateau , a natural obstacle to the arrival of rain in the
hinterland. It extends from Rio Grande do Norte to the south
of Bahia. On the east side of the plateau are the wetter lands
(Zona da Mata); on the other side, towards the interior, the
climate becomes increasingly drier (Sertão).
Zona da Mata : Located in the east, between the Planalto da
Borborema and the coast, it extends from Rio Grande do Norte
to the south of Bahia. Rainfall is abundant in this region. It
received this name because it was covered by the Atlantic
Forest . Sugarcane and cocoa plantations replaced forested
areas. It is the most developed area of the Northeast Region.
Demography
As in the entire Brazilian territory, the Northeastern population is
unevenly distributed. About three-fifths of it is concentrated on
the coastline and in the main capitals. In the hinterland and interior,
population density levels are lower, mainly because of the semi-arid
climate . Even so, the population density in the northeastern semiarid region is one of the highest in the world for this type of climate
area.
IBGE data , the region has more than 49 million inhabitants, almost
30% of the Brazilian population. It is the second most populous
region in the country, after the Southeast region , and the third in
terms of demographic density, with 32 inhabitants/km². The largest
Northeastern cities, in terms of population, are: Fortaleza , Salvador
, Recife , São Luís , Maceió , Teresina , João Pessoa , Natal ,
Jaboatão dos Guararapes , Feira de Santana , Aracaju , Campina
Grande , Petrolina , Caruaru , Vitória da Conquista , Caucaia , Olinda ,
Paulista , Camaçari , Juazeiro do Norte , Imperatriz , Mossoró ,
Parnamirim , São José de Ribamar , Juazeiro , Arapiraca , Maracanaú
, Lauro de Freitas , Cabo de Santo Agostinho and Sobral , all with
more than two hundred thousand inhabitants.
According to IBGE data (2004), 71.5% of the population from the
Northeast live in urban areas . Urbanization in the Northeast was
slower than in the rest of the country, but it has accelerated in
recent decades. In the period 1991-1996, the rural population in the
total population fell by 45.8%.
metropolitan regions
satellite image highlights the urban concentration, recognized by the
lights emitted, in the Zona da Mata.
The Metropolitan Region of Recife , in the state of Pernambuco , is
the largest urban agglomeration in the Northeast.
The region of Petrolina and Juazeiro and Cariri together with Sousa
form a dynamic triangular urban network in the central semi-arid
region of Brazil, centered on the regional capitals Petrolina (PE)/
Juazeiro (BA) and Juazeiro do Norte (CE) and in the sub-regional
center Souza (PB)
All capitals in the Northeast region have a metropolitan region (RM),
with the exception of Teresina , which has an integrated economic
development region (RIDE), as it houses municipalities from
different federative units . In addition to the capitals, other
metropolitan areas appear in the interior . The oldest metropolitan
regions are those of Recife , Salvador and Fortaleza , which were
created by the Complementary Federal Law of Brazil 14 of 1973 ,
and are also the most populous. The others were created through
complementary state laws , such as the Metropolitan Region of Feira
de Santana .
All nine northeastern states have at least one metropolitan area in
their territory, either in its entirety (such as Rio Grande do Norte
and Sergipe) or partially (Piauí). In this sense, Maranhão has three in
total. There are two ( São Luís and Sudoeste Maranhense ), fully
located within the territory of Maranhão, and another ( Grande
Teresina ) spreads across Piauí. The state of Paraíba has the largest
number of metropolitan regions (twelve in total).
Data from the 2010 IBGE census confirm the Metropolitan Region
of Recife as the most populous in the Brazilian Northeast, the fifth
in Brazil and the 107th in the world. The Metropolitan Region of
Salvador dropped one place in the regional and national
classification, being overtaken by the Metropolitan Region of
Fortaleza; it occupies the second position in the Northeast, the
sixth in Brazil and the 108th in the world.
Metropolitan regions by number of municipalities
ethnic composition
IBGE survey , the population of the Northeast self-declared as
follows: brown (63.2%), white (24.6%), black (11.30%) and others
(0.9%).
June gang in Belém , Paraíba .
According to the 2010 census, the states with the largest white
population are Pernambuco (36.6%), Paraíba (36.4%) and Rio Grande
do Norte (36.3%); those with the largest black population, Bahia
(16.8%), Maranhão (6.6%) and Piauí (5.9%); those with the largest
indigenous population, Maranhão (0.9%), Bahia (0.3%) and Paraíba
(0.3%); and those with the largest brown population, Piauí (69.9%),
Maranhão (68.6%) and Alagoas (67.7%).
The population of the Northeast, like the rest of Brazil, was formed
by three groups: the indigenous , the European and the sub-Saharan
African. The settlement of the Brazilian Northeast basically took
place during the colonial period. The Northeast was the first
Brazilian region to be occupied by the Portuguese and it was also the
first to bring African slaves, in the 16th century . The region was
very little influenced by European and Asian immigration in the 19th
and 20th centuries, which played an important role in the settlement
of the states in the center-south of Brazil.
Anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro divided the population of the
Northeast into two specific areas: Creole and Sertaneja. The Creole
region refers to the " historical-cultural configuration resulting
from the implantation of the sugar economy and its complements and
annexes in the coastal strip of the Brazilian Northeast, which goes
from Rio Grande do Norte to Bahia ", of populations that emerged "
from the racial fusion of whites , Indians and blacks ". In turn, the
sertaneja area encompasses the regions that " begin with the
discontinuous, still humid edge of the agreste and continue with the
enormous semi-arid extensions of the caatingas ", where the
economy developed around cattle raising and settlement was carried
out by " whites poor " and " mestizos from the coastal areas ", with a
significant indigenous contribution, since " the typical phenotype of
the original indigenous peoples of those sertões was imprinted in the
vaquejada and in the northeasterns in general ".
Woman and baby in Canindé , Ceará .
Several genetic studies show that European ancestry predominates
in all northeastern states analyzed. One study suggests that the
degree of Amerindian or African ancestry varies regionally. Through
the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by women), it was
verified that, from the half of Piauí upwards, indigenous
mitochondrial DNA predominates, and from the half of Piauí
downwards, the proportion of mitochondrial DNA of African origin
increases. The sugar region on the northeastern coast required a
large number of African slaves working on the mills. In turn, the
interior of the Northeast has always been a very poor region with an
economy based on cattle raising, with an excess of white and mixedrace free labor, therefore there was never a need to import a large
number of African slaves. These economic differences resulted in
different forms of settlement and explain the variability of
phenotypes found in the different northeastern regions.
Sub-Saharan Africans brought to the Northeast were predominantly
from Angola , Congo or Mozambique , with the exception of the state
of Bahia, which received many Africans from Nigeria , Ghana or
Benin .
The Dutch genetic contribution in the Northeast, after the Dutch
had controlled the region for 25 years, raises disagreements.
According to Leonardo Dantas Silva , after the reconquest of the
territory by the Portuguese, "there were not a few [Dutch] people
who stayed, since they were united with women of the land, with
established families and properties". He even claims that the "whitehaired, light-eyed types found in communities in the interior of
Northeast Brazil" would be their descendants.
Sônia Luyten, on the other hand , states that "Some authors who
have dedicated themselves to the subject are unanimous in saying
that practically nothing lasting was left here by the Dutch, except
for some strong and few traces of culture". He also states that the
fact that there are people from the Northeast with blond hair does
not mean that they are descendants of the Dutch, not least because
blond people also exist in the Portuguese population. In fact, it is not
known how many Dutch people lived in Brazil or how many remained
after the Portuguese retaken the territory, and Portugal was the
only significant source of European immigrants in Brazil until 1808. A
large part of the soldiers of the Dutch West India Company did not
they were Dutch and yes, German and French. Some examples of
Dutch soldiers who left Descendence were General Joris Gartsman,
General Hendrick Huss, Jacques Van der ness, Jan Wijnants,
Francisco Brae, Abraham Trapper, Dirck Van Hoogstraten, among
many others. According to a genetic study from 2020 and another
from 2015, the European ancestry of Northeasterners is basically
Iberian (Portuguese) and Northeasterners are genetically more
distant from the Dutch population. Another genetic study, from
2018, shows that Portuguese ancestry is predominant in all Brazilian
regions, with the exception of the South, where Italian and German
ancestry are equally significant.
Frevo dancers , in Olinda .
According to professor José Luiz da Mota Menezes, this excessive
appreciation of the Dutch past stems from a desire that some
people from the Northeast have to differentiate themselves from
other Brazilians: "People tend to identify with a characteristic that
is different, unique. from here, this [Dutch] occupation sets it apart
from the rest of the country".
There are also oral reports that Jews Sephardim fled to the
northeastern backlands after the end of Dutch rule. However,
according to Daniel Breda, from the Jewish Historical Archive in
Recife , there is no study that proves that this happened. According
to him, there are no descendants of practicing Jews from the Dutch
period living in the Northeast, as they all fled Brazil when the
Portuguese regained control of the territory, since they were
threatened by the Inquisition . What exists in Brazil are
descendants of Jews who had already converted to Catholicism
generations ago , the so-called New Christians . Anyway, a 2018
genetic study states that the Sephardic Jewish genetic contribution
in the Brazilian people is only 1%.
genetic studies
Salvador , Bahia , is the city with the largest number of people of
African descent in Brazil ; however, the municipality with the
highest percentage of black individuals in the country is Riacho Frio
- PI (61.71%). Bahia (16.8%), Maranhão (6.6%) and Piauí (5.9%) are
the northeastern states with the highest percentage of blacks.
According to a 2017 genetic study, all Northeasterners have some
degree of European, indigenous and African ancestry. Northeast
Brazilians have an average ancestry that is 57% European, 20%
Amerindian, and 23% African, although the admixture ratio of each
component showed individual variations (19–95%, 2–49%, and 4–67%,
respectively ).
According to the 2011 autosomal study, carried out by Brazilian
geneticist Sérgio Pena, the European component is predominant in
the population of the Northeast, with African and indigenous
contributions. According to the study carried out, the composition
of the Northeast can be described as follows: 60.10% of European
heritage, 29.30% of African heritage and 8.90% indigenous. This
study was carried out based on blood donors, and most blood donors
in Brazil come from the lower classes (in addition to nurses and
other people who work in public health entities, thus representing
well the Brazilian population ).
The same study found that Brazilians from different regions are
genetically much more homogeneous than expected, as a result of
European predominance (which had already been shown by several
other autosomal genetic studies, as seen below). “Using the criteria
of color and race still used in the census today, we had the vision of
Brazil as a heterogeneous mosaic, as if the South and North were
home to two different peoples”, comments the geneticist. “The
study goes to show that Brazil is a much more integrated country
than we thought.” Brazilian homogeneity is, therefore, much greater
between regions than within them, which values individual
heterogeneity. This conclusion of the work indicates that
characteristics such as skin color are, in fact, arbitrary to
categorize the population. According to a 2009 autosomal genetic
study, European heritage is dominant in the Northeast, accounting
for 66.70% of the population, the remainder being African (23.30%)
and Amerindian (10%). According to an autosomal genetic study
carried out in 2010 by the Catholic University of Brasília , published
in the American Journal of Human Biology , European genetic
inheritance is predominant in Brazil, accounting for around 80% of
the total, and in the South this percentage goes up to 90%. [ 19 ] The
results also showed that, in Brazil, indicators of physical appearance,
such as skin, eye, and hair color, bear relatively little relationship to
a person's ancestry (i.e., a person's phenotype does not clearly
indicate your genotype ). According to this study, the European
contribution accounts for 77.40% of the ancestry of
Northeasterners, African, 13.60% and indigenous, 8.90%. This study
was carried out based on samples of free paternity tests, as
explained by the researchers: "the paternity tests were free, the
population samples involved people of varying socioeconomic profile,
although probably with a bias towards the 'brown' group. '".
Baía da Traição , in the state of Paraíba , is home to the largest
indigenous population in northeastern Brazil. It is the traditional
territory of the Potiguara Indians . According to a genetic study
carried out in 1965 by the American researchers DF Roberts and
RW Hiorns, "Methods of Analysis of a Hybrid Population" (in Human
Biology, vol. 37, number 1), the Middle Age ancestry of
Northeasterners is predominantly European (degree around 65%),
with smaller but important contributions from Africa and Brazilian
indigenous people (25% and 9% respectively).
According to an older autosomal DNA study (from 2003), heritage in
the Northeast can be characterized as follows: 75% European
ancestry, 15% African and 10% indigenous. The researchers were
cautious about completing the study, as it was based on samples of
people who took the paternity test, which may have contributed, in
part, to skew the results in some way. According to a genetic study
carried out in 2000 by a Brazilian laboratory, around 1/5 of
Northeasterners (19%) have a type 2 paternal haplogroup originating
in Europe, a higher percentage than that found (13%) in the
Portuguese population. This "excess" in the frequency of haplogroup
2 could be due to the genetic influence of miscegenation with Dutch
colonists, who were in the Northeast between 1630 and 1654. At the
time of the Dutch invasion , although miscegenation was not
officially stimulated, there are reports of interracial unions . The
absence of Dutch women encouraged unions and even marriages
between Dutch officers and colonists and the daughters of wealthy
Luso-Brazilian plantation owners. Genetic analyzes can reveal
European ancestry in black and mulatto people. Singer Djavan , from
Alagoas, as well as the father of actress Ildi Silva , from Bahia, for
example, discovered that they have European ancestry in their
paternal lineage, which they attribute to hypothetical Dutch
ancestors.
White Cholocate bonbon
location of Ouro Branco - RN , the Northeastern city with the
highest percentage of whites (86.07%).
In the interior of Pernambuco, especially in the Sertão do Araripe
and in communities in the Agreste , there are people with very fair
skin, blond hair and light eyes. Oral tradition states that they would
be descendants of Dutch people who went into hiding during the
Pernambucan Insurrection . An exemplary group of this phenomenon
are the Gangarras do Bandeira , from the municipality of Brejo da
Madre de Deus . However, according to the genetic study carried
out in this population, the presence of Dutch haplogroups was not
observed . The study showed that the inhabitants of Gangarras do
Bandeira are mixed race, with 37% Amerindian, 31.5% African and
31.5% European ancestry.
Genetic studies carried out on inhabitants of Northeastern capitals
have confirmed the mestizo origin of this population, formed by the
miscegenation of Europeans, Africans and Indians. The contribution
of each ethnic group varies from capital to capital, with Europeans
being the most prevalent. For example, for the population of Natal ,
the ancestry found was 58% European, 25% African and 17%
indigenous. For the population of Aracaju , 62% European, 34%
African and 4% indigenous. In the case of São Luís , the ancestry
found was 42% European, 39% Amerindian and 19% African. In
Salvador, the predominant ancestry is African (49.2%), followed by
European (36.3%) and indigenous (14.5%). The study also concluded
that Salvadorans who have surnames with religious connotations tend
to have a higher degree of African ancestry (54.9%) and to belong
to less favored social classes. The ancestry of northeastern
migrants living in São Paulo would be 59% European, 30% African and
11% indigenous, according to a very old study from 1965, based on
blood polymorphisms. According to another study, from 1997, for
the entire Northeastern population, the estimated ancestry would
be 51% European, 36% African and 13% indigenous. According to a
2011 genetic study, pardos and whites from Fortaleza , who
constitute the majority of the population, showed European ancestry
(around 70%) with the rest basically divided into important African
and indigenous contributions. According to a 2015 genetic study, the
population of Fortaleza has the following genetic makeup: 48.9%
European contribution, 35.4% indigenous contribution and 15.7%
African contribution. According to a 2013 genetic study, the genetic
makeup of Pernambuco's population is 56.8% European, 27.9%
African and 15.3% Amerindian. In the same year, another study
carried out in Alagoas concluded that the genetic makeup of 54.7%
of the state's population is European, 26.6% African and 18.7%
Amerindian.
Brachycephalic individuals are common in part of the northeastern
sertão, especially in the area that today comprises the state of
Ceará . This peculiar characteristic was inherited from their
ancestors: the Cariri Indians . A large part of the brown population
of Ceará, which corresponds to 66.1% of the state's total
population, shares this characteristic. Some people from other
countries have the same type of skull.
migratory flows
Due to the enormous inequality of income, the great land
concentration and the problem of drought in the Northeastern
Sertão , the Northeast has been, since the time of D. Pedro II 's
empire and especially in the second half of the 20th century , a
region of strong population repulsion. Due to the offer of jobs in
other regions of Brazil , mainly in the 60 's , 70's and 80's ,
northeastern migration has been highlighted in the Brazilian
population dynamics, especially in the North and Southeast regions
of Brazil.
In the 1990s , however, due to the economic crises and the
saturation of markets in several large cities, the offer of jobs
decreased, the quality of education deteriorated and income
continued to be poorly distributed, causing the majority of
northeasterners who had migrated to fleeing poverty, and their
descendants continued with a precarious life structure. Because of
the vision propagated in previous decades, the supposed imaginary
ideal that was formed in relation to the Southeast region and the
promise of a better quality of life , easy job opportunities , higher
wages , among others; deceived by this dream, when a
northeasterner migrates to the Southeast in search of an
improvement in the quality of life, he usually ends up finding the
opposite, in addition to suffering, not infrequently, social prejudice
in his day-to-day life.
In recent years, the traditional movement of emigration has reduced
or even reversed in the Northeast region. According to the study
"New Geoeconomics of Employment in Brazil", by the State
University of Campinas (Unicamp), the states of Ceará , Paraíba ,
Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte received more migrants between
1999 and 2004 than they sent to other regions. The state of
Paraíba, according to the same survey, was the most radical example
of the transformation that migration patterns in the region have
undergone: it reversed the migration pattern from a negative
balance of 61 thousand people to a positive balance of 45 thousand.
In all other states that continue to have a negative migration
balance, the number of migrants decreased in the same period
analyzed: in Maranhão , it decreased from 173 thousand to 77
thousand; in Pernambuco , from 115 thousand to 24 thousand; and in
Bahia , from 267 thousand to 84 thousand.
Social problems
In the northeastern sertão there are still victims of droughts, which
are constant. The states with the highest concentration of extreme
poverty are Maranhão , Alagoas and Piauí . The northeast region of
Brazil maintains historical problems: backward and little diversified
agriculture , large landowners , income concentration and a little
diversified and low productivity industry ; in addition to the natural
phenomenon of constant droughts (see: Polygon of droughts ). The
distinct characteristics between the northeast and other regions of
the country, in addition to accentuating regional inequalities, formed
a favorable scenario for northeastern migration , especially to urban
areas.
However, despite showing great improvement in recent years in
terms of the quality of life of its population, it still has the lowest
socio-economic indicators in the country, such as the Human
Development Index (HDI ) . The low indicators are more serious in
rural areas and in the northeastern sertão, which suffers from long
periods without rain ; however, its indicators are better than those
of countries such as South Africa (the largest economy on the
African continent), Bolivia and Guyana . 18.7% of Northeasterners
were illiterate in 2009, according to information released by the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) ; and,
according to Ibope , 22% were beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família
income transfer program in 2010. The fertility rate in the
Northeast was 2.04 children per woman in 2009, above the national
average (1.94 children per woman) and the rates of the Southeast
(1.75 children per woman), South (1.92 children per woman) and
Midwest (1.93 children per woman) regions, and below the rate of
the North Region (2.51 children per woman) woman). It should be
noted that the Northeastern birth rate is below the population
replacement rate, which is 2.1 children per woman – two children
replace the parents and the fraction 0.1 is needed to compensate
for individuals who die before reaching the reproductive age – and it
is similar to the rates of some developed countries, such as the
United States and Iceland (both with a rate of 2.05 children per
woman).
Policy
Forum of Governors and Northeast Consortium
During the 2019 Northeast Governors Forum , the governments of
the Northeastern states, with the support of Federal Law No. Entity
with the legal nature of a public consortium autarchy which, among
others, has the purpose of strengthening the capabilities of the
consortium entities by merging resources and developing synergies.
Economy
Pernambuco 's GDP grew 15.78% in 2010, more than double the
national average for the same year, which stood at 7.5%. The Suape
Industrial Complex , responsible for this growth, houses projects
such as the Atlântico Sul Shipyard . The oil tanker João Cândido
(pictured) was the first ship launched by the Pernambuco naval
industry. The Camaçari Petrochemical Complex , in the state of Bahia
, is the largest integrated industrial complex in the Southern
Hemisphere. The economy of the Northeast Region of Brazil was the
historical basis of the beginning of the economy of Brazil , since the
activities around brazilwood and sugar cane predominated and were
initiated in the Northeast of Brazil. The Northeast was the richest
region in the country until the mid-eighteenth century. The
Northeast Region is currently the third largest economy in Brazil
among the major regions. Its share in the Brazilian Gross Domestic
Product was 13.4% in 2011, after the South Region (16.2% share in
GDP) and ahead of the Midwest Region (9.6% share in GDP). Still, it
is the region with the lowest GDP per capita . Income distribution in
this region improved significantly in the 2000s: according to data
from the 2009 National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), the
average income in the Northeast experienced a real increase (after
discounting inflation) of 28.8% between 2004 and 2009, going from
R$570 to R$734. Between 2008 and 2009, the increase was 2.7%.
It was the region that presented the greatest increase in the
average salary of workers in this period. In 2011, its nominal GDP
was R$555.3 billion, surpassing that of countries such as Chile ,
Singapore and Portugal ; and its nominal GDP per capita, of R$
10,379.55, surpassing that of countries such as Ukraine , Thailand
and China . The largest economies in the Northeast Region are,
respectively, Bahia , Pernambuco and Ceará , states that together
account for 8.5% of the national GDP. The northeastern states with
the highest GDP per capita are Sergipe , Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio
Grande do Norte , followed by Alagoas , Ceará , Paraíba and Piauí . In
2011, Ipojuca , in Pernambuco, was the municipality with the highest
GDP per capita in the Northeast Region, with R$ 116,198.31, in
addition to being the sixteenth in Brazil. Other Northeastern
municipalities were also among the 100 with the highest GDP per
capita in the country, such as Guamaré -RN, São Francisco do Conde
-BA, Cairu -BA and Candeias -BA. On the other hand, the city with
the third lowest GDP per capita in Brazil is also located in the
Northeast: São Vicente Ferrer , in Maranhão , with R$ 2,679.66.
The 56 municipalities with the lowest GDP per capita (which
correspond to 1.0% of the 5,570 municipalities in the country) had
GDP per capita below R$ 3,492.99 and were located in six states:
Maranhão (19), Alagoas (7), Piauí (7), Bahia (6) and Ceará (1), in the
Northeast Region; and Pará (16), in the North Region. Among the
northeastern states, only Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco
and Sergipe do not have municipalities with a per capita GDP of less
than R$ 4,000.00. The installed energy capacity is 10,761 MW . The
Northeast Region has enjoyed strong economic growth since the end
of the 2000s . Even during the 2008-2009 world economic crisis,
the Region's GDP increased: while Brazil's GDP fell by 0.2% in 2009,
Pernambuco 's GDP grew by 4%; Ceará 's GDP , 3.4%; and the GDP of
Bahia , 2.2%. This growth softened the impact of the biggest crisis
of capitalism in the last 80 years on the Brazilian economy .
The Banco do Nordeste increased the growth projection for the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Northeast in 2010 to 8.3%.
2010.
Agriculture
Some of the main crops in Northeast Brazil. The region is a major
producer of cashew nuts , sugar cane , cocoa , cotton and tropical
fruits in general (mainly coconut , papaya , melon , banana , mango ,
pineapple and guarana ). It also has relevant production of soybeans ,
corn , beans , cassava , oranges , coffee and grapes .
grape plantation in the semi-arid region of the Sub-Medium São
Francisco Valley , Petrolina , Pernambuco .
In 2017, the Northeast Region was the largest coconut producer in
the country, with 74.0% of national production. Bahia produced 351
million fruits, Sergipe, 234 million, and Ceará 187 million. However,
the sector has been suffering strong competition and losing market
to Indonesia, the Philippines and India, the world's largest
producers, who even export coconut water to Brazil. In addition to
climatic problems, the low productivity of coconut trees in the
Northeast Region is the result of factors related to the variety of
coconut exploited and the technological level employed in coastal
regions. In these areas, the semi-extractive cultivation system still
predominates, with low fertility and without the adoption of cultural
management practices. The three states that have the highest
production, Bahia, Sergipe and Ceará, have a yield three times lower
than that of Pernambuco, which ranks 5th in national production.
This is because most of the coconut groves in these three states are
located in coastal areas and cultivated in semi-extractive systems.
Beginning of cashew production in the hinterland of Ceará .
Cashew production in Brazil is carried out almost exclusively in the
Northeast. The area occupied by cashew trees in Brazil in 2017 was
estimated at 505.5 thousand ha; of this total, 99.5% is located in
the Northeast. The main producers in this region are Ceará (61.6%
of the national area), Rio Grande do Norte and Piauí. However, Brazil,
which in 2011 was the fifth largest producer of cashew nuts in the
world, in 2016, fell to 14th position, with 1.5% of the total volume of
nuts produced in the world. Vietnam, Nigeria, India and Côte
d'Ivoire were the world's top producers of cashew nuts in 2016,
with 70.6% of global production. In recent years, there has been
increased competition with some African countries, where
government programs have driven the expansion of culture and
processing capacity. It is estimated that the installed capacity for
processing cashew nuts in the Northeast is 295 thousand tons per
year, however, the Region was only able to produce around a quarter
of that amount. Among the main world producers, Brazil is the one
with the lowest productivity. Several factors are pointed out as the
cause of the low productivity and the drop in the Brazilian
production of cashew nuts. One of the reasons is that most orchards
are in a phase of natural decline in production. In addition, the giant
cashew trees, which are the majority in the Region, are exploited in
an almost extractive way, with low use of technology.
Cocoa cultivation in Ilhéus , Bahia .
cocoa production , for a long time, Bahia led Brazilian production.
Today, it disputes with the state of Pará the leadership of the
national production. In 2017 Pará took the lead for the first time. In
2019, people from Pará harvested 135,000 tons of cocoa, and people
from Bahia, 130,000 tons. Bahia's cocoa area is practically three
times larger than Pará's, but Pará's productivity is practically three
times larger. Some factors that explain this are: the crops in Bahia
are more extractive, and those in Pará have a more modern and
commercial style, in addition to the people from Pará using more
productive and resistant seeds, and their region provides resistance
to witches' broom.
Sugarcane seedlings in Barra de São Miguel , Alagoas .
In 2018, the Northeast was in 3rd place among the regions that
produce the most sugarcane in the country. Brazil is the world's
largest producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested this year. The
Northeast harvested 45.7 million tons, 6.8% of the national
production. Alagoas is the main producer, with 33.3% of the
Northeastern production (15.2 million tons). Pernambuco is the 2nd
largest producer in the Northeast, with 22.7% of the region's total
(10.3 million tons). Paraíba has 11.9% of the Northeastern production
(5.5 million tons) and Bahia, 10.24% of the production (4.7 million
tons).
Cotton plants in fruit, in the city of Luiz Eduardo Magalhães , Bahia
Bahia is the 2nd largest cotton producer in Brazil, second only to
Mato Grosso. In 2019, it harvested 1.5 million tons of the product.
Bahia is also the 4th largest national coffee producer , with around
7% of national production.
Pernambuco is the 2nd largest grape producer in the country. In
2017 the state produced 390 thousand tons. In the same year, Bahia
was the 6th largest producer, with 51 thousand tons.
In soy , Brazil produced close to 120 million tons in 2019, being the
world's largest producer. The Northeast produced, in 2019, close to
10.7 million tons, or 9% of the Brazilian total. The main producers in
the Northeast were Bahia (5.3 million tons), Maranhão (3 million
tons) and Piauí (2.4 million tons).
corn production , in 2018 Brazil was the 3rd largest producer in the
world, with 82 million tons. The Northeast produced about 8.4% of
the country's total. Bahia was the largest northeastern producer,
with 2.2 million tons. Piauí was the 2nd largest producer in the
Northeast, with 1.5 million tons, and Maranhão was the 3rd largest,
with 1.3 million tons.
In 2018, the South Region was the main producer of beans with
26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast
Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The largest
producers in the Northeast were Ceará, Bahia, Piauí and Pernambuco.
Irrigated banana plantation on the banks of the São Francisco River,
Bahia
Bahia is the second largest fruit producer in the country, with more
than 3.3 million tons per year, second only to São Paulo. The north of
Bahia is one of the main suppliers of fruit in the country, the State
is one of the main national producers of ten types of fruit.
According to the 2017 IBGE Census, Bahia led the production of
cocoa beans, cajarana, coconut, sugar apple or sugar apple, soursop,
umbu, jackfruit, licuri, mango and passion fruit and is in second place
in the cultivation of atemoya , cupuaçu, lime and lemon and third in
banana, carambola, guava, papaya, watermelon, melon, pitanga,
pomegranate and table grape. In all, 34 products from Bahian fruit
growing play an important role in the national economy.
Rio Grande do Norte is the largest melon producer in the country. In
2017 it produced 354 thousand tons, distributed among the cities of
Mossoró, Tibau and Apodi.
The Northeast region accounted for 95.8% of the country's
production in 2007. In addition to Rio Grande do Norte, which in
2005 produced 45.4% of the country's total, the other 3 largest in
the country were Ceará, Bahia and Pernambuco.
papaya production , in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest producing
state in Brazil, almost tying with Espírito Santo. Ceará was in 3rd
place and Rio Grande do Norte in 4th place.
Bahia was the largest mango producer in the country in 2019, with
production of around 281 thousand tons per year. Juazeiro (130
thousand tons per year) and Casa Nova (54 thousand tons per year)
occupy the top of the list of Brazilian cities that lead the cultivation
of the fruit.
banana production , in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest national
producer. Pernambuco ranked 5th.
About pineapple , in 2018 Paraíba was the 2nd largest producing
state in Brazil.
Livestock
Goats in Araci
The region mainly raises cattle. The largest cattle herds are in Bahia
(10,229,459 head), followed by Maranhão (5,592,007), Ceará
(2,105,441), Pernambuco (1,861,570) and Piauí (1,560,552). In 2017,
the Northeast had 12.9% of the Brazilian cattle herd. In the sertão
, producers often have losses due to constant droughts. There are
also creations of goats , which are more resistant, pigs , sheep and
birds .
Livestock fairs are common in the cities of the Northeastern
Agreste region. It was these fairs that gave rise to cities such as
Campina Grande , Feira de Santana and Caruaru .
The Northeast region was home to 93.2% of the goat herd
(8,944,461 head) and 64.2% of the sheep herd (11,544,939 head) in
Brazil in 2017. Bahia concentrated 30.9% of the herd of goats and
20.9% of the national sheep herd. Casa Nova (BA) took first place in
the municipal ranking with the largest herds of the two species.
Regarding pork, Brazil had almost 42 million pigs in 2017. The
Northeast had 13% of the total (5.4 million). In terms of poultry, in
2017 Brazil had a total of 1.4 billion chickens. The Northeast had
11.6% of the total (164 million). In milk production, Brazil produced
33.5 billion liters in 2017. The Northeast produced 11.6% of the
total (3.9 billion liters). In egg production, Brazil produced 4.2 billion
dozens in 2017. The Northeast produced 16.1% (683 million dozens).
The Northeast was the 2nd largest honey producer in the country in
2017, losing to the South region. The total produced in the country
was 41.6 thousand tons. The Northeast produced 30.7% (12.7
thousand tons).
In 2017, the Northeast was the largest shrimp producer in the
country. National production was 41 thousand tons. Rio Grande do
Norte (37.7%) and Ceará (28.9%) were the main producers. AracatiCE was the municipality with the highest participation.
Mining
Bahia stands out , with 1.68% of the national mineral share (4th
place in the country). In 2017, in gold , it produced 6.2 tons, at a
value of BRL 730 million. In copper , it produced 56 thousand tons,
at a value of R$ 404 million. In chromium , it produced 520 thousand
tons, at a value of R$ 254 million. In vanadium , it produced 358
thousand tons, at a value of R$ 91 million.
In the extraction of precious and semi-precious stones, Bahia has
small or medium-scale production of amethyst , agate , diamond ,
emerald , garnet , opal , ruby , tourmaline and turquoise . Aquamarine
is also produced in Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Alagoas and Paraíba;
grenade in Paraíba, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte; opal in Piauí and
Ceará; tourmaline in Ceará and Turmalina Paraíba in Paraíba and Rio
Grande do Norte.
Industry
In 2017, the Northeast Region had close to 13% of the country's
industrial GDP. Bahia has 4.4%, Pernambuco 2.7%, Ceará 1.9%,
Maranhão 1.1%, Rio Grande do Norte 0.9%, Paraíba 0.7%, Sergipe
0.6%, Alagoas 0. 5% and Piauí 0.4%.
It is the least industrialized region in the country, in proportion per
inhabitant (only 13% of Brazil's industry in 2017, although it had
27.6% of the population).
Tourism
Genipabu , in the Metropolitan Region of Natal , Rio Grande do Norte
, is internationally famous for its dunes, for buggies and Arabian
camel rides and for its good hotel infrastructure.
The coast is the main attraction of the region. Millions of tourists
disembark at northeastern airports . For some years, the states
have been investing intensively in improving infrastructure , creating
new tourist centers, and some in the development of ecotourism .
According to the survey "Consumption Habits of Brazilian Tourism
2009", carried out by Vox Populi in November 2009, Bahia is the
preferred tourist destination of Brazilians, since 21.4% of tourists
chose the state. Pernambuco , with 11.9%, and São Paulo , with
10.9%, are, respectively, in second and third place in the surveyed
categories.
Among the most popular beaches in the Northeast are: Arraial
d'Ajuda and Morro de São Paulo , in Bahia ; Atalaia and Pirambu , in
Sergipe ; Pajuçara and Maragogi , in Alagoas ; Porto de Galinhas and
Itamaracá , in Pernambuco; Cabedelo and Tambaba , in Paraíba ;
Genipabu and Pipa , in Rio Grande do Norte ; Jericoacoara and Canoa
Quebrada , in Ceará ; Coqueiro and Pedra do Sal , in Piauí ; and
Curupu and Atins , in Maranhão .
The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha is gaining national and
world prominence. It is possible to see jumping dolphins on the
islands . Also noteworthy is Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, which
enchants its visitors and surprises with the number of caves,
caverns, waterfalls and trails it has, being an excellent place to visit
at any time of the year.
Another outstanding place is the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
, a complex of dunes , rivers , lakes and mangroves . In Bahia, there
is Costa do Sauípe , the largest tourist complex in Brazil, and the
Abrolhos Archipelago , which has an excellent area for scuba diving
and snorkeling, as well as attractions such as the humpback whale
season , which begins in July. In Piauí, there are the Sete Cidades ,
Serra das Confusões and Serra da Capivara national parks with rock
formations and cave paintings; in addition to its coast having the
Delta do Parnaíba . Other highlights are the largest cashew tree in
the world and Forte dos Reis Magos , both in Rio Grande do Norte.
In the latest surveys by TAM VIAGENS, Natal is the most popular
national destination for Brazilians. And when the ranking also
considers international destinations, Natal is in second place, behind
only Florida. At the end of 2015, Natal was chosen by the magazine
NATIONAL GEOGRAFIA TRAVELER as one of the 20 world
destinations to visit in 2016. This was the only place in Brazil
mentioned by the magazine.
Fernando de Noronha , in Pernambuco , is one of the biggest tourist
centers in the country.
Ecotourism is still little explored in the Northeast , but it has great
potential. Even so, among the ten main Brazilian ecotourism
destinations, there are four landscapes located in the Northeast
region of Brazil, where it is possible to choose between islands (
Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha in Pernambuco ), dunes (
Lençóis Maranhenses in Maranhão ), high-altitude Atlantic forest (
Chapada Diamantina in Bahia ) and archeology in the caatinga ( Serra
da Capivara National Park in Piauí ).
The region's culture is also an attraction for tourists . All states
have different festivals and traditions. Olinda , in Pernambuco , with
vestiges of Dutch Brazil ; São Luís , in Maranhão , with those from
Equinoctial France ; São Cristóvão , in Sergipe , and its Praça de São
Francisco , surrounded by imposing historical buildings; Salvador ,
Bahia , with those from the political-administrative headquarters of
Colonial Brazil ; and Porto Seguro and Santa Cruz de Cabrália , also in
Bahia, with the historical marks of the arrival of the squadrons of
the discovery of Brazil ; are some of the main historical and cultural
attractions in the region, the first four of which are considered
cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO .
Religious tourism has been growing in the region, especially in the
municipalities of Juazeiro do Norte and Canindé , both in Ceará ; and
Bom Jesus da Lapa in Bahia. Also noteworthy is the municipality of
Santa Cruz in Rio Grande do Norte , with the statue of Alto de
Santa Rita de Cássia , which is the largest statue in America .
Another city that has stood out is São José de Ribamar , in
Maranhão , which in September brings together a large number of
faithful from the northeastern states and from the State of Pará .
There is even a large statue of Saint Joseph, which can be accessed
by visitors, which has a view of the sea.
Infrastructure
Science and technology
Porto Digital , located in Recife's old neighborhood in the capital of
Pernambuco, is the largest technological park in Brazil and a world
reference in software production. The field of science and
technology in Northeast Brazil is in full process of growth and
expansion, since the end of the 1990s and continued in the 2000s .
Northeastern cities are receiving national and international
recognition for their hubs , centers and institutes technological .
One example is Recife , which is home to Porto Digital , a software
development center created in July 2000. A world reference, the
Pernambuco center is recognized as the largest technological park in
Brazil in terms of revenue and number of companies, in the interior
of Paraíba , Campina Grande gains relevance as one of the nine
outstanding cities in the world that present a new model of
technological center, the only one cited in all of Latin America in the
April 2001 edition of the US magazine Newsweek . And in another
study, it appears alongside the city of São Paulo , the only Latin
American cities, in the area of world technological innovation . All
this technological prominence in Campina Grande is the result of the
formation of a solid academic base, which began in the 1960s , when
the current Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), then
Polytechnic School, acquired one of the first five computers in
universities in the country. (first in the North-Northeast), giving
rise to the current undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas
of electrical engineering and computing . Another notable initiative is
the International Institute of Neurosciences of Natal , inaugurated
in 2006 in the capital of Rio Grande do Norte and idealized by the
neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis (considered one of the 20 most
important neuroscientists in activity in the world). It was created to
decentralize national research, currently restricted to the
Southeast and South regions of Brazil .
Ratifying the process of decentralization of science and technology
research, in Salvador , on July 17, 2009, after a year of construction
and an investment of 30 million reais , the first biotechnology center
located in the North and Northeast: the Center for Biotechnology
and Cell Therapy at Hospital São Rafael (CBTC), the most modern
and advanced center for studying stem cells in Latin America . In
addition, in 2010 the so-called " Brain Campus " was inaugurated in
Macaíba in the state of Rio Grande do Norte , which is a
neuroscience research and development center and which has a
social inclusion project , as well as the scientific part. Other
projects are Cidade da Ciência and Metropole Digital , also in Rio
Grande do Norte.
Transport
Complex of viaducts on Avenida do Contorno in Feira de Santana ,
part of the division between BRs 116 and 324.
The region's road network has 394,700 km of highways . The main
roadways and road transport are the BR-116 and BR-101 , with the
city of Feira de Santana , in Bahia , as the largest road junction in
the region.
rail system is still precarious, but works such as the Transnordestina
Railroad are in progress , which will connect the Port of Suape , in
the Metropolitan Region of Recife , to the Port of Pecém , in the
Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza , crossing practically the entire
territory of Pernambuco and Ceará . and linking these two states to
the state of Piauí , and will allow the flow of agricultural production
from the southwest of Piauí and the São Francisco Valley and the
production of the plaster pole of Araripina at a lower cost, which will
make prices more competitive; and the Ferrovia Oeste-Leste , which
will connect the city of Figueirópolis in Tocantins to Porto Sul in
Ilhéus in Bahia and will allow the transportation of soybeans from
the states of Mato Grosso , Goiás and Tocantins and from the west
of Bahia, as well as iron ore, uranium, cocoa and cellulose from the
south of Bahia.
Recife International Airport is the largest and most modern airport
in the North-Northeast and one of the five best in Brazil .
Its most important cities have an adequate airport structure, with
the international airports of Natal/São Gonçalo do Amarante ,
Recife , Salvador and Fortaleza being the largest. The main airports
in the Northeast receive millions of tourists annually and maintain
regular flights to the main cities in Europe and the United States ,
with Recife International Airport being the busiest airport terminal
in the region. In São Gonçalo do Amarante , in Greater Natal, there
is the Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport, which is the
most modern, has the largest runway capacity in the Northeast, in
addition to being the only one hundred percent privatized and the
only one with a runway prepared for aircraft. of large size like the
A380 (3000x60).
Currently, only Recife , Salvador and Fortaleza have a subway system
. There are also VLT projects under study to be implemented in the
region. The VLTs in Maceió , Natal , João Pessoa and Teresina are
already in operation. Other projects outside the capitals are the
VLT do Cariri in Juazeiro do Norte and Arapiraca , in addition to the
interconnection between the center and the Natal Airport.
Education
The Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Pernambuco
obtained an 81.3% in the Bar Examination in 2010.1. The faculty,
which was born from the transfer of the Faculty of Law of Olinda ,
is the oldest faculty of Law in Brazil. The Northeast of Brazil has a
long history in the area of education, since the first Jesuits, who in
the 16th century installed schools in this region. The main
educational facilities are concentrated in capitals and medium-sized
cities. Even so, the region is historically recognized for having the
largest number of illiterate people in the country, despite notable
advances in its educational indicators in recent decades.
Three universities in the Northeast Region are among the 1,000 best
in the world in 2014, according to the CWUR ( Center for World
University Rankings ) study: the Federal University of Pernambuco
(15th nationally and 940th in the global ranking); the Federal
University of Ceará (16th place nationally and 964th in the global
ranking); and the Federal University of Bahia (17th place nationally
and 967th position in the global ranking).
ENADE indicators , the State University of Feira de Santana
(UEFS) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
are among the top 20 in the country in 2012, in 15th and 18th
positions, respectively. The Scimago Institutions Ranking (SRI) 2012
shows the State University of Feira de Santana in the 181st position
in the Ibero-American ranking among 1,401 higher education
institutions, and in the 118th position in the ranking of universities in
Latin America and the Caribbean in the scientific production index .
The Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia , the oldest medical school in
Brazil, was founded in 1808 by the Pernambuco physician Correia
Picanço under the name of Escola decirurgia da Bahia , shortly after
the arrival of Dom João VI in the country. Univasf is the first
Federal University established in the northeastern hinterland. It is
located in the states of Pernambuco , Bahia and Piauí , with
headquarters in the city of Petrolina . It started its academic
activities in 2004.
The Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Pernambuco ,
located in Recife , obtained the second best result in the Bar
Examination in 2010.1, with a rate of 81.3%, surpassed by the Law
course at the University of Brasília . At the Recife Faculty of Law,
important names in Brazilian history studied, including names such as
Ruy Barbosa , Barão do Rio Branco , Castro Alves , Clóvis Beviláqua ,
Tobias Barreto , Joaquim Nabuco , Eusébio de Queirós , Teixeira de
Freitas , Marquês de Paranaguá , Epitácio Pessoa , Assis
Chateaubriand , José Lins do Rego and Pontes de Miranda . Three
other northeastern law schools are among the top ten in the country.
They are, in order of approved students: Federal University of
Paraíba (75.2%); Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (72.3%);
and Federal University of Ceará (69.4%).
The state of Pernambuco stands out in technological education. The
Informatics Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CIn
UFPE), responsible for the courses in Computer Science,
Information Systems and Computer Engineering, is a major supplier
of labor specialized in technology for Microsoft . Its courses are
considered among the best in Latin America. UFPE was one of the
five educational institutions selected worldwide for Microsoft's
worldwide research program, which allowed access to the source
code of Visual Studio components . The other four universities
selected were Yale University (United States); Monash University
(Australia); the University of Hull (England); in addition to UNESP ,
Brazil being the only country that had two universities chosen. UFPE
was honored by Microsoft for the participation of students from
the institution's IT Center in the Imagine Cup, an event promoted by
the company. Students of the Mechanical Engineering course at the
Federal University of Pernambuco participated, in 2011, in the Baja
SAE BRASIL-PETROBRAS Competition and secured a place for Baja
SAE Kansas, in the United States. Only UFPE and two São Paulo
universities, USP and FEI , won the right to represent Brazil in the
international edition of the competition. Ceará is the state with the
highest rate of approvals in the ITA , considered the most difficult
entrance exam in the country . Every year about 30% of the
freshmen of this higher education institution are from this
northeastern state. The exemplary performance in exact sciences
achieved by people from Ceará is due to the work carried out in a
group of schools in the state capital, Fortaleza . Another highlight
of the Northeast Region at ITA is the state of Pernambuco , which
had 12 students approved in the Vestibular 2011, which represents
almost 10% of the 130 vacancies offered by this institution.
Pernambuco was in 3rd place in approvals, surpassed only by the
states of Ceará and São Paulo . ITA, an institution founded by
Casimiro Montenegro Filho in the state of São Paulo, was the embryo
of Embraer , and provides manpower for the third largest aircraft
manufacturer in the world.
Health
The Maternidade Escola Januário Cicco , a work of neoclassical
architecture belonging to UFRN , is the most important maternity
hospital in the state
The main medical centers in the Northeast Region are the cities of
Recife , Salvador and Fortaleza .
Among the main hospitals in Recife is the Hospital da Restauração ,
the largest public emergency and the most complex emergency and
trauma service in the North-Northeast, receiving patients from all
over the state and neighboring states. The Hospital da Restauração,
a reference in the areas of trauma, neurosurgery, neurology, general
surgery, internal medicine and orthopedics, has 482 beds registered
with the Ministry of Health (MS), but, including the extras, it
operates with a total of 723 beds to serve your demand. Private
hospitals in Recife make the capital of Pernambuco the second
largest medical and hospital center in Brazil.
In Salvador, Bahia , the Hospital Geral Roberto Santos (HGRS)
stands out – the largest public hospital in the state and also in the
North and Northeast regions of the country, and the Hospital Geral
do Estado (HGE). HGRS provides an average of 1,000 outpatient
consultations and 350 emergency consultations on weekdays; it is a
reference in oral and maxillofacial and vascular surgeries and a
medical clinic in neurosurgery and nephrology; and has almost 2,600
employees. The Roberto Santos building also houses the Antivenom
Information Center, a reference in the treatment of poisoning in
Bahia. Other hospitals worth mentioning: Hospital Santo Antônio
(founded by Sister Dulce ); the Sarah Kubitschek Hospital ; and the
Professor Edgard Santos University Hospital Complex.
The main public hospitals in the state of Ceará are concentrated in
Fortaleza . Among these hospitals, the Doctor José Frota Institute ,
better known as IJF, which is the largest emergency hospital in the
state, managed by the city hall, deserves special mention; and the
Hospital Geral de Fortaleza, which is the largest public hospital,
administered by the state government. Private medical care is highly
developed, with a total of 127 hospitals, with emphasis on São
Mateus , Antônio Prudente , Unimed , Monte Klinikum and SARAHFortaleza .
Culture
As it was the first region effectively colonized by the Portuguese,
back in the 16th century , who found native populations there and
were accompanied by Africans brought there as slaves, the
northeastern culture is quite particular and typical, despite being
extremely varied. Its base is Luso-Brazilian, with great African
influences, especially on the coast from Pernambuco to Bahia and
Maranhão , and Amerindian influences, especially in the semi-arid
hinterland.
In João Pessoa , there is a great architectural project designed by
the architect Oscar Niemeyer . This is the Cabo Branco Science,
Culture and Arts Station , where weekly exhibitions of arts, culture
and technology projects developed in the region take place.
Literature
José de Alencar .
Northeastern literature has made great contributions to the
Brazilian literary scene, especially names such as Jorge Amado ,
Nelson Rodrigues , José de Alencar , João Cabral de Melo Neto ,
Rachel de Queiroz , Gregório de Matos , Clarice Lispector ,
Graciliano Ramos , Gonçalves Dias , Aluísio Azevedo , Manuel
Bandeira , Joaquim Nabuco , Tobias Barreto , Arthur Azevedo ,
Castro Alves , Coelho Neto , Álvaro Lins , Jorge de Lima , Ariano
Suassuna , Viriato Correia , Ferreira Gullar , José Lins do Rego , João
Ubaldo Ribeiro , Dias Gomes , Raimundo Correia , Josué Montello ,
among many others. Gilberto Freyre represents a milestone in the
history of Brazil, thanks to his book Casa-Grande & Senzala , which
demonstrates the importance of slaves for the formation of the
country. In Ceará , the Spiritual Bakery movement , at the end of
the 19th century, anticipated some of the renovations brought about
by modernism, in the 1920s of the following century.
In the literature, one can also cite the literature Cordel literature
dating back to the colonial period ( cordel literature was brought by
the Portuguese and originated in the European Middle Ages ) and
numerous popular artistic manifestations that are manifested orally,
such as the cantadores de repentes and de embolada .
Music and dance
Frevo , typical manifestation of Pernambuco. As music, it is one of
the most influential genres in the country: it revealed great MPB
musicians and, in addition to being a symbol of the Carnival of Recife
/ Olinda , it was the rhythm used in the Carnival of Salvador before
the emergence of axé music .
Alberto Nepomuceno and Paurillo Barroso stood out as composers ,
as well as Liduíno Pitombeira today, and Eleazar de Carvalho as a
conductor. Northeastern rhythms and melodies also inspired
composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos (whose Brazilian Bachiana nº 5,
for example, in its second part - Dança do Martelo - alludes to the
sertão of Cariri in Ceará ).
In popular music , rhythms such as coco , xaxado , hammer agalopado
, samba de roda , baião , xote , forró , axé and frevo , among other
rhythms , stand out . The Movimento Armorial do Recife, inspired by
Ariano Suassuna , did an erudite work in valuing this northeastern
popular rhythmic heritage. One of its best-known exponents is the
singer Antônio Nóbrega .
June gang show.
In dance , maracatu , practiced in various parts of the Northeast,
frevo, bumba-meu-boi , xaxado, several variants of forró, the Creole
drum (characteristic of Maranhão ), etc. Folk music is almost always
accompanied by dancing.
Craftsmanship
Handicrafts are also an important part of the cultural production of
the Northeast, and are even the livelihood of thousands of people
throughout the region. Due to the regional variety of handicraft
traditions, it is difficult to fully characterize them, but the woven
hammocks stand out, often embroidered with great detail; products
made of clay , wood (for example, from carnaúba , a typical tree
from the sertão ) and leather , with very particular traits; in
addition to lace , which gained prominence in Ceará handicrafts.
Another highlight are the bottles with images made manually in
colored sand, an article produced for sale to tourists. In Maranhão,
handicrafts made from buriti fiber (palm tree) stand out , as well as
handicrafts and products from babassu (palm tree native to
Maranhão).
cooking
Munguzá , a typical northeastern delicacy.
cuisine is varied, reflecting the economic and productive conditions
of the region's diverse geoeconomic landscapes . Seafood and fish
are widely used in coastal cuisine, while in the hinterland, recipes
that use meat and derivatives from cattle , goats and sheep
predominate . Even so, there are several regional differences, both
in the variety of dishes and in the way they are prepared. For
example, in Ceará , the salty mugunzá - also called macunzá or
mucunzá - predominates, while in Pernambuco the sweet
predominates). In Bahia, the main highlights are foods made with
palm oil and shrimp , such as moquecas , vatapá , acarajé and bobós ;
However, foods accompanied by pirão such as mocotó and oxtail are
no less appreciated , as well as sweets such as cocada , which is
present throughout the northeast. In Maranhão , the highlights are
the cuxá , the rice of cuxá , the bobó, the stone fish and the shrimp
pie. Also in Maranhão stands out the Guaraná Jesus , Maranhão
heritage of national fame. Roll cake is intangible heritage of
Pernambuco.
Some typical foods of the region are: baião de dois , dried meat ,
coalho cheese , vatapá, acarajé, pancakes, buchada, canjica , coconut
beans and rice, green beans and sururu , as well as various sweets
made from papaya , pumpkin , orange , etc. Some regional fruits - not
necessarily native to the region - are ciriguela , cajá , buriti ,
cajarana , umbu , macaúba , juçara , bacuri , cupuaçu , buriti, murici
and pitomba , among others.
festivities
Dolls of Olinda , in Olinda . Recife / Olinda Carnival is considered the
most democratic and culturally diverse in the country.
In terms of festivities , the Northeast region has a variety of
events that take place throughout the year:
During Carnival, the highlights are the parties in Salvador and Olinda
- Recife .
The first is the biggest popular festival on the planet according to
the Guinness Book , with around 2.7 million revelers in six days of
celebration (equivalent to the number of residents in the city), and
internationally known for the parades of famous artists in the
electric trios ; and the second is popularly considered the most
democratic carnival in the country, and is known for its
characteristic olinda puppets , the rhythm of frevo and maracatu , in
addition to having the largest carnival block in the world, the Galo da
Madrugada .
The most prominent micaretas (out of season carnivals) are "
Carnatal " in Natal ; the " Fortal " in Fortaleza ; the " Pre-Caju " in
Aracaju ; the "Micarande" in Campina Grande . There is also the "
bumba-meu-boi " in Maceió and São Luís do Maranhão , the "
Micareta de Feira " in Feira de Santana and the " Lavagem do
Kimarrei " in Barreiras .
São João approaches , the cities of Caruaru in Pernambuco and
Campina Grande in Paraíba compete for the title of "Capital of
Forró". In addition, in Patos , in the state of Paraíba, the Best São
João in the World takes place - considered the 4th largest in Brazil
and the World.
There are also music festivals, such as " Festival de Verão de
Salvador " (biggest annual festival in Brazil ), " Piauí Pop " in Teresina
, "Mada" in Natal , " Abril Pro Rock " in Recife , " Ceará Music " in
Fortaleza , the " Fest Verão Paraíba " in João Pessoa , the " Maceió
Fest " in Maceió and the " Festival of Winter Bahia " in Vitória da
Conquista .
sports
Arena Castelão , in Fortaleza . It is among the 60 largest stadiums in
the world , it is the fourth largest in Brazil and the largest in the
North/Northeast.
As in the rest of the country, the main sport in the Northeast is
soccer . The main northeastern clubs are CSA , CRB and ASA in
Alagoas ; Bahia and Vitória in Bahia ; Fortaleza , Ceará and
Ferroviário in Ceará ; Sampaio Corrêa , Moto Club and Maranhão in
Maranhão ; Treze , Campinense and Botafogo-PB in Paraíba ; Sport ,
Santa Cruz and Náutico in Pernambuco ; River , Flamengo and
Parnahyba in Piauí ; America of Natal and ABC in Rio Grande do
Norte ; and Sergipe , Confiança and Itabaiana in Sergipe .
The Brazilian soccer team usually plays matches in the Northeast.
The Castelão stadium , in Fortaleza , the Arruda stadium , in Recife,
the Rei Pelé stadium in Maceió and, recently, the Pituaçu stadium , in
Salvador, are the places where the national team usually plays. The
Estádio da Fonte Nova , in Salvador, also hosts such matches,
however, it was marked by an accident involving fatal victims in
2007.
Autodromo Internacional de Caruaru , Pernambuco .
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup , the Northeast had four host
cities: Salvador , Recife , Natal and Fortaleza . Transport networks,
hotels and hospitals were built, expanded or renovated, in addition
to the renovation and construction of new stadiums. In Salvador,
Estádio da Fonte Nova was completely renovated, as was Estádio
Castelão , in Fortaleza. In Recife, the Pernambuco Arena was built ,
located in São Lourenço da Mata . In Natal, the old Machadão was
demolished and, in its place, the Arena das Dunas stadium was built .
The four stadiums were refurbished or built to FIFA standards .
Other Northeastern capitals also applied to host the competition:
João Pessoa , Teresina and Maceió . It was the second time that
Nordeste participated in a World Cup: in 1950 , Recife held the
match between Chile and the United States , with Ilha do Retiro
being the stage for the game on that occasion .
In motorsport , the Northeast region also hosts two annual Formula
Truck stages , one at the Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in
Caruaru , and one at the Autódromo Internacional Virgílio Távora in
Eusébio , in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza . In addition, since
2009 , a stage of Stock Car Brasil takes place in the region, more
specifically at Circuito Ayrton Senna , in the streets of Centro
Administrativo da Bahia , in Salvador.
Located in the city of Fortaleza , Ceará , is the Northeast Olympic
Training Center known by its acronym CFO, a sports complex that
forms the largest set of sports facilities in the country, with
313,000 m². The center has an adaptable multi-sport training
gymnasium, running track, Olympic and diving pools, skateboarding
track, BMX track, beach volleyball and tennis courts, accommodation
for up to 248 athletes, gym, physiotherapy, sports federation and
confederation rooms and the largest multipurpose indoor arena in
the country, with capacity for 17,100 people at sporting events and
21,000 at cultural events. Among the sports modalities to which the
complex is dedicated are: athletics , swimming , badminton ,
synchronized swimming , basketball , modern pentathlon , boxing ,
rugby , cycling , tennis , handball , taekwondo , fencing , table tennis ,
soccer , shooting with archery , artistic gymnastics , triathlon ,
weightlifting , volleyball , field hockey , beach volleyball , judo ,
water polo , wrestling and diving .
regional sports competitions can be mentioned : Campeonato
Nordestão Governador Miguel Arraes ( chess ), Desafio Costa do Sol
( athletics ), Nordeste Sevens ( rugby sevens ), Supercopa do
Nordeste de Basquete ( basketball ), among many .
Wood zone:
The Zona da Mata is a sub-region that lies on the east coast of the
Northeast Region of Brazil that extends from the east of the state
of Rio Grande do Norte to the south of Bahia , formed by a narrow
strip of land by continental standards of Brazil . The name “Zona da
Mata” is due to the Atlantic Forest , which originally covered the
region, but is now greatly reduced.
Its area concentrates six of the nine northeastern capitals: Natal ,
João Pessoa , Recife , Maceió , Aracaju and Salvador . It is the most
urbanized, industrialized and economically developed area in the
Northeast Region. Latitudinally, it can be subdivided into northern
(polarized by the Natal-João Pessoa axis), central (polarized by the
Recife-Maceió axis) and meridional (polarized by the SalvadorAracaju axis).
History
When the Europeans arrived in the Zona da Mata, it was inhabited
by indigenous peoples. tupis , such as the tupiniquins , tupinambás ,
caetés , tabajaras and potiguaras . The ancestors of these peoples
arrived in this region in the first centuries of the Christian Era,
pushing the indigenous Macro-Jês who lived there.
In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral disembarked in Santa Cruz Cabrália ,
this being the "Discovery" of Brazil . In the following decades, the
economy of this northeastern region started to be based on the
extraction of brazilwood , stored in factories , which also attracted
the English and French. This led Portugal to pay attention to the
colonization of the region.
Between the middle of the 16th century and the 18th century, the
economy of the Zona da Mata was based on the cultivation of sugar
cane , cultivated in the local fertile soils known as "massapês", with
the extensive use of African slave labor. . With that, this zone had
prosperity, becoming the economic center of the Colony . This was
one of the factors that led the Dutch to invade parts of this region
and create the New Holland colony in the dominated lands.
When the Dutch left Pernambuco, they introduced the cultivation of
sugarcane in the Antilles , with competition from the plant produced
in Brazil, which led to the economic decline of the Zona da Mata,
accentuated in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with the
discovery of gold in Minas Gerais and the transfer of the Brazilian
economic axis to the Southeast Region .
In the 19th century, the Zona da Mata region was economically
reborn, due to the cultivation of cotton and cocoa . With the
infrastructure and industrialization works in the following century,
the development of the region increases more and more. In the 21st
century, this area grew above the national average, overcoming a
certain stagnation and decay of the last decades of the previous
century.
Geography
Fragment of the Atlantic Forest in Olinda, Pernambuco.
The original vegetation in the Zona da Mata was predominantly
Atlantic Forest . It is an area with a high level of urbanization, in
addition to concentrating the main regional centers in the
Northeast. In the agricultural sector, the large properties of
tobacco , sugar cane and cocoa stand out . There is a large
agricultural production , due to the fertile soil (massape). In the last
decades of this region, there has been industrial growth driven by
state tax incentives.
Its climate is tropical humid with temperatures that hover between
20 and 30 degrees positive, slightly dropping below 20 degrees,
although in the less coastal longitudes temperatures below 20
degrees are not so uncommon, thanks to continentality without the
greater influence of marine currents equatorial and tropical. It also
rises just above 30 degrees, unlike the sertão biome at the same
latitude and other biomes of similar latitude and humidity in
Southeast Asia.
It extends from the coast to 200 km inland.
It presents regularity of rain.
Crops: sugar cane, cocoa, tobacco and subsistence farming.
Coast
The northeastern Zona da Mata has the greatest coastal variety in
Brazil, ranging from the coast of dunes in Rio Grande do Norte,
passing through the coast of cliffs in Paraíba, coast of reefs in
Pernambuco, coast of lagoons or the region of lakes that gave its
name to the state. Alagoas, plains beaches and extensive coconut
groves in Sergipe and large coastal stretches of warm water all year
round in Bahia and other states. There are also transition zones
between such coastline types and also "islands" of one type
"infiltrate" into the zone of another coastal pattern.
Demography
Capitals of Zona da Mata seen at night from space.
The most emerging cities in the Zona da Mata are its smallest
metropolitan centers, since the disorderly growth in recent decades
has brought too many problems to Salvador and Recife, comparable
to those faced by the two largest capitals in the Southeast (São
Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). The metropolitan regions of Natal , João
Pessoa and Maceió are important urban centers in this geographical
area, with a population of over one million inhabitants. The
metropolitan regions of João Pessoa and Aracaju were the ones that
grew the most in the sub-region according to the last census; the
first in the northern forest zone and the second in the centralsouthern forest zone.
In the last decade, according to the IBGE, the Metropolitan Region
of João Pessoa surpassed that of Maceió in population, becoming the
fourth largest in this geographical area. The Metropolitan Region of
Natal is the third largest urban agglomeration in the Zona da Mata,
after the metropolitan regions of Recife and Salvador. According to
the last census, Natal grew a lot in the middle of the last decade,
but its growth slowed down with the burst of the real estate bubble
and the external crisis of 2007, since it depended on raising foreign
currency from outside investors in its properties and sector tourist.
At the same time, Zona da Mata capitals of similar size that did not
depend as much on foreign capital as Natal did in their real estate
and tourism sector, followed divergent patterns. While Maceió grew
less and was overtaken as a metropolitan region, João Pessoa and
Aracaju maintained high growth, with the former managing to grow
more in the Northern and Eastern Northeast and the latter getting
ever closer to its first million inhabitants in its metropolis. Both
grew more than 22.5% in the last decade according to Veja
magazine.
Thus, within the Zona da Mata, there is the Zona Açucareira,
Recôncavo Baiano (tobacco zone) and the Cocoa Zone .
formation of the people
In his work " O Povo Brasileiro ", the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro
states that the formation of the people of the Zona da Mata is due
to the miscegenation between Portuguese, Amerindians and Africans.
Economy
Recife is the most populous urban concentration in the Brazilian
Northeast and in the Zona da Mata. Salvador is the third most
populous municipality in Brazil and the most populous in the
Northeast and Zona da Mata.
At the beginning of colonization , the Zona da Mata was not
completely dominated by sugarcane plantations. The population of
cities and farms needed food. Therefore, part of the land was
reserved for the cultivation of maize , manioc , beans and fruits .
There were also pastures for raising cattle. These lands were the
tablelands , slightly higher areas located between the valleys of two
subtropical rivers as in the south
As the soils on the tablelands are less humid and poorer than
massapê, they were not used for planting sugarcane. Thus, initially,
all agricultural production and even livestock were located in the
humid strip of the coast, where family farms producing food and
livestock farms were installed.
However, cane production grew as sugar exports to Europe
increased. The six marias were divided among the heirs of the first
owners. Each of them created new mills, which needed more cane.
Much has changed in agriculture in the Zona da Mata since colonial
times. Slavery gave way to paid work by the bóias-frias . The old
mills were replaced by sugar and alcohol mills . But sugar cane
remained the main product of the Northeast coastline.
But sugar cane is not the only crop in the Zona da Mata. On the
coast of Bahia, mainly in the Recôncavo Baiano area , near Salvador ,
important tobacco crops appeared . In the south of Bahia, in the
area of the cities of Ilhéus and Itabuna , cocoa farms were
concentrated . In addition, fruit production has been gaining
importance in the Zona da Mata. There are several fruits native to
the Northeast - such as cashew , cajá , mangaba and pitanga - which
are used to make delicious juices and sweets. Other fruits from the
tropical areas of the East - such as soursop , jackfruit and mango -
have adapted very well to the soils and climates of the Northeast,
highlighting that temperature stability ( which in general varies
between 25 °C and 30 °C) in the region is an important positive
aspect.
The Zona da Mata is also the most industrialized sub-region in the
Brazilian Northeast, with the Metropolitan Region of Recife and the
Metropolitan Region of Salvador being the areas where industry is
strongest and most diversified.
irrigation equipment , boats , ships , hulls for oil platforms , chips ,
software , automobiles , batteries and petrochemical products , in
addition to branded products with added value, stands out .
The Camaçari Petrochemical Complex , in the Metropolitan Region of
Salvador , is the largest integrated industrial complex in the
Southern Hemisphere. It houses, among other companies, a Ford
factory , the first automaker in the Northeast Region.
The Suape Industrial Port Complex , in the Recife Metropolitan Area
, is home to companies such as Estaleiro Atlântico Sul (the largest
shipyard in the Southern Hemisphere ) and the General Motors
logistics center . At the end of 2010, Fiat laid the cornerstone of its
new factory in Suape, the brand's third in Latin America . The
cornerstone of the Abreu e Lima Refinery was laid in 2005.
Culture
Crab from Rua da Aurora representing the musical genre
manguebeat , created in Recife in the 90's .
The northeastern Zona da Mata was the birthplace of the country's
main rhythms, such as frevo, maracatu, samba de roda do recôncavo,
bossa nova, axé, arrocha and others. The Trio Elétrico also
originates from the Mata area, as well as some interpreters of
Brazilian music such as Caetano Veloso, Maria Betânia, Alceu Valença,
Marina Elali, Herbert Viana and many others.
Samba de roda was transferred twice from the reconcavo or
southern forest zone to Rio de Janeiro. First, the transfer of labor
from there to the coffee zone in Vassouras, but this transfer ended
up only being in the interior and not reaching the capital. In the
second wave of migration, already in the first Republic, which really
transferred this type of percussion to that city.
Carnival
As it is one of the oldest regions in Brazil, many of the most
traditional carnivals in the country can be found, the most popular
carnivals are in Recife, Olinda and Salvador.
Northeast Hinterland:
The northeastern sertão, also known as sertão, is one of the four
sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil , the largest of which
is in terms of land area. It extends through the states of Alagoas ,
Bahia , Ceará , Paraíba , Pernambuco , Piauí , Rio Grande do Norte and
Sergipe .
Unlike other semi-deserts in the world, the hinterland does not
border a large desert, but wetlands. This explains its biomatic
peculiarities and its demographic atypicality. Comprises areas
dominated by the tropical climate semi-arid (hot and dry), with high
average temperatures, between 25 ºC and 30 °C (exceeding 42 ºC on
the hottest days only in Raso da Catarina in Bahia and in the centersouth of Piauí) and two well-defined seasons: one rainy and the other
dry . The rains are concentrated in only three or four months of the
year, and rainfall in the Sertão reaches an average of 750
millimeters per year, and in some areas it rains less than 500
millimeters per year.
Etymology
There are two versions to explain the origin of the word Sertão
during the colonization of Brazil by the Portuguese. The first
maintains that when they left the Brazilian coast and moved inland,
they noticed a great climatic difference in this semi-arid region .
Therefore, they called it "desert", caused by the hot and dry
climate. Soon, this denomination was understood as "from the
sertão", leaving only the word Sertão. The second, more reliable
version describes the word as being derived from the Latin word
sertanus , meaning desert or uninhabited area, which in turn derives
from sertum , meaning grove.
History
The first process of interiorization of Colonial Brazil took place in
the Sertão Northeast and started from the sugar mills of Bahia and
Pernambuco.
Due to the proliferation of oxen in the sugar cane plantations in the
Zona da Mata , which brought losses to the plantation owners and to
this economic activity, between the end of the 16th century and the
beginning of the 17th century, groups of Portuguese and Mamluks
were pushed , along with cattle from the sugarcane fields, from the
northeastern coast to the Caatinga . These pioneers and their
descendants continuously mixed with indigenous peoples, despite the
hostility between them, and developed livestock activities.
Livestock followed the course of rivers in the caatinga, such as the
São Francisco, Jaguaribe, Piranhas-Açu and Apodi, thus populating
the northeastern hinterland.
In addition to frequently living with drought, leather is always
present in the life of the sertanejo. About this essential material,
historian Capistrano de Abreu states:
[...] of leather was the door of the huts, the rough bed applied to
the hard ground, and later the bed for childbirth; all the ropes were
made of leather, the rubber one for carrying water, the saddlebag
or saddlebag for carrying food, the stretcher for storing clothes,
the rucksack for a thousand horses, the leash for tying them on a
trip, the knife scabbards, the witches and sacks, clothes for going
into the forest, banguês for tannery or to refine salt; for the dams,
the landfill material was carried on hides pulled by oxen that
trampled the earth with their weight. In leather the sertanejo
treads the tobacco to the nose
With the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais , cattle ranches began to
supply the gold deposits with food .
At the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century,
bandeirantes São Paulo discover gold deposits in the Jacobina region
and in the headwaters of the Paramirim , Contas and Brumado rivers
.
In the 1840s, diamond deposits were discovered in what are now
Mucugê , Lençóis and Andaraí , bringing explorers from other parts
of Brazil to this part of Chapada Diamantina , most of them former
miners from the North of Minas Gerais and Southwest Bahia and
traders from Salvador and the Recôncavo Baiano , in addition to
slaves.
Between 1877 and 1879, the Sertão was affected by the most
serious drought in its history, the Great Drought , whose most
affected region was Ceará .
During the Rubber Cycle , many sertanejos plagued by drought,
especially from Ceará, migrated to the Amazonian rubber
plantations. After World War II , with the increase in
industrialization, there was a strong internal migration of sertanejos
to the Southeast Region of Brazil , especially to the cities of São
Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and their surroundings.
In the 2000s, thousands of sertanejos left the Southeast and
returned to their regions of origin. In addition, at that time work
began on the Transposition of the São Francisco River .
Geography
Climate
Steppe-savannah , called caatinga in Brazil , the predominant
vegetation of the sertão and also present in part of the agreste
The Sertão is the sub-region with the lowest rainfall in the entire
country. The scarcity and irregular distribution of rainfall in this
area are due, above all, to the dynamics of the air masses and also to
the influence of the relief . The rains usually occur between the
months of December and April. However, in certain years, there is
no precipitation during this period and the drought can be prolonged,
giving rise to droughts.
The mechanisms that induce rainfall in the region are the humidity
of the Amazon , the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the cold
fronts that organize instabilities over the Sertão. However, there is
irregularity in the performance of these meteorological systems due
to numerous factors. Its rainy season crucially depends on the
temperature in the Atlantic Ocean and the occurrence of El Niño
and La Niña phenomena . The areas with the lowest rainfall are
located in the Submédio São Francisco , between Bahia and
Pernambuco , and on the slopes of the Borborema plateau , in the
states of Pernambuco and Paraíba .
Northeast Biomes
amazon
thick
caatinga
Atlantic forest
Coastal Marine
The occurrence of droughts is directly related to the phenomenon
of warming waters in the Pacific Ocean , near the west coast of
South America , known as El Niño . This warming of the Pacific
occurs in irregular periods of three to seven years, interfering with
the circulation of winds on a global scale, and consequently, in the
distribution of rainfall in the northeastern Sertão. They cause great
damage to rural landowners , who lose their crops and livestock, and
to the population in general, who suffer from the lack of food and
drinking water in this sub-region of the Northeast . The area
affected by the drought is equivalent to three times the state of
São Paulo . Sporadic rains and emergency aid cannot make us forget
the need to create effective alternatives to combat the problem. An
alternative to guarantee water during the drought in the rural zone
are the cisterns , with a capacity of 15 thousand liters, cost around
R$ 1.8 thousand and can supply a family of five people for seven to
eight months of drought .
Drought Polygon
, with the purpose of facilitating actions to combat droughts and
mitigate their effects on the sertaneja population, the federal
government delimited the so-called Drought Polygon.
Initially, the Polygon covered around 950,000 square kilometers,
extending across areas with a semi-arid climate . However, after the
occurrence of major droughts, the area of the Polygon was
expanded, reaching part of the state of Minas Gerais , also affected
by droughts .
There is a higher incidence of droughts north of the São Francisco
River than to the south, where rainfall is better distributed
throughout the rainy season.
Several government agencies are responsible for combating
droughts, especially the DNOCS ( National Department of Works
Against Droughts ), which coordinates irrigation programs,
construction of artesian wells and dams , as well as other functions,
aimed at alleviating the problems of the population.
caatinga
The steppe , called caatinga in Brazil, is the predominant vegetation
throughout the Sertão and in part of the Agreste . It occupies areas
with a semi-arid climate, resisting droughts through natural
adaptations. It is a type of xerophytic vegetation of semi-deserts.
Demography
Ethnography
The population of the northeastern Sertão is largely the result of
miscegenation between Portuguese and indigenous peoples . African
slaves were scarcely present in the Sertão (except in some regions
of the Sertão of Bahia), as livestock normally used the free labor of
cowboys.
In the regions of Southwest Bahia and Chapada Diamantina where
there was gold and diamond mining, the population was formed by
miscegenation between indigenous, Portuguese and Africans.
Urban centers
Fortaleza in Ceará is the only northeastern capital located in the
geographic region of the Sertão in opposition to the original concept,
map of the triangular urban network constituted in the north of the
Brazilian sertão by Juazeiro (BA)-Petrolina (PE) , Juazeiro do Norte
(CE) and Sousa (PB) .
Its biggest geopolitical and civilizational hub is in its northernmost
and coastal part, that is, Fortaleza , which is also one of the nine
capitals of the Northeast region.
Fortaleza is the regional metropolis of the sertão sub-region. Other
cities, such as Mossoró (RN), Juazeiro do Norte (CE), Sobral (CE),
Petrolina (PE), Juazeiro (BA) and Patos (PB), play the role of capitals
and regional centers.
The hinterland also has important urban centers of lesser influence
such as: Picos , Floriano , Pedro II , Oeiras and São Raimundo Nonato
in Piauí ; Crateus . Iguatu , Quixadá . Icó and Crato in Ceará ; Caicó ,
Assu , Currais Novos and Pau dos Ferros in Rio Grande do Norte ;
Sousa , Cajazeiras and Pombal in Paraíba ; Serra Talhada , Araripina
and Arcoverde in Pernambuco ; Delmiro Gouveia , Santana do
Ipanema , São José da Tapera and Pão de Açúcar in Alagoas ; and
Paulo Afonso , Irecê and Jacobina in Bahia .
metropolitan regions
The northeastern hinterland has six official metropolitan regions,
the most important being the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza .
Below is the population of cCultura
Living room of a rural house in Northeast Brazil"Chuva de Bala" show
at the June festivities in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte
The hinterland competes with the Zona da Mata for the best
carnivals in the region. The same happens with São João , since the
Agreste has the biggest ones, but the sertão competes with many of
the best festivals, among which Patos and Mossoró stand out . On
the semi-arid coast, there is also the culture of the northern
jangadeiro, seen as the archetype of the cearense , but which does
not reflect so much the southern sertanejo, without a coastline. The
main native rhythm of the Sertão is forró .
Although it is not publicized in the mainstream media, the sertão
region is rich in terms of popular poetry culture. The amount of
people with skill in the art of rhyme and in the improvisation of
verses is immense. Through these repentistas, some songs became
nationally known: as an example, the song "Mulher nova linda e
affectionosa", known in the interpretation of Amelinha from Ceará
and Zé Ramalho from Paraíba, is authored by the Pernambuco
repentista singer, Otacílio Batista. Another example is the song "A
volta da asa branco", written by Zé Dantas , another sertanejo from
Pernambuco, from the city of Carnaíba . North Minas Gerais culture
is one of the richest in Brazil and differs in each region, but is
based on religious and folkloric festivals such as mast raising and
the famous Catopês of the August Festivals in Montes Claros . It is
strongly influenced by the legends and beliefs that surround the São
Francisco River in riverside cities such as Januária , Pirapora ,
Manga, among others. In the Grande Sertão Veredas region, there is
a strong tradition of the Folia dos Três Reis Magos , which takes
place every year at the beginning of the year: revelers go from
house to house and are served cheese bread made in the country
oven, pinga and coffee . A big party at the home of one of the
revelers or devotees closes the celebration. The Jequitinhonha
valley is also culturally rich.
Cangaço:
The cangaço was a phenomenon of banditry , crimes and violence
that occurred in almost the entire hinterland of Northeast Brazil ,
between the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century . Its
members roamed in groups, crossing states and attacking cities,
where they committed plunder, murder and rape. For many
specialists, cangaço was born as a way of defending the sertanejos in
the face of serious social problems and the ineffectiveness of the
State in maintaining order and applying the law. One of the main
leaders of the cangaço was Virgulino Ferreira da Silva , commonly
known as Lampião. The term cangaço comes from the word canga , a
piece of wood used to attach a yoke of oxen to a cart or plow, also
known as a yoke.
Word Origin
Around 1834, the term cangaceiro was already used to refer to
bands of poor peasants who inhabited the deserts of northeastern
Brazil, wearing leather clothes and hats, carrying carbines,
revolvers, shotguns and long, narrow knives, known as fishmongers .
The term cangaceiro was a pejorative expression, which designated
the person who could not adapt to the coastal lifestyle.
By this time in that region there were two main groups of loosely
organized armed bandits: the jagunços , mercenaries who worked for
whoever paid their price, usually landowners who wanted to protect
or expand their territorial limits and also deal with rural workers,
and the cangaceiros, bandits who had some level of support from the
poorest population, in favor of whom they supported some beneficial
behaviors, such as acts of charity, buying goods at higher prices and
promoting dances. The population provided shelter and the
information that helped them escape the incursions of police forces,
known as steering wheels , sent by the government to stop them.
Division
The cangaço can be divided into three subgroups: those who
provided specific services for landowners; the satisfactory ones ,
expression of power of the great farmers; and the independent
cangaceiros, with characteristics of banditry.
The cangaceiros knew the caatinga well , so it was easy for them to
flee and hide from the authorities. They were always prepared to
face all kinds of situations, they knew medicinal plants, water
sources, places with food, escape routes and places of difficult
access.
The first known band of cangaceiros was Jesuíno Alves de Melo
Calado , nicknamed Jesuíno Brilhante , who acted around 1870, near
the city of Patu and between the border of the states of Rio Grande
do Norte and Paraíba , although some historians attribute to Lucas
Evangelista the feat of being the first to add a characteristic group
of cangaço, on the outskirts of Feira de Santana , in 1828, and he
was arrested along with his gang on January 28, 1848, for provoking,
for twenty years, assaults against the population of Feira. The last
famous cangaceiro group was Corisco (Cristino Gomes da Silva Cleto),
killed on May 25, 1940.
Lamp
The most famous cangaceiro was Virgulino Ferreira da Silva ,
Lampião , also known as Senhor do Sertão and O Rei do Cangaço . It
operated during the 1920s and 1930s, in virtually every state in the
Northeast . He began his criminal life at a young age, claiming
revenge that never happened.
Wandering around Santa Brígida, in the state of Bahia, he met Maria
Gomes de Oliveira, also known as Maria de Déa, wife of the
shoemaker Zé de Nenê, who became his companion, later being known
as Maria Bonita .
On the part of the authorities, Lampião symbolized brutality, evil, a
disease that needed to be eradicated. For a part of the sertão
population, he embodied values such as bravery, heroism and a sense
of honor , similar to what happened to the Mexican Pancho Villa .
The cangaço came to an end with the decision of the then President
of the Republic, Getúlio Vargas , to eliminate any and all sources of
disorder in the national territory. The so-called Estado Novo regime
included Lampião and his cangaceiros in the category of extremists.
The sentence was to kill all cangaceiros who did not surrender.
Heads of dead cangaceiros exposedBand of Virgínio Fortunato da
Silva , aka "Moderno", in 1936Lampião and his gang photographed in
Limoeiro do Norte after an attack on the city of Mossoró in 1927
On July 28, 1938, in the locality of Angico, in the state of Sergipe ,
Lampião was finally caught in an ambush by the authorities, where he
was killed along with his companion Maria Bonita and nine other
cangaceiros. A whistleblower named Pedro de Cândida allegedly
passed on his location to the police. In the offensive, eleven
members of the band were killed: Lampião, Maria Bonita, Luís Pedro,
Mergulhão, Enedina, Elétrico, Quinta-Feira, Moeda, Alecrim,
Colchete and Macela.
The cangaceiros were beheaded and their heads placed in brandy
and lime to preserve them. They were exhibited throughout the
Northeast and wherever they were taken, they attracted crowds.
This event came to mark the final stage of the cangaço, because, as
a result of the repercussions of Virgulino's death, the leaders of
other bands existing in the Northeast came to surrender themselves
to the police authorities in order not to be killed.
cangaço history
Area with the highest incidence of cangaço (1890-1930)
It is said that the first man to act as a cangaceiro would have been
Cabeleira, as José Gomes was called. Born in 1751, in Glória do Goitá ,
a city in the Pernambuco forest zone, he terrorized his region. But it
was only at the end of the 19th century that cangaço gained
strength and prestige, mainly with Antonio Silvino , Lampião and
Corisco .
Between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the
20th century, the Northeast of Brazil went through difficult times,
terrorized by groups of men who spread violence wherever they
went. They were the cangaceiros, bandits who embraced the nomadic
and irregular life of criminals for different reasons. Some of them
were driven by the despotism of powerful women. Lucas da Feira , or
Lucas Evangelista, operated in the region of the Bahian city of Feira
de Santana between 1828 and 1848. He and his band of more than
30 men robbed travelers and raped women. He was hanged in 1849.
In the year 1877, in the midst of a drought, the actions of bandit
João Calangro, who led a band that operated throughout Cariri,
stand out in the south of Ceará . Calangro was a henchman in
Inocêncio Vermelho's group, who had the support of the judge of
the municipality of Jardim . With the death of Inocêncio Vermelho,
João Calangro leads a retinue of cangaceiros, who, due to their name,
are now called calangos . After many clashes, João Calangro, who
boasted of having committed 32 homicides, fled to Piauí , and from
then on the outcome of his fate became unknown regarding the
records about him.
Anésia Cauaçu and her daughter, in 1916 - Jornal A TARDE
Anésia Cauaçu was a forerunner of a band that acted in the
backlands of Bahia in the 1910s, mainly in the city of Jequié, she and
her band were known as Bando dos Cauaçus , it had more than 100
men and women willing to fight, in addition to good connoisseurs of
the region, well armed, and well dressed in their leather hats and
leather clothes, typical attire of the sertanejos and cowboys of the
region.
The Cauaçus band was formed by sertanejos and farmers revolted
by the death of one of its members, who was murdered at the
behest of Zezinho dos Laços, precursor of a band that terrorized
the region for decades. Anésia Cauaçu was very pretty, she was tall,
with long, dark hair, white skin and blue eyes, but none of that took
away from her courage, wearing her leather hat, her leather clothes,
her scarf and her leather pants to riding her horse, she was always
ready to fight.
The cangaceiros managed to dominate the sertão for a long time, as
they were protected by colonels, who used them to collect debts,
among other dirty services.
A particular case was that of Januário Garcia Leal , known as Sete
Orelhas , who operated in southeastern Brazil at the beginning of
the 19th century, having been considered a vigilante and honorable
by some, and a cangaceiro by others.
In the hinterland, a form of relationship between large landowners
and their cowboys was consolidated.
The basis of this relationship was the loyalty of the cowboys to the
ranchers. The cowboy made himself available to defend, weapons in
hand, the boss's interests.
As the political rivalries were great, there were many conflicts
between the powerful families, who surrounded themselves with
jagunços for defense, thus forming real armies. However, the time
came when the first armed bands began to appear, free from the
control of the landowners.
The colonels had enough power to prevent the cangaceiros from
taking action.
The cangaceiro, in particular Lampião, became a character in the
national imagination, sometimes characterized as a kind of Robin
Hood , who stole from the rich to give to the poor, sometimes
characterized as a pre-revolutionary figure, who questioned and
subverted the social order of their time and region.
coiteiros
Coiteiros were people who helped the cangaceiros, giving them
shelter and food. They did this because they were relatives, friends,
former neighbors, or even out of interest or fear.
steering wheels and jacks
The steering wheels were small groups of soldiers, around 20 to 60,
from all states of the Brazilian federation, formed by the
government through law enforcement agencies, sent to seek out and
destroy the cangaceiros, who often referred to them as monkeys . ,
due to their brown uniforms and their willingness to obey orders.
Some of them carried the then-modern Hotchkiss machine guns ,
weapons that the cangaceiros quickly learned to fear, but were
always ready to steal for their own use.
cangaceiro style
Cangaceiro Corisco in 1936
The cangaceiros had very specific notions of how to behave and
dress. First of all, most of them knew how to sew very well. Living in
the semi-arid lands of northeastern Brazil, they had to survive
among dry, spiky bushes. Despite the heat during the day, the
cangaceiros preferred to wear leather clothes, adorned with all
kinds of colored ribbons and metal pieces.
They also wore leather gloves with coins and other metal parts sewn
in by them, almost like armor.
Cangaceiro clothing at the Cais do Sertão Museum , Recife
Because of the strong heat and lack of water, some cangaceiros,
especially Lampião, used perfumes, including expensive ones like the
French ones, often stolen from the homes of rich people and used in
large quantities.
Man dressed as a cangaceiro
Basic kit for the cangaço:
Leather hat with folded wide brim
Ammo (up to 40 pounds) and weapons (most common was the
Winchester 44 rifle)
Bag (henchman) with medicine, tobacco and brilliantine
Dagger
Scarf to protect mouth and nose from dust
Sturdy clothing with long sleeves against the sun
Canteen with water or cachaça.
cangaceiro's weapons
RifleA Luger P08 pistol , used by cangaceiros
The cangaceiros' weapons were mainly revolvers, shotguns and the
famous parabellum , which is a Portuguese corruption of the Latin
word parabellum , which was the official name of the Luger P08
pistol . The word means to prepare for war , and comes from the
Latin proverb si vis pacem, for bellum . It was designated as an
official weapon by Brazilian government troops and by some law
enforcement officers.
The cangaceiros also became famous for using a thin, long and very
sharp knife called a fishbone , originally created for cleaning fish, in
addition, they also used the famous dagger . These bladed weapons
were used by cangaceiros to torture and kill their enemies.
Popular culture
Literature of twine
example of twine
Cangaço is one of the most explored themes in cordel literature ,
where the cangaceiro is portrayed as a hero . Cordel literature is,
like any other artistic form, a cultural manifestation. Through
writing, the songs, poems and stories of the people are transmitted
— by the people themselves. The name Cordel originated in Portugal,
where the booklets were formerly displayed on strings, like clothes
on a clothesline.
Books
The Cabeleira , by Franklin Távora
Jurisdiction of the Captains — The Story of Januário Garcia
Leal and His Band — Editora Del Rey, Belo Horizonte, 2001,
Marcos Paulo de Souza Miranda.
Lampião and Maria Bonita by Liliana Iacocca, Editora Ática
Flor de Romances Trágicos , by Luís da Câmara Cascudo,
Editora Cátedra.
Lampião: hero or bandit , by Antonio Amaury Correa de Araújo
and Carlos Elydio Correa. São Paulo: Editora Claridade, 2009.
Films
Alberto Ruschel and Milton Ribeiro in a scene from the film O
Cangaceiro
The first films about cangaço date from the mid -1920s and
early 1930s , such as Filho sem Mãe (1925), Sangue de Irmão
(1927) and Lampião, a fera do Nordeste (1930). Between the
1950s and the 1960s , Brazilian films about cangaço were
heavily influenced by Western films from the United States
and are known as Nordestern , Western Macaxeira , or
Western Feijoada , one of which was O Cangaceiro ( 1953 ),
O Cangaceiro , by Lima Barreto, 1953 (original soundtrack by
Riz Ortolani)
Death Commands the Cangaço , Walter Guimarães Motta 1961
Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol , English title: " Black God,
White Devil ", by Glauber Rocha, 1963
The Dragon of Evil Against the Holy Warrior , by Glauber
Rocha, 1968
O' Cangaceiro (in Brazil, Rebellion of the Brutes), Italy-Spain,
film inspired by the Italian western cinema ( western spaghetti
), 1970
Baile Perfumado , Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira, 1997
O Matador by Marcelo Galvão , 2017 Comics
In 1938, Euclides Santos published the strip Vida de Lampeão in the
magazine A Noite Ilustrada . In the 1950s , inspired by the success
of O Cangaceiro, comic artist Gedeone Malagola launches a comic
book about the fictional "Milton Ribeiro, O Cangaceiro", Milton
Ribeiro is the actor who played the cangaceiro Galdino in the 1953
film, unlike Milton Ribeiro for Galdino, is that in the comics Milton is
the hero. In 1953, José Lanzellotti launches Raimundo, o Cangaceiro
for the magazine Aliança Juvenil from the publishing house Aliança,
in the 1960s, the series would win a magazine by the publishing
house Pan Juvenil. In 1954, the Haitian André LeBlanc adapted the
novel Os Cangaceiros by José Lins do Rego for EBAL 's magazine
Editing Maravilhosa . In 1963, Mauricio de Sousa commanded the
Children's and Youth Supplement of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo
, Mauricio then asked Julio Shimamoto to create a strip for the
supplement, Shimamoto created two projects: one strip about
cangaceiros and another about gauchos , in the end decided to
create the strip O Gaúcho , at the time, cangaceiros were portrayed
as bandits. the radio programs Jerônimo, o Herói do Sertão and
Juvêncio, the vigilante of the sertão transported the stories of the
westerns to the Brazilian sertão and also had comic books, Jerônimo
in 1957 by Rio Gráfica Editora , with texts by Moysés Weltman and
drawings by Edmundo Rodrigues , and Juvêncio Between 1968 and
1969 by Editora Prelúdio , with scripts by Gedeone Malagola, RF
Lucchetti , Helena Fonseca and Fred Jorge and drawings by Sérgio
Lima , Rodolfo Zalla , Eugênio Colonnese and Mário Cafiero, Editora
Prelúdio also published cordel literature and published an adaptation
of "The Arrival of Lampião in Hell" by José Pachêco by Sérgio Lima.
In the 1970s, comic artist Floriano Hermeto de Almeida Filho , one
of those responsible for the superhero stories Judoka , even
produced seven pages of a story about cangaço, which remained
unpublished until November 2018, when they were published in the
book "O Judoka por FHAF", [ 28] published by AVEC Editora, after a
crowdfunding campaign on the website Catharsis . On the pages of
the newspaper Notícias Populares, the series of comic strips Capitão
Caatinga, written by Franco de Rosa and illustrated by Sebastião
Seabra , was published .
In 1974 , the Brazilian Jô Oliveira published the story "A Guerra do
Reino Divino" in the Italian magazine alterlinus , two years later the
Brazilian publisher Codecri (the same publisher responsible for O
Pasquim ) published the work in the country. Jô Oliveira's art is
greatly influenced by the woodcut present in the strings and is
considered one of the first Brazilian graphic novels . Despite being a
Brazilian theme, the theme is also explored by authors from other
countries, in Mister No 3, 4 and 5, published in 1975 by the Italian
publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore , the American pilot with stories set
in Brazil, meets with cangaceiros, the belgian Hermann Huppen who
wrote and drew the HQ Caatinga (published in Brazil by Editora
Globo ), or also the Italian Hugo Pratt ("La macumba du Gringo").
Zagor , a western series also published by Bonelli, met cangaceiros in
Zagor n° 452 (March 2002) and Zagor n° 573 (April 2013).
In the eighth edition of Spektro magazine by Editora Vecchi,
published in 1978, Watson Portela , from Pernambuco, publishes
Parallel, a science fiction story about a cangaceiro called Asa Branca
. In 1981, the magazine Igapó published The Attack of Lampião à
Mossoró , written by Emanoel Amaral and illustrated by Aucides
Sales, in 1987, Amaral published Jesuíno Brilhante in comics, coauthored with Aucides and Luiz Elson.
Other authors portrayed cangaço such as Ataíde Braz (script) and
Flavio Colin (drawings) with Mulher-Diaba no Rastro de Lampião ,
published in 1994 by Nova Sampa's Graphic Brasil label, Ruben
Wanderley Filho with Lampião in comics, Danilo Beyruth in Bando de
two , Flávio Luiz with the futurist O Cabra , Wilson Vieira , Eugênio
Colonnese and Mozart Couto on the album Cangaceiros - Homens de
Couro by the publisher CLUQ by Wagner Augusto , the cordelist and
editor Klévisson Viana with Lampião — it was the horse of time
behind the beast of life: a comic book , Marcos Franco and Marcelo
Lima (script) and Hélcio Rogério , (drawings) with Lucas da Vila de
Sant'anna da Feira , Wilde Portela (script), Antonio Lima and Paulo
José (drawings) with Lampião - Episodes from the Life of a
Cangaceiro , H a roldo Magno (script) and Edvan Bezerra (drawings)
in the albums Sertão Vermelho - Lampião em Quadrinhos (2004) and
Sertão Vermelho - Lampião em Quadrinhos 2 (2005), funded with
support from the city hall and companies Paulo Afonso , in Bahia , the
first album had a cover by Júlio Shimamoto, the second had
participations by Shimamoto himself, Rodolfo Zalla , Eugênio
Colonnese and Vítor Barreto.
End of cangaço
The cangaço in its form of banditry was one of the last movements
in Brazil of armed struggle and of the poor class, which dominated
for a long period of time the Brazilian northeast. Virgulino Ferreira
known as Lampião was one of the greatest leaders in the history of
independent armed movements in Brazil.
The cangaceiros reached both poor and rich people, but the spirit of
freedom and independence demonstrated by the members of these
groups when infringing the norms of society, deceived and
fascinated the other inhabitants of the regions of the Northeastern
Sertão. Many of these cangaceiros used this image of an instrument
of social justice to justify their crimes.
The extinction of this phenomenon was a consequence, above all, of
the change in social conditions in the country, of the prospects of a
better life that opened up for the Northeastern mass with the
migration to the South, and of greater communication facilities,
among other factors.
The drug dealers in the large Brazilian favelas steal and kill, creating
their own protocols and laws in their areas of dominance, a similar
characteristic to that of the northeastern cangaceiros. It was the
cangaceiros who introduced kidnapping on a large scale in Brazil.
They took hostages in exchange for money to finance new crimes. If
they did not receive the ransom, they tortured and killed the
victims, shot or stabbed. Extortion was another source of income.
These characteristics are evident in favelas when related to militias.
The cangaceiros corrupted military officers and civil authorities,
from whom they received arms and ammunition. An arsenal that was
always more modern and with greater firepower than that used by
the troops that fought them.
In 2014, the last cangaceiro who was part of Lampião's group, José
Alves de Matos, died at the age of 97.
Meeting
In a report made in 1996, by Rede Globo , the historic meeting
between former cangaceiro Candeeiro II and former Volante J.
Panta de Godoy, who killed Lampião and Maria Bonita.
Band of cangaceiros from Lampeão:
Cangaceiro (cangaceiro)
Manoel Dantas Loiola, known as Candeeiro ( Buíque , 1916 - Arcoverde
, July 24 , 2013 ), was a cangaceiro , member of Lampião 's band .
Biography
Entrance to the cangaço
He joined the cangaço when the farm where he worked, in Alagoas ,
was surrounded by Lampião's gang. He received his nickname from
the commander himself, when he distinguished himself in combat in
Angicos , in 1937. His main mission, however, was to deliver letters
to merchants to demand payments. He was also known as Seu Né.
Death
He died at the age of 97, in a hospital in Arcoverde, where he had
been admitted after suffering a stroke. He left a wife and five
children.
Jararaca (bandit)
José Leite de Santana, known as Jararaca ( Buíque , May 5 , 1901 -
Mossoró , June 18 , 1927 ), was a Brazilian cangaceiro from Lampião
's gang .
Biography
Life before the cangaço
Between 1920 and 1926 he was a soldier in the army, for which he
participated in the 1924 Revolta Paulista , under the command of
Isidoro Dias Lopes .
Entrance and death in cangaço
In 1926, he left the uniform to join the cangaço, although he had a
very short participation. In the failed attack on the city of Mossoró,
in June 1927, he was arrested and "justified" (summarily killed
without trial, after 4 days in prison) by soldier João Arcanjo.
Representations in popular culture
It is believed that Jararaca is a saint, because before he died, he
repented of the crimes committed and after he died, he is credited
with some graces achieved, therefore, he is considered a popular
saint in the region of Mossoró.
Durvinha (cangaceira)
Jovina Maria da Conceição Souto ( Paulo Afonso , 1915 - Belo
Horizonte , June 28 , 2008 ), pseudonym of Durvalina Gomes de Sá,
also known as Durvinha. She was one of the last female survivors and
a member of the cangaceiros group of Lampião and Maria Bonita .
Biography
Origin
Durvinha was born in Paulo Afonso - BA, daughter of a successful
local farmer who owned two rural properties in the city.
Entrance to the cangaço
Durvinha joined cangaço at the age of 15, in the early 1930s, after a
proposal from cangaceiro Virgínio Fortunato da Silva , former
brother-in-law of Lampião . Unlike other women in the cangaço who
were kidnapped from their families, Durvinha spontaneously
accompanied the band. However, this fact caused several
inconveniences to his family, who had their properties set on fire by
the flying forces and were threatened.
After Virgínio's death, he married the cangaceiro José Antônio
Souto, the false name of Moreno (whose baptismal name was Antônio
Ignácio da Silva).
Durvinha is known for filming Benjamin Abrahão Botto in 1936, in
which she points a small revolver at the camera, alongside other
cangaceiros. In the documentary "The last cangaceiros", Durvinha
talks about her participation in the band's actions:
- Did you shoot the cangaço a lot? - No... I was terrified of shooting.
Life after the cangaço
After Lampião's death and the band's dispersion on July 28 , 1938 ,
the couple managed to reunite without major injuries in the woods.
At the time pregnant, Jovina had her son Inácio Carvalho Oliveira.
Fearing being found by the flying forces, the couple donated the 30-
day-old baby to a priest in the city of Tacaratu , Pernambuco , since
the couple was on the run and could not dress as cangaceiros or
assume their identities. From February to May 1940, the couple
abandoned the gold pieces along the way, partly made at night, and
fled to Belo Horizonte . he decimated part of Lampião's gang. He
used the false name of Jovina throughout his life after the cangaço,
revealing his past to his family just a few years before his death.
He died at the age of 93 in the state of Minas Gerais, as a result of
a stroke.
Lampião (bandit)
Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, commonly known as Lampião, the King of
Cangaço ( Serra Talhada , June 4 , 1898 — Poço Redondo , July 28 ,
1938 ), was a cangaceiro Brazilian who worked in the northeastern
sertão region of Brazil. According to biographer Cicinato Ferreira
Neto, the nickname "Lampião" was given to him due to his ease in
handling the rifle, " which, after firing so many times, looked like a
lighted lamp in the dark nights of the caatinga ".
Lampião was probably the most successful bandit leader of the 20th
century . On the part of the authorities, this symbolized brutality, a
disease that needed to be cut. For a part of the sertaneja
population, he embodied values such as bravery, heroism and a sense
of honor. As a result, his exploits made him a popular hero in Brazil,
particularly in the northeastern region of the country, earning him a
reputation equivalent to that of American misdemeanor Jesse James
and Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa .
Biography
Origin
Lampião was in the habit of reading newspapers, including O Globo
Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, 1927
There is controversy over Lampião's date of birth. The most cited
are:
June 4, 1898: date on his baptismal certificate , one of the
most cited in cordel literature . This day is generally accepted
by many due to the custom in the semi-arid regions of
baptizing children first and then registering them later, due to
a mix of religiosity and mistrust in relation to the constituted
civil power and an "administrative framework" on the part of
this .
February 12, 1900: date given according to Antônio Américo de
Medeiros by Lampião himself in an interview with the Ceará
writer Leonardo Mota , in 1926, in Juazeiro do Norte.
The issue of his date of birth becomes even more relevant in
the context in which commemorative dates are instituted in his
name (July 18), and July 7, which corresponds to the day of his
civil registration, as the "Dia do Xaxado ", by the project of
the Municipality of Serra Talhada .
Profile
Born in the city of Vila Bela, currently Serra Talhada , in the semiarid region of the state of Pernambuco , he was the third child of
José Ferreira dos Santos and Maria Sucena da Purificação.
Until the age of 21, he worked as an artisan. He was literate and
wore reading glasses, characteristics that were quite unusual for the
rural and poor region where he lived. One of the versions regarding
his nickname is that his ability to fire continuously, lighting up the
night with his shots, earned him the nickname lampião .
His family fought a dispute with other local families, usually over
land limits, until his father was killed in a confrontation with the
police in 1919. Virgulino swore revenge, and along with two other
brothers, he joined the group of cangaceiro Sinhô Pereira .
In 1922 Sinhô Pereira abandoned the cangaço and passed the
leadership of his gang to Lampião. The first action of the band
commanded by Lampião was to invade the city of Belmonte ,
Pernambuco, and assassinate the colonel and merchant Luiz Gonzaga
Lopes Gomes Ferraz. After the attack on Belmonte, Lampião's gang
was seen entering the state of Alagoas. The actions of Lampião's
gang began to take place beyond the borders of Pernambuco,
reaching the states of Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, so
that in January 1923 the chiefs of police of these states met for
the first time to discuss the creation of a joint task force to
combat cangaço.
Lampião and his band crossed the border between Alagoas and
Pernambuco in June 1923 and attacked the town of Belém de São
Francisco, near Salgueiro, stealing goods worth one conto de réis. In
addition, they besieged Salgueiro, causing a stoppage of trade and a
shortage of supplies in the city. Later they crossed the state line
and entered Ceará, where the band had political support.
In July, Lampião crossed Pernambuco and invaded the state of
Alagoas, looting several farms. Initially, the authorities reacted by
trying to pursue Lampião's gang at every report of their presence,
but at the expense of leaving smaller towns in the northeastern
interior unguarded. This facilitated attacks, when Lampião misled
the police through telegraph messages announcing his presence in
certain cities that mobilized large contingents while he attacked less
garrisoned cities.
With that, the governments of Paraíba and Pernambuco (later the
other states joined) created mobile police forces. Popularly known as
"Volantes", these forces were allowed to enter neighboring states in
search of Lampião and his gang. In one of these missions in July
1925, a flying force from Paraíba composed of nineteen men
commanded by Sergeant José Guedes fought part of Lampião's
band, formed by fifteen cangaceiros, on the Serrote Preto farm
(located between Pernambuco and Alagoas). In the combat, Levino,
Lampião's brother, was killed.
In addition to the main group, Lampião had command of several
parallel subgroups, appointing other cangaceiros at the head, such as
Corisco and Antonio de Engracia.
Lampião, Maria Bonita and group of cangaceiros (1936)
Photographer Benjamin Abrahão Botto meets Lampião and his gang
In 1930, he emotionally joined Maria Bonita in Bahia . In the same
year, it appears in The New York Times . In 1936, his daily life in the
caatinga was photographed and filmed by Benjamin Abrahão Botto .
For almost 20 years, Lampião traveled with his band of cangaceiros,
all on horseback and in leather clothes, hats, sandals, coats,
ammunition belts and pants to protect them from the bushes with
thorns typical of the caatinga vegetation . To protect the "captain"
(as Lampião was called) and carry out attacks on farms and
municipalities, everyone always used a potent military power. As
there were no arms contrabands to acquire, most were stolen from
police and paramilitary units. the shotgun Mauser and a wide variety
of semi-automatic pistols and revolvers were also acquired during
skirmishes. The most commonly used weapon was the rifle .
Winchester . The gang called the members of the flying groups
"monkeys" - an allusion to the way the soldiers fled when they saw
Lampião's group: "jumping"
Lampião and his gang attacked farms and cities in seven states, in
addition to stealing cattle, looting, kidnapping, murder, torture,
mutilation and rape. Its passage caused terror and indignation in the
residents, a fact widely cited in the local press:
“ Isn't it a shame what is happening or rather continues to happen in
the Brazilian northeast? And the public authorities, what guarantee
do they offer to the unhappy sertanejo and beaten by all the
calamities? Even magistrates no longer escape Lampeão's assorted
ways. (...) This is why the sertanejo always has an expression of
disbelief on his lips when he is promised the application of measures
in the sense of ridding the sertão of hordes of horrible cangaceiros
that make the region the most unhappy in the world ” .
[ 21 ]
Despite this, Lampião and his band were often protected by
coiteiros , known as farmers, small farmers or even local authorities
who offered shelter and food to the bands for a short period of
time within the limits of their land, facilitating the movement of
cangaceiros across the Northeast and their escape from the volatile
forces of the state.
Personal life
His companion, Maria Gomes de Oliveira, known as Maria Déa or as
Maria Bonita as nicknamed by the press, joined the band in 1930,
being the first of the women to integrate it.
Virgulino and Maria Déa had a daughter, Expedita Ferreira Nunes,
born on September 13, 1932. The couple reportedly had two
stillbirths .
Religion
He was devoted to Padre Cícero and respected his beliefs and
advice. The two met only once, in 1926, in Juazeiro do Norte .
Death
Crosses marking the place of death of Lampião and his gang, in Poço
Redondo, Sergipe
The heads of cangaceiros including Lampião (on the first step) and
Maria Bonita (in the center, on the second step) in the city of
Piranhas in Alagoas
On July 27, 1938, the band camped on the Angicos farm, located in
the hinterland of Sergipe , a hideout considered by Lampião to be
the most secure. It was night, it was raining heavily and everyone
was sleeping in their tents. The steering wheel arrived so silently
that even the dogs didn't notice. Around 5:00 am on the 28th, the
cangaceiros got up to say the office and were getting ready to have
breakfast; when a cangaceiro raised the alarm, it was already too
late.
It is not known for sure who betrayed them. However, in that safest
place, the pack was caught completely off guard. When the police of
Lieutenant João Bezerra and Sergeant Aniceto Rodrigues da Silva
opened fire with portable machine guns, the cangaceiros were unable
to undertake any viable attempt at defense.
The attack lasted about twenty minutes and few managed to escape
the encirclement and death. Of the thirty-four cangaceiros present,
eleven died right there. Lampião was one of the first to die. Soon
after, Maria Bonita was seriously injured. Some cangaceiros, upset
by the unexpected death of their leader, managed to escape. Quite
euphoric with the victory, the police seized the goods and mutilated
the dead. They seized all the money, gold and jewels.
The flying force, in a rather inhuman way for today, but following
the custom of the time, severed Lampião's head. Maria Bonita was
still alive, despite being seriously injured, when she was beheaded.
The same happened with Quinta-Feira, Mergulhão (the two also had
their heads torn off in life), Luís Pedro, Elétrico, Enedina, Moeda,
Alecrim, Colchete (2) and Macela. One of the policemen, showing
hatred towards Lampião, strikes his head with a rifle butt,
deforming it. This detail contributed to spread the legend that
Lampião had not been killed and had escaped the ambush, such was
the change caused in the cangaceiro's physiognomy. "That done, they
salted their victory trophies and placed them in kerosene cans
containing brandy and lime." The mutilated and bloodied bodies were
left in the open, attracting vultures. To prevent the spread of
disease, days later creoline was placed on the bodies. As some
vultures died intoxicated by creolin, this fact helped spread the
belief that they had been poisoned before the attack, with food
delivered by the traitorous coiteiro.
The Memorial da Resistência located in Mossoró in Rio Grande do
Norte is a museum that portrays the history of the northeastern
city's struggle to resist the invasion of Lampião's gang
Traveling through the northeastern states, Colonel João Bezerra
displayed the heads - already in an advanced state of decomposition
- wherever he went, attracting a crowd of people. First, the trophies
were in Piranhas, where they were carefully arranged on the steps
of the City Hall, along with the cangaceiros' weapons and equipment,
and photographed. Then they were taken to Maceió and
southeastern Brazil .
At the IML in Aracaju , the heads were observed by Dr. Carlos
Menezes. After measurements, weighed and examined, the
criminalists changed the theory that a good man would not become a
cangaceiro, and that he should have sui generis characteristics .
Contrary to what they thought, the heads did not show any sign of
physical degeneration, anomalies or dysplasia, having been classified,
purely and simply, as normal.
From the southeast of the country, despite the poor state of
conservation, the heads went to Salvador , where they remained for
six years at the Faculty of Dentistry of the UFBA . There, they
were again measured, weighed and studied, in an attempt to discover
any pathology . Subsequently, the remains were on display at the
Estácio de Lima Anthropological Museum located in the building of
the Instituto Médico Legal Nina Rodrigues , in Salvador, for more
than three decades.
For a long time, the families of Lampião, Corisco and Maria Bonita
struggled to give their relatives a dignified burial. Economist Sílvio
Bulhões, son of Corisco and Dadá , in particular, undertook many
efforts to give a burial to the remains of the cangaceiros and stop,
once and for all, the macabre public display. According to the
economist's testimony, ten days after his father's burial, the grave
was violated, the body was exhumed, and his head and left arm were
cut off and placed on display at the Nina Rodrigues Museum.
The burial of the mortal remains of the cangaceiros only took place
after Bill No. 2,867, of May 24, 1965. Such a project had its origin
in the university circles of Brasília (in particular , in the lectures of
the poet Euclides Formiga), and the pressures of the people
Brazilian and the Clergy reinforced it. The heads of Lampião and
Maria Bonita were buried on February 6, 1969. The other members
of the gang were buried a week later.
Chronology
July 15, 1895 – Antônio Ferreira da Silva is born, who would
become cangaceiro Antônio Ferreira. His parents were Maria
Lopes de Oliveira, known as Dona "Maria Jacosa", and Venâncio
Nogueira, his boss.
Venâncio Nogueira donated the Passagem das Pedras farm to
him, on the São Domingos stream, in Serra Talhada ,
Pernambuco.
José Ferreira da Silva, known as "Zé Ferreira" and a native of
the Carro Carregado farm, in Triunfo - PE, marries "Maria
Jacosa" and assumes the child's paternity.
Poster distributed by the government of Bahia, in 1930, offering a
reward of 50 contos de réis for the capture of Lampião
November 7, 1896 — Levino Ferreira da Silva, the cangaceiro
Vassoura, is born, the first biological son of Zé Ferreira with
Maria Jacosa.
Lampião , is born on the Passagem das Pedras site, in Serra
Talhada , Pernambuco.
Maria Bonita , is born on the Malhada Caiçara farm, in Paulo
Afonso , Bahia . His parents were José Felipe and Maria
Joaquina da Conceição, known as Maria Dea. Some scholars of
cangaço reveal that there is no certainty about Maria Bonita's
date of birth, and also that she would not be the daughter of
José Felipe, but of a gentleman named Agripino, Maria Dea's
ex-boyfriend. According to researcher Valdir de Moura
Ribeiro, Maria Bonita was born on January 10, 1910.
1916 — Zé Caboclo is arrested by inspector Manoel Lopes on
charges of theft of goats. The Ferreira brothers (Antônio,
Levino and Virgulino) are also accused of the crime by
Domingos Rodrigues, paying him financial compensation.
After this incident, two cowbells belonging to Zé Saturnino
were found on the Ferreiras' cows. Zé Saturnino then takes
three rattles from the Ferreiras and puts them on his cows.
Young Virgulino takes a donkey belonging to Zé Saturnino, who
accuses the Ferreiras of thieves. Virgulino Ferreira, offended,
tells him to fetch the donkey from his house, and then he kills
nine of Zé Saturnino's cattle.
Saturnino went to talk to Zé Ferreira, arbitrarily forbidding
his sons to take care of the livestock in the field. This order
by Saturnino was not heeded by the Ferreira brothers, and
they were ambushed by Saturnino at the Pedreira farm, in
Lagoa da Água Branca. On this occasion Antônio Ferreira,
Virgulino's older brother, was wounded.
Zé Ferreira then went to Serra Talhada (PE) to ask for help
from Colonel Antônio Timóteo de Lima, a landowner belonging
to the same political current as the Nogueira family (Venâncio
Nogueira was Antônio Ferreira's biological father). However,
no action was taken.
Quelé do Cipó, a relative of Zé Saturnino, tried to appease the
issue, proposing reconciliation between Saturnino and the
Ferreiras, but Zé Saturnino did not want to know about any
attempt at an agreement.
Nazaré do Pico is founded , in the district of Floresta - PE.
1917 — In an attempt to avoid further conflicts, Zé Ferreira, a
calm and sensible man, sells his land and goes to live on the
Poço do Negro farm, near the village of Nazaré do Pico, in
Floresta, Pernambuco .
February 10, 1918 — Zé Saturnino goes to get some money in
Nazaré do Pico, breaking an agreement not to go to the city
where the Ferreira family lived. He is then ambushed by
Virgulino and his cousin Domingos Paulo. The following day, Zé
Saturnino, accompanied by 15 men, surrounded the Poço do
Negro farm, the Ferreira home. In the conflict, one of
Saturnino's men is shot, goat Zé Guedes.
1919 — Nazaré do Pico is invaded by Jacinto Alves de Carvalho.
Virgulino, now called Lampião, defends the village.
José Alves Nogueira, Zé Saturnino's uncle, is ambushed by
Virgulino Lampião. João Flor, Virgulino's godfather, goes to the
place of the clash, thinking it was Jacinto again attacking the
village. However, he discovers that the act was committed by
his own godson, starting friction between him and the
Ferreiras.
Levino Ferreira da Silva shoots at the corner of the street and
Odilon Flor, son of João Flor, fights back, almost hitting
Lampião in the head. The shooting begins and Levino is wounded
and goes to Chico Euzébio's house, where he is arrested and
taken to Floresta. Levino is released and the Ferreiras leave
for Água Branca, in Alagoas.
1920 - Lampião joins up with cangaceiro Antônio Matilde and
attacks Pedreira farm, belonging to Zé Saturnino, on several
occasions. Of the goats that accompanied Lampião, we can
highlight the cangaceiros Antônio Ferreira, Levino Ferreira
(Broom), Antônio Rosa, Baião, Manoel Tubiba, Cajazeira, Baliza,
Zé Benedito, Olímpio Benedito and Manoel Benedito.
Ze Saturnino, seeing damage to his cattle and his farm, sought
out his uncle, the famous cangaceiro Cassimiro Honório, who
brought several goats to defend his nephew's farm. There,
some battles with Lampião's gang were fought. Among the
goats of Ze Saturnino we can mention Nego Tibúrcio, Zé
Guedes, Zé Caboclo, Vicente Moreira, Batoque and the famous
Marcula.
May 1920 — In Alagoas, Zé Ferreira sends his son João
Ferreira to buy medicine for a sick nephew. Deputy Amarílio
arrests João Ferreira, as bait to try to arrest his fugitive
brothers.
Maria Jacosa, mother of Lampião, is worried and decides to
leave the region. She falls ill and dies on Luiz Fragoso's
Engenho farm. Eighteen days after his death, Zé Ferreira,
father of Lampião, Antônio and Vassoura, is killed by
Lieutenant José Lucena de Albuquerque Maranhão and the
Ferreira brothers decide to enter the cangaço life for good.
1921- The Ferreiras join the Purcino group and kill the traveler
Arthur Pinto. Lieutenant Zé Lucena goes to Poço Branco (AL),
where he engages in a shootout with the Purcinos group. The
cangaceiro Gafanhaque is killed. That year, the Ferreiras and
the Purcinos also killed 6 brothers from the Quirino family,
belonging to Júlio Batista.
June 1921 — The Ferreiras join the group of Sebastião Pereira
e Silva, known as Sinhô Pereira , a famous cangaceiro from
Serra Talhada - PE.
August 8, 1921 — Combat at the centenary Carnaúba farm, in
Serra Talhada (PE), between Sinhô Pereira and Captain Zé
Caetano, with the cangaceiro Luiz Macário being killed, and the
flying force winning.
September 1921 — Combat at the Feijão farm between Sinhô
Pereira and Lieutenant João Marques de Sá. Victory of the
cangaceiros without any death.
October 1921 — The band of Sinhô Pereira and Lampião goes to
Ceará, where they fight on the Mandaçaia farm, suffering no
casualties on either side. Four days later, they fought in the
village of Coité, dying a soldier and leaving two wounded
bandits. Then there was another fight in which the cangaceiro
Pitombeira was killed and the cangaceiro Lavandeira and two
soldiers were wounded.
June 23, 1922 — Lampião robs the farm of Baronesa de Água
Branca, in the city of Água Branca (AL), stealing a large amount
of money there, being the commander of his own group for the
first time.
July 18, 1922 — Combat in Poço da Areia (AL) against a force
of 120 soldiers led by Lieutenant Medeiros, in addition to part
of the Quirino family. Casualties after assault: Sergeant
Agapito and two soldiers, against 20 cangaceiros from Lampião.
In this combat, the cangaceiro Fiapo I was seriously injured,
being later killed by Lampião.
August 1922 — Due to the family's requests, the cangaceiro
Sinhô Pereira leaves the farm Preá, in Ceará, bound for Goiás,
to join his cousin and former cangaceiro Luiz Padre.
October 20, 1922 — Invasion of São José do Belmonte (PE)
where the rich merchant and political leader, Colonel Luiz
Gonzaga Lopes Ferraz, is killed. Lampião had no enmity with the
colonel, but he attacked the city and killed the merchant at
the request of Yoyô Maroto, a relative of Sinhô Pereira and a
political enemy of Gonzaga. After that the widow leaves the
state.
July 31, 1923 — By surprise, Lampião enters Nazaré do Pico
and goes to the wedding of his cousin and former childhood
love Maria Licor Ferreira with Enoque Menezes in order to end
the marriage, being repelled by Father Kerlhe who asks to go
away and let the wedding take place. He decides to leave, but
leaves the order for no one in the village to dance.
August 1, 1923 — Combat in the square of Nazaré between
Lampião and the force of Sergeant Sinhorzinho Alencar with
the help of Nazarene civilians João Flor, Euclides Flor, Manoel
Flor, Davi Gomes Jurubeba, Pedro Gomes de Lira and Zé
Saturnino and six other men . Lantern leaves. After this
incident, João Flor manages to enlist his family in the Força
Volante de Combate ao Banditismo de Pernambuco due to the
influence of the Pessoa de Queiroz brothers. The Força de
Nazaré begins , Lampião's fiercest pursuer.
August 12, 1923 — Combat at the Enforcado farm, in Serra do
Pico, in Floresta (PE) between Lampião's group and the
Nazarenes. The bandit Miguel Piloto and the Nazarenes Pedro
Gomes de Lira, Olímpio Jurubeba and Adão Thomaz Nogueira
were injured.
January 5, 1924 — Lampião invades the city of Santa Cruz da
Baixa Verde - PE in search of killing his former friend
Clementino Quelé. In that fight Lampião burned 3 houses and
was repelled by the police force commanded by Lieutenant
Pedro Malta. In that fight Pedro Quelé and Alexandre Cruz
died, and Deposiano Alves Feitosa was injured.
January 11, 1924 — Lampião again attacks Santa Cruz da Baixa
Verde - PE. He was repelled by Clementino Quelé, who later
joined the police.
January 1924 — Lampião attacks the village of Tupanaci, in
Mirandiba - PE, where at the time there was a small group of
cangaceiros commanded by Tibúrcio Severino dos Santos, aka
Nego Tibúrcio, former goat of Zé Saturnino and hated by
Lampião. Lampião then enters into combat and kills Tibúrcio
and his goats, breaking the cangaceiro into several pieces and
throwing the body in the middle of the street.
March 1924 — Battle of Lampião in Serra do Catolé, in São
José do Belmonte - PE. Lampião is seriously injured in the foot,
being cared for by Dr. José Cordeiro and Dr. Severino Diniz,
from the city of Triunfo - PE. At Father Kerlhe's request, he
thought about turning himself in to the police, but then he
changed his mind and continued in the cangaço.
July 27, 1924 — Lampião sends a subgroup with 84 cangaceiros,
with the cangaceiros Antônio Ferreira, Levino Ferreira, Sabino
Gomes, Paizinho, Meia-Noite and the farmer Chico Pereira to
attack and plunder the city of Sousa - PB . Everything in the
city became a target of looting, the cangaceiros robbed
businesses and residences, causing incalculable damage to the
city. The main target was Colonel Otávio Mariz, disaffected by
Chico Pereira, who fled. Judge Dr. Archimedes Soutto Mayor
was humiliated in a public square by the gang. The local
detachment was commanded by Lieutenant Salgado, who could
do nothing. After this attack, Colonel Zé Pereira, from Princesa
Isabel - PB, never again gave the cangaceiro protection.
November 14, 1924 — Lampião sets fire to the house on the
Lagoa do Mato farm, owned by Pedro Thomaz Nogueira, being
pursued by the Nazarenes Manoel Jurubeba, Manoel Flor,
Inocêncio Nogueira and Levino Caboclo until he arrives at the
Baixas farm of Antônio Feitosa, in Floresta - PE . There was a
new fight between Lampião, with fifteen to 20 bandits, against
the Nazarenes Euclides Flor, Olímpio Jurubeba, Elói Jurubeba,
Pedro Lira, Abel Thomaz, Manoel Thomaz and Davi Jurubeba,
who was wounded in the ankle. The bandit Manoel de Margarida
and the Nazarenes Olímpio Jurubeba and Inocêncio Nogueira
were killed.
February 11, 1925 — Lampião peacefully enters the city of
Custodia - PE.
February 20, 1925 — Lampião tries to peacefully enter the
village of Espírito Santo, municipality of Tabira - PE today, to
visit his cousin Herculano Ferreira, but is surprised by an
attack by the Gomes dos Santos Family, an important pajeú
family of that time with several farmers in Serra Talhada ,
Floresta and in the village of Espírito Santo Tabira. The attack
was commanded by Lieutenant Anselmo Saraiva de Moura,
coming from Serra Talhada, who had bought a large farm in
Sitio Cajá, having brought his family to live and defend that
village.
July 4, 1925 — Lampião attacks the Melancia farm, in Flores -
PE. Owner Zé Calu is raped by the group. Sergeants Imbrain
and Zé Guedes came to his rescue, who with thirty soldiers
went after the group, which lodged on the Barra do Juá farm,
where two cangaceiros were killed. From there, the cangaceiros
go to the Tenório site, in Flores, Pernambuco, where the
soldier Berlamino Morais, in the middle of combat, saw a figure
of a cangaceiro on top of a rock, screaming and shooting.
Belarmino then shoots and kills him. It was the cangaceiro
Levino Ferreira da Silva , brother of Lampião. The next day,
upon learning of this, Captain Zé Caetano and Corporal Pedro
Monteiro go to the Tenório farm and find the 3 bodies without
the heads, a practice used by the cangaceiros to make it
difficult for the police to recognize them.
November 14, 1925 — Combat at the Xique-Xique farm, in
Serra Talhada - PE between Lampião and the flying force
composed of Euclides Flor, Manoel Flor, João Jurubeba,
Aurelino Francisco, Hercílio Nogueira, Ildefonso Flor and the
crawler Batoque. In this combat, the soldier Ildefonso Flor is
killed. Two cangaceiros are captured, Mão Foveira and Cancão.
February 4, 1926 — Combat at the Caraíbas farm, in Floresta -
PE between Lampião with sixty cangaceiros and the flying force
of Lieutenant Optato Gueiros with 35 soldiers. Lieutenant
Higino Belarmino, Corporal Manoel de Souza Neto and the
crawler Batoque were wounded. Soldiers Aristides Panta,
Benedito Bezerra de Vasconcelos and Antônio Benedito Mendes
were killed, as well as 6 cangaceiros from Lampião.
February 18, 1926 — Lampião attacks Nazaré do Pico with fifty
cangaceiros. In the village there were only Lúcio Nogueira,
Abel Thomaz, Aureliano Nogueira, Manoel Jurubeba, Gomes
Jurubeba and João Jurubeba. Then Odilon Flor arrived with
Euclides Flor, Vicente Grande, Manoel Lira, Antônio Capistrano
and Quinca Chico. Lampião retreated, angrily setting fire to
the farms of Euclides, João Flor, Afonso Nogueira and
Praxedes Capistrano.
February 20, 1926 — The Prestes Coluna passes near the
village of Nazaré with six hundred men being pursued by the
loyalist force commanded by Major Otacílio Fernandes, who
upon entering the village mistakenly exchanged fire with the
inhabitants.
February 23, 1926 — Lampião attacks the Serra Vermelha
farm, in Serra Talhada - PE and Antônio Ferreira kills Zé Alves
Nogueira, uncle of his enemy Zé Saturnino. Zé Nogueira had
been kidnapped by the Prestes Coluna as it passed through the
region and had just arrived home tired of the violence
suffered by the rebels. His death generated great hatred in
the Nogueira family.
March 12, 1926 — Lampião receives the rank of captain of the
Patriotic Army from Padre Cícero in Juazeiro do Norte - CE.
Lampião had a lot of respect and devotion for the priest and
his arrival in the city was celebrated, and he was even
interviewed. It was the last time he got the whole family
together to take a picture. He received a lot of ammunition and
orders to fight the Prestes Column .
April 20, 1926 — Lampião attacks the town of Algodões, where
soldiers sick with malaria were meeting.
July 3, 1926 — Lampião attacks the cities of Cabrobó - PE,
Ouricuri - PE and Parnamirim - PE.
July 7, 1926 — Lampião orders the cangaceiro Sabino Gomes to
attack the city of Triunfo - PE, looting local businesses. There
was an exchange of fire with the police, leaving 2 soldiers and
the commander of the local police dead.
August 1, 1926 — Lampião, with eighty cangaceiros, attacks the
Serra Vermelha farm, in Serra Talhada - PE. The Nogueira
family, made up of Major João Alves Nogueira, his son Neneco
and his grandchildren Luiz, Dãozinho, Raimundo and Gentil
Nogueira, fight, leaving Zé Paixão and Antônia, both residents
of João Nogueira, this uncle-in-law of Ze Saturnino.
August 26, 1926 — The cangaceiro Horácio Novaes asks
Lampião to attack the Gilo family, on the Tapera farm, in
Floresta - PE, because of a lie that Horácio told Lampião about
the family patriarch. Lampião then kills 12 people in the family
and when he shows a letter to the patriarch he replies that he
does not know how to read and write and is killed at the same
time by Horácio Novaes. Lampião realizes Horácio's lie and he
leaves the group going to the south of the country.
The JUA, from the municipality of Floresta, where Lampeão killed
127 goats, whose bones are visible in the photograph . Information
present in the 1928 Revista da Cidade , which shows the remains of
the victims of the massacre carried out by Lampião on a farm in
Floresta , two years before
September 2, 1926 — Lampião again attacks the city of
Cabrobó - PE.
September 6, 1926 — Lampião attacks the Saco do Martinho
Farm, owned by Lieutenant Colonel Martinho da Costa Agra
Parnamirim - PE, killing 2 soldiers.
September 16, 1926 — Fight at the Tigre farm, in Itacuruba -
PE between Lampião and Corporal Francisco Liberato. Lampião
was wounded in the shoulder blade and bandit Moreno in the
foot. Lampião went to Serra da Cunha, in Tacaratu - PE to treat
the wound. There he was hidden under the protection of the
wealthy landowner Ângelo Gomes de Lima, known as Anjo da
Gia.
November 11, 1926 — Combat at the Favela farm, in Floresta -
PE between Lampião and the flying force commanded by
Corporal Manoel de Souza Neto and Sergeant Zé Saturnino.
The force retreated, killing 5 soldiers, one of them being João
Gregório Ferraz Neto, from the Nazarene family. On the side
of the cangaceiros, five bandits died. After the fight Captain
Muniz de Farias arrived at the farm and had everything set on
fire because he was angry with the owner of the farm.
November 25, 1926 — Lampião kidnaps the traveler Mineiro
Dias and goes to Serra Grande, in Serra Talhada - PE. In this
mountain, the biggest fight between cangaceiros and the police
takes place. Major Theófanes Ferraz Torres, Lieutenant Higino
Belarmino, Lieutenant Sólon Jardim, Sergeant Arlindo Rocha,
Corporal Manoel Neto, tear Euclides Flor and 400 men to
pieces. Lampião, from the top of the mountain, attacks and kills
eleven of the police and leaves eleven wounded, among them
Manoel Neto and Arlindo Rocha. From Lampião, only Antônio
Ferreira was shot.
December 25, 1926 — Due to the wound and the lack of
ammunition, spent in the combat in Serra Grande, the
cangaceiros Antônio Ferreira, Luiz Pedro, Jurema and Biu go to
the Poço do Ferro farm, in Tacaratu - PE, belonging to the
coiteiro Angelo Gomes de Lima. Cangaceiro Luiz Pedro was
cleaning a gun and ended up sleeping. Antônio Ferreira, as a
joke, swings the net to wake him up and the gun accidentally
goes off, hitting Antônio Ferreira. Lampião is called to the
farm. Arriving there, he finds Antônio still alive and exempts
Luiz Pedro from guilt. Soon after, the cangaceiro Antônio
Ferreira, his brother, dies.
February to April 1927 — Lampião sends a subgroup
commanded by the cangaceiro Jararaca to attack a series of
cities in the state of Pernambuco, attacking local businesses,
farms and goods vehicles, in addition to killing residents who
opposed the gang’s presence.
May 15, 1927 — Lampião's group passes through the
municipality of Luís Gomes - RN, in the community of Fazenda
Nova, where it attacked and looted the house of Colonel
Antônio Germano. Oral tradition tells that the band did not go
up the mountain because Virgulino was devoted to Senhora
Sant'Ana, patroness of the parish.
May 15, 1927 — Lampião tries to enter the city of Uiraúna - PB
with 35 goats, being repelled by the police force commanded
by Lieutenant Nelson Furtado Leite and 14 more men. The
combat lasted about an hour, with the police force winning,
losing only one soldier.
June 13, 1927 — Lampião attacks the city of Mossoró - RN.
Lampião's gang was divided into several subgroups commanded
by cangaceiros Sabino Gomes, Massilon Leite, Jararaca and
Luiz Pedro. The city was fully organized with Mayor Rodolfo
Fernandes at its head , who distributed his staff in the 4
towers of the city, which at that time was the second largest
in the state. Lampião suffered his biggest defeat. The
cangaceiro Jararaca was arrested and buried alive. Mossoró
won. June 15, 1927 — Lampião, fleeing the fighting in Mossoró,
kidnaps Mrs. Maria Rocha and Mr. Antônio Gurgel, asking for
80 contos de réis. For this he goes to the city of Limoeiro do
Norte , in Ceará, where he is received peacefully by Judge
Custódio Saraiva, who sent a telegram about the ransom for
the kidnapping, which did not arrive. Lampião slept in the city
and then left.
June 17, 1927 — Fight between Lampião and Força Volante in
Serra da Micaela, in Jaguaribara - CE. Lampião with 42 men and
the police with 815 men commanded by Major Moisés Leite de
Figueiredo, brother-in-law of Major Isaías Arruda, this old
coiteiro from Lampião. Despite the fact that two soldiers were
killed in the combat and one was wounded, Major Moisés, with a
large number of police officers, was accused of cowardice by
Lieutenant Joaquim Teixeira de Moura.
July 7, 1927 — Lampião, on the run from Mossoró, spends a
good amount of time in Serra do Coxá, in Milagres - CE. After a
few days he left and went to Zé Cardoso's house on the
Ipueiras farm, in Aurora - CE. It was there that his old friend
Isaías Arruda coitus, which made Lampião trust. Arriving at
this farm, Lampião ate lunch and soon after the owner offered
8 goats to join the herd, which was refused by Lampião
suspicious of betrayal. Major Moisés and his brother-in-law
Isaías Arruda had really agreed on this strategy. Lampião
decides to leave, being attacked by Major Moisés with fifteen
soldiers.
July 9, 1927 — Lampião passes by Morro Dourado, in Milagres -
CE on the way to the city of Santa Inês - PB.
March 27, 1928 — Lampião goes to the Batoque farm, in Jati -
EC of the coiteiro Antônio da Piçarra. Força de Nazaré enters
the state of Ceará. Cangaceiro Sabino Gomes was talking by a
bonfire when he was hit in the mouth by Hercílio Nogueira, of
the Nazarenes. Lampião beats a retreat, being chased by the
police. Two weeks later, unable to bear seeing so much
suffering from Sabino's wound, the cangaceiro Mergulhão kills
Sabino with a coup de grace.
São Francisco River by canoe , entering the state of Bahia with
the cangaceiros Luiz Pedro, Ezequiel Ferreira , Moreno, Virgínio
Moderno and Mergulhão.
August 26, 1928 — Lampião enters the city of Bonfim , Bahia.
There was a small battle with the force of Lieutenant Manoel
Neto.
March 1, 1929 — Lampião peacefully enters the city of Carira ,
Sergipe.
November 25, 1929 — Lampião enters Nossa Senhora das
Dores - SE. From there, drive to the city of Capela - SE.
There, he visits local businesses, watches a movie at the
cinema and collects money from local merchants.
December 16, 1929 — Lampião enters the city of Pombal - BA.
December 22, 1929 — Lampião enters Queimadas - BA. There,
he robbed the house of João Lantyer de Araújo Cajahyba, cut
the telegraph wires and kidnapped the telegraph operators
Joaquim Cavalcante and Manoel Evangelista, for which he
received the ransom of 500 thousand réis. Afterwards, he
went to the jail and arrested Sergeant Evaristo Costa and 7
other soldiers. He went to lunch and then went back to jail and
released all the prisoners. He ordered all 7 soldiers to kneel
and killed them one by one. At night, he looted stores, earning
20 contos de réis. He went to the cinema in town and then
ordered a ball to be held.
December 23, 1929 — Lampião invades the city of Quijingue ,
Bahia. There he held a ball and gave money to the people.
December 25, 1929 — Lampião attacks the city of Mirandela ,
Bahia. The police force commanded by Francisco Guedes de
Assis repels the attack, engaging in a small fight in which
civilians Manoel Amaral and Jeremias Dantas and another
soldier are killed. In this combat, the cangaceiro Luiz Pedro is
injured. Lampião then enters the city and loots local
businesses.
1930 — Lampião passes through Nossa Senhora das Dores in
Sergipe for the second time, where his gang committed
atrocities such as the death of a boy who had mental problems
and the castration of Pedro Batatinha, who came from Malhada
dos Negros in order to pull out a tooth that he was greatly
distressed and he was mutilated by the cangaceiros Fortaleza
and Cajueiro in the presence of Lampião — who indifferently
witnessed the act and then tore off part of the victim's ear.
June 4, 1930 — Lampião attacks workers on a railroad near
Juazeiro - BA, killing 35 hostages and causing the city's
residents to flee to neighboring Petrolina - PE.
August 17, 1930 — Lampião attacks the town of Tucano - BA,
killing a lieutenant, a sergeant and two privates.
October 17, 1930 — Lampião attacks the city of Simão Dias -
SE. He invaded houses, looted local businesses and humiliated
some residents, leading to the death of the wife of landowner
Martinho Ferreira Matos , who was on guard when she was
raped by Lampião.
December 1930 — Lampião meets Maria Bonita , married to the
shoemaker Zé de Neném. She was already in love with the
cangaceiro and ran away with him leaving a letter for her exhusband. She was the first woman to participate in the
cangaço.
May 24, 1931 — Combat at Tanque do Touro between Lampião's
gang and Lieutenant Arsênio. In this combat, the cangaceira
Dadá, Corisco 's wife , has a son who is born in the midst of a
shootout. The child, named Josaphat, dies two months later.
June 1931 – Surprise attack by Lampião on a Bahian police
contingent leads to the death of 18 soldiers, with the
exception of officer Lieutenant Arsênio de Souza, who, despite
surviving, is attacked. [ 31 ]
July 28, 1931 — The Government of Bahia hires the Força de
Nazaré, commanded by Lieutenant Manoel de Souza Neto, to
fight Lampião in that state. Part of that force were Sergeant
Davi Jurubeba, Euclides Flor, Manoel Flor, João Gomes de Lira,
Pedro Gomes de Lira, Herculano Nogueira, João Cavalcanti,
Vicente Grande, Henrique Gregório and Antônio Capistrano, all
people from the village.
September 6, 1931 — Combat at the Aroeiras farm, in Glória -
BA between Lampião and the flying force of Lieutenant Manoel
Neto, with fifteen soldiers. In this fight, an epic episode takes
place in a stream where Manoel Neto and the famous bandit
Corisco are face to face, with the bandit running away. There
were no casualties in that combat.
January 5, 1932 — Lampião invades the city of Canindé - SE. In
this city, he rapes several girls and plunders local businesses.
January 8, 1932 — Lampião meets with 32 cangaceiros at the
Maranduba farm, in Poço Redondo - SE. Lieutenant Manoel
Neto's force, with 100 soldiers, goes in pursuit, waging a great
fight. At the head of the force were soldiers João Cavalcanti
and Hercílio Nogueira, who fell dead. Adalgísio Nogueira,
Hercílio's brother, tried to help and was also shot, dying on the
spot. It was Lampião's biggest match in Bahia. The force
retreated with six soldiers killed and 12 wounded. The
cangaceiros lost 3 goats and another one that Lampião killed so
badly wounded.
January 20, 1932 — Lampião invades the city of Olindina - BA.
April 22, 1932 — Lampião fights at Caldeirão farm against the
force of Lieutenant Abdon Menezes and Manoel Neto.
August 11, 1932 — Fight between Lampião's gang and
Lieutenant Ladislau at the Cajazeira farm, in Cipó - BA. After
wounding a soldier, the band flees leaving horses and
ammunition behind.
September 13, 1932 — Birth of Expedita Ferreira Nunes,
daughter of Lampião and Maria Bonita in Porto da Folha - SE.
January 1935 — During a truck trip on the border between
Alagoas and Pernambuco, farmers are looted by Lampião's
group, composed at the time of eight men and three women.
October 23, 1937 — A subgroup of Lampião, commanded by
Corisco and Gato violently attacks the city of Piranhas - AL.
The intention was to rescue the cangaceira Inacinha, Gato's
companion.
July 27, 1938 — Band of Lampião is attacked by a steering
wheel, with the death of eleven cangaceiros, including Lampião
and Maria Bonita.
Representations in popular culture
Composer
" Mulher Rendeira " is an old popular theme, much sung in the
northeastern hinterlands at the time of Lampião, and whose origin is
controversial. According to the best-known version by Father
Frederico Bezerra Maciel, a regionalist from Pernambuco and
Lampião's biographer, he would have written the verses of the
original version of the song. Added to this is Câmara Cascudo ,
according to which Lampião would have written the lyrics in honor of
the birthday of his grandmother d. Maria Jocosa Vieira Lopes ("Tia
Jacosa") on September 15, who was a lacemaker. He composed the
music between September 1921 and February 1922, when he
presented the music in Floresta (Pernambuco) . The song practically
became a war hymn for the cangaceiros of Lampião's gang, with
reports that their attack on Mossoró in 1927 was carried out with
more than 50 cangaceiros singing "Mulher Rendeira".
That's why he was included in the award-winning film " O Cangaceiro
", by Lima Barreto , which made him famous in the country and
abroad. At the time, it was adapted by composer Zé do Norte
(Alfredo Ricardo do Nascimento), author of other songs in the film,
which maintained its original structure. There is also a recording of
an old goat from Lampião's gang, the cangaceiro Volta Seca.
Music
"Cangaceiro", song by the band Soulfly . The lyrics are
explicitly about Lampião: " I'm Lampião, I'm a bandit, I know
that someday my head will be beheaded. " (1998)
" Ratamahatta ", song by the band Sepultura . Cites Lampião
along with Zumbi dos Palmares and Zé do Caixão as Brazilian
characters (1996)
"Candeeiro Encantado", music by Lenine , alludes to Lampião
"O Encontro de Lampião com Eike Batista", song by the band El
Efecto
"Light Lampião", song by the band T-Remotto
Literature
Capitães da Areia , a novel by Jorge Amado (1937), quotes
Lampião
Cinema and Television
O Cangaceiro , directed by Lima Barreto (1953)
A Morte Comanda o Cangaço , Brazilian film directed by Carlos
Coimbra (1960)
O Lamparina , produced by Mazzaropi and directed by Glauco
Mirko Laurelli (1963)
Lampião, o Rei do cangaço , film directed by Carlos Coimbra
(1964)
Corisco, o Diabo Blonde , directed by Carlos Coimbra (1969)
Lampião e Maria Bonita , Brazilian miniseries produced by Rede
Globo (1982)
O Cangaceiro Trapalhão , directed by Daniel Filho (1983)
Corisco e Dadá , directed by Rosemberg Cariry (1996)
Mandacaru , Brazilian telenovela produced by Rede Manchete
(1997)
Baile Perfumado , directed by Lírio Ferreira and Paulo Caldas
(1997)
Canta Maria , directed by Francisco Ramalho Jr (2006)
Cordel Encantado , Brazilian telenovela produced by Rede Globo
(2011)
Female Cangaço , documentary directed by Lucas Viana and
Manoel Neto (2013)
A Luneta do Tempo , Brazilian film directed and written by
Alceu Valença (2016)
O Cangaceiro do Futuro , Netflix series (2022)
theater
Lampião no Inferno , a 1975 musical, written by Jairo Lima, and
directed by Luiz Mendonça.
Carnival
" The goat's grip that the excommunicated man treated with
ill-will and the Blessed Sacrament did not give shelter " (2023),
a plot theme created by carnival designer Leandro Vieira for
the samba school parade Imperatriz Leopoldinense , winning
the Rio de Janeiro Special Group January . Based on cordel
literature stories about Lampião. [
beautiful Maria
Maria Gomes de Oliveira ( Paulo Afonso , January 17 , 1910 - Poço
Redondo , July 28 , 1938 ), known as Maria de Déa or Maria Bonita,
was a cangaceira brazilian . She was the companion of Virgulino
Ferreira da Silva , Lampião and the first woman to participate in a
group of cangaceiros .
Biography
Origin
Daughter of Maria Joaquina Conceição de Oliveira, known as Dona
Déa, and José Filipe Gomes de Oliveira, Maria was born and raised in
a humble family, in the village of Malhada da Caiçara , which is
currently located in the municipality of Paulo Afonso ,
at the time belonging to the municipality of Santo Antônio de Glória ,
currently known as Glória , in the hinterland baiano .
First Marriage
At the age of fifteen, in a marriage arranged by the families, he
married his cousin, the shoemaker Zé de Neném.
The relationship was troubled, and Maria suffered from an
unfaithful marriage, with constant aggression from her alcoholic
husband . Maria was beaten whenever she contested her husband's
adulterous attitudes . Out of revenge, she began to cheat on her
husband with several men. One day, his marriage collapsed for good,
when Virgulino Ferreira da Silva entered his life, having truly fallen
in love with him, forming a love triangle.
Union with Lampião and Entry to Cangaço
In 1929, still married, she became the lover of Virgulino Ferreira da
Silva , also known as Lampião . That same year, he decided to run
away with him, to effectively be part of the band of cangaceiros,
thus becoming Lampião's wife, with whom he would live for nine
years. Among the gang, Maria began to be called Maria da Déa, or
Maria do Capitão, and thus the new cangaceira learned every law of
the gang.
Known for her beauty and strong personality, unlike all the other
cangaço women, Maria was never abused by the cangaceiros, and had
several perks. She wore silk dresses, floral-print gloves, sandals, and
ankle boots. He also wore expensive jewelry, brooches, carried silver
coins, and gold ornaments decorated his hair. On her neck and
wrists, she wore the same French perfume as Lampião. When she
was with her husband on the battlefield, she wore leather boots and
cotton clothes.
jealous of Lampião several times , but the bandit treated his wife
with patience and affection. In 1931, inclusive, the two traveled to a
farm, in order to enjoy the honeymoon they never had. For the young
cangaceira, however, that was not enough. Several accounts claim
that Maria, out of revenge, started an extramarital affair with João
Maria de Carvalho, a merchant . From her lover, she received shoes,
clothes and other gifts, and Lampião never suspected, or Maria
would pay with her own life.
Soon after their honeymoon at the farm, Maria became pregnant . It
is clear that she had a daughter with Lampião, baptized as Expedita
Gomes de Oliveira Ferreira, the only legally recognized one, who,
under the rules of cangaço , was given over to be raised by a couple
of cowboy friends . Missing her lost daughter, Maria tied a cloth
around her breasts full of milk so that they would not leak anymore.
There are, however, doubts about the kinship of the alleged twins
Arlindo and Ananias Gomes de Oliveira. Both until then considered
children of Maria Bonita and Lampião. Other sources claim that they
were actually younger brothers of Maria, Death
On July 28 , 1938 , when the cangaceiros were camped in Grota de
Angicos , in Poço Redondo , Sergipe , the band was attacked by
surprise by the official armed police , known as the steering wheel .
They were shot dead and later, having their throats cut, Maria,
trying to escape, was shot twice: once in the abdomen and once in
the back , and shortly afterwards she was decapitated alive by José
Panta de Godoy, the same one who shot her.
Representations in popular culture
Name
The Bahian Maria Gomes de Oliveira was called since childhood Maria
de Déa, in reference to her mother. Neither Lampião's family nor his
gang called her Maria Bonita, a nickname that only became popular
after her death. There are several versions about the origin of this
name. One of them says that it was an invention of reporters from
the Rio de Janeiro newspapers, possibly inspired by the film Maria
Bonita , released in 1937 and based on the 1921 work of the same
name by Afrânio Peixoto . were impressed by the beauty of the
cangaceira when she was killed on July 28, 1938.
historical heritage
In 2006, the Municipality of Paulo Afonso restored Maria Bonita's
childhood home, installing the Museu Casa de Maria Bonita on the
site.
in the culture
In 2018, journalist Adriana Negreiros launched the book Maria
Bonita by Objetiva.
Moreno (bandit)
Antônio Ignácio da Silva ( Tacaratu , November 1 , 1909 – Belo
Horizonte , September 6 , 2010 ), better known by his nickname
Moreno, was a cangaceiro belonging to the band of Lampião and
Maria Bonita .
After their death, he fled Pernambuco and adopted the pseudonym
José Antônio Souto, settling in Minas Gerais . He was one of the
longest- lived members of the gang , and one of the last to die.
Biography
Origin
Son of Manuel Ignácio da Silva (alligator) and Maria Joaquina de
Jesus, Antônio lost his father as a teenager, when he was killed by
the police in the vicinity of São José do Belmonte , in an alleged
archive burning.
Entrance to the cangaço
He worked as a barber, but his desire was to be a police soldier. The
dream ended when he was arrested and beaten by police from Brejo
Santo , after being wrongfully accused of stealing a sheep . Freed,
he killed the man who denounced him, who would be the real thief.
He was hired by a landowner to defend his farm from bandits, but
he ended up joining the group of Virgínio , Lampião's brother-in-law,
with whom he became a friend.
Moreno was known for not liking the American repeating rifles ,
which were widely used at the time, and for having a carabiner at his
disposal.
Marriage
In the 1930s, he married Durvalina Gomes de Sá , known as Durvinha.
The couple had a son, who could not stay with the gang, as his crying
could give them away. The child was then left with a priest , who
raised him.
Life after the cangaço
Two years after Lampião's death, the couple fled to Minas Gerais .
As a precaution, Moreno was renamed José Antônio Souto, and
Durvalina became Jovina Maria. They settled in the city of Augusto
de Lima , and prospered by selling flour . They had five more
children and moved to Belo Horizonte at the end of the 1960s .
Still afraid of being discovered and killed, they kept the past a
secret even from their children. The situation continued until the
mid -2000s , when the existence of the first born was revealed.
Found in 2005 , Inácio Carvalho Oliveira was finally reunited with his
biological parents. It was only then that the family found out about
the history of the cangaço past; Durvinha died shortly afterwards.
Death
Depressed by his wife's death, Moreno's health began to
deteriorate. He died on September 6, 2010 in Belo Horizonte , at
the age of 100.
During the burial , fireworks were set off , at the request of
Moreno himself, who thought he would never have a grave ; the fear
of dying like a cangaceiro, decapitated and with his body left in the
woods, did not abandon him in the 70 years he maintained his
disguise.
Dada (cangaceira)
Sérgia Ribeiro da Silva better known as Dadá ( Belém do São
Francisco , April 25 , 1915 - Salvador , February 7 , 1994 ), was a
cangaceira - the only woman to use a rifle in Lampião 's gang .
Biography
Origin
He was born in Belém do São Francisco, where he lived his first
years of life and had some contact with Indians. The family moves to
Macururé , in Bahia , where she is kidnapped at the age of twelve by
Corisco (Cristino Gomes da Silva Cleto) - nicknamed Diabo Louro -, of
whom she would be cousin.
Entrance to the cangaço
At the age of 12, she was raped by the cangaceiro Corisco, her
defloration was so violent that it caused her to hemorrhage and she
almost died. He spent three years of his life at the home of his
rapist's relatives, as he could not return home. When women were
allowed to join the cangaço, with the entry of Maria Bonita, she
joined the cangaço.
The relationship, which started instinctively, changes over time. The
nomadic life, following his companion, who was the second man in the
gang's hierarchy, the arrival of the children meant that, more than a
lover, Dadá became Corisco's companion, with whom, still in the
midst of the fights, he came to marry.
They had seven children, who were secretly left at relatives' homes
to be raised. Of these, only three survived.
Lampião's gang was divided, as a form of defense, into smaller parts,
the most important of which was precisely the one led by Corisco.
The wife had a pistol, which he had given her, for her self-defense,
and she had also taught him to read, write and count.
In one of the attacks made by the flyers (in October 1939, on the
Lagoa da Serra farm in Sergipe ), the Diabo Louro is wounded in both
hands, losing the ability to shoot. Dadá, then, becomes the first and
only woman to take an active part - and not merely a defensive one -
in cangaço fights.
If the husband was feared as one of the most violent bandits, it is
said that many people had their lives spared thanks to the
intervention of his partner. Dadá was also called " Suçuarana do
Cangaço".
Death of Corisco
In search of the cangaceiro Corisco, the police punish Dadá's
brother, who had been taken by the gang. The one who tells this
cruel story is Dona Joana, Dadá's sister.
Lampião having been executed in 1938, Corisco, who was in Alagoas
with part of the gang, took fierce revenge. How his companions had
their heads cut off, and exposed in the Museum Nina Rodrigues of
criminology, in the capital of Bahia, Corisco also cut off the heads of
many victims, then.
The cangaço was languishing, mainly due to the disparity of weapons:
the flyers had a weapon that the cangaceiros never managed to
obtain: the machine gun . Justice itself began to offer advantages to
bandits who surrendered.
On the 25th of May 1940, Corisco and his gang were surrounded in
Brotas de Macaúbas by Lieutenant Zé Rufino . He had disbanded the
band, and abandoned the typical clothes, trying to pass as simple
migrants.
A burst from the machine gun ruptures Corisco's intestines. Dadá is
wounded in the right leg.
The last cangaço leader dies ten hours after the attack, being
buried in Jeremoabo and, ten days later, exhumed and the severed
head is sent to the Museum, along with the rest of the gang.
Prison
Dadá, placed in infected conditions, has her wound aggravated by
gangrene , which left her, in prison, with the almost total amputation
of her leg. Due to this situation, the famous Bahian lawyer Cosme de
Farias represented Dadá in court, pleading for his release in 1942.
Life after the cangaço
Dadá went on to live in Salvador, fighting to see the legislation that
ensures respect for the dead be complied with - and the dismal
exhibition at the Estácio de Lima Anthropological Museum , located
in the building of the Instituto Médico Legal Nina Rodrigues, come
to an end. It was only on February 6, 1969, during the Luiz Viana
Filho government , that the remains of the cangaceiros could be
definitively buried - however, the museum made molds to expose
them instead.
For her struggle and female representation, Dadá was, in the 1980s ,
honored by the City Council of Salvador . In Bahia, which had
Gláuber Rocha and many others portraying cangaço in the arts, Dadá
was the last living proof to witness the daily life of struggles,
difficulties and also joy and fun. He gave many interviews,
demonstrating his intelligence and resourcefulness.
Death
He died in Salvador, in 1994 .
Representations in popular culture
Cinema and Television
Corisco & Dadá (1996) , film by Rosemberg Cariry . In the film
Dadá is played by Dira Paes .
A Mulher no Cangaço (1976), a short film by Hermano Penna .
Corisco o Diabo Blonde (1969), film by Carlos Coimbra . In the
film Dadá, she is played by Leila Diniz .
Lampião e Maria Bonita (1982), Rede Globo 's miniseries
directed by Paulo Afonso Grisolli and Luís Antônio Piá . In the
miniseries Dadá, she is played by Lu Mendonça .
Modern (bandit)
Virgínio Fortunato da Silva, aka Moderno ( Rio Grande do Norte ,
1903 — Monteiro , 1936 ), was a cangaceiro brazilian .
Biography
Origin
According to some researchers, the most likely place of Virgínio's
birth was Alexandria , in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in the
year 1903.
Entrance to the cangaço
He worked as a bead negotiator before joining the cangaço.
Initially married to Anália Ferreira (Angélica), sister of bandit
Lampião, he followed his brother-in-law into cangaço.
After being widowed, he married Durvinha , with whom he had two
children.
He was part of one of the most cruel factions of Lampião's gang,
operating in the states of Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia. He was known
as the " official scavenger " of Lampião 's gang , since his trademark
was the castration performed on the victims. He led his own band,
integrated, among others, by Moreno , who would end up marrying
Durvinha after Virgínio's death in 1936,
Death
Virgínio was seriously wounded in the groin when he was with the
band from Corisco , in the municipality of Monteiro. Not resisting, he
died in 1936.
dry season
Antônio dos Santos ( Saco Torto , March 13 , 1918 – Estrela Dalva ,
February 2 , 1997 ), known as Volta Sêca, was a cangaceiro from
Sergipe of Lampião 's band .
Biography
Entrance to the cangaço
The youngest cangaceiro in Virgulino Ferreira da Silva's gang, known
as Lampião . Antônio dos Santos, better known as Volta Sêca, joined
Lampião 's group at just 11 years old, because of frequent fights
with his stepmother and also, according to him, for fleeing politics
for having murdered the man who raped his sister, going for the
group. His daily duties were limited to bathing the horses, washing
dishes, dirty clothes and spying on cities where there were many
police officers on the prowl, becoming the famous Volta Sêca. He
was beaten so much that he became one of the most violent
cangaceiros in the entire gang. Despite being semi-literate, he wrote
verses very easily and also composed songs that the whole band knew
and sang with enthusiasm when they were camped on some farm
under the protection of the owner himself.
Prison
Volta Seca was arrested 3 times, having escaped the first two. He
was sentenced to 145 years, later the sentence was reduced to 30,
and finally to 20, not having fulfilled it in full because President
Getúlio Vargas granted him pardon in 1954.
Life after the cangaço
In 1957, he recorded the 10-inch LP "As cantigas de Lampeão",
conducted by maestro Guio de Morais and narrated by the announcer
of Rádio Nacional , Paulo Roberto. Released by the Todamérica label ,
the disc contained songs from Cangaço , including " Mulher Rendeira
" and " Acorda Maria Bonita "
Zé Bahia
Zé Baiano, pseudonym of José Aleixo Ribeiro da Silva ( Chorrochó ,
c. 1900 – Frei Paulo , June 7 , 1936 ), was a bandit who joined
Lampião 's band .
Biography
performance in cangaço
Lampião and his band invaded Alagadiço for the first time in 1930,
breaking into houses and stealing belongings from residents. Because
the town was in a strategically privileged position, and because it did
not have a reinforced police detachment , the cangaceiros moved
freely through the region. Lampião returned three more times to
Alagadiço; on the second occasion, he looked for coiteiro Antônio de
Chiquinho, wanting information about a police detachment that was
chasing his gang. Lampião's last visit to the village was in 1934, when
he left Zé Baiano in charge of the region. Accompanied by his
cronies Demudado, Chico Peste and Acelino, he terrorized the
locality, committing atrocities, looting and imposing his own law in
Frei Paulo and its surroundings. The gang used to hide from the
police in the houses of farmers, or else in the woods.
Known for his cruelty, he had the custom of branding the initials
"JB" with a red-hot iron on the face or pubis of women with short
hair or because they were wearing dresses whose length he
considered inconvenient, becoming known for this as the " people
farrier".
Due to the color of his skin, he was also nicknamed the "black
panther of the sertões".
Death
Tired of being chased by the police due to his involvement with the
cangaço, the coiteiro Antonio de Chiquinho set up an ambush for Zé
Baiano and the other cangaceiros, in a village in the municipality of
Frei Paulo . During a food delivery on July 7, 1936, accompanied by
fellow countrymen Pedro Sebastião de Oliveira (Pedro Guedes),
Pedro Francisco (Pedro de Nica), Antônio de Souza Passos (Toinho),
José Francisco Pereira (Dedé) and José Francisco de Souza (Biridin),
Antônio put an end to Zé Baiano and his gang.
Antonio de Chiquinho kept the fact a secret for fifteen days,
fearing reprisals from Lampião. The cangaceiro, however, decided
not to take revenge after being convinced by Maria Bonita that the
undertaking could be dangerous, as the village had a cannon .
Photo of the severed heads of Lampião's flock
The photo of the severed heads of Lampião's gang is a photograph
of unknown authorship but which became famous on a world scale
when it was published in 1938. It is a photo showing the heads of
members of Lampião 's gang who had been captured and killed by
soldiers led by Lieutenant João Bezerra da Silva in the early hours
of July 28 of that same year. The heads were arranged on the steps
of the Dom Pedro II Palace , which is the current seat of the city
hall of the Brazilian municipality of Piranhas , in the state of Alagoas
. The image is considered an iconic and historic photograph.
Context
At dawn on the day the photo was taken, 45 soldiers armed with
rifles, two machine guns and commanded by Lieutenant João Bezerra
were successful in attacking and killing the members of Lampião's
gang. They were all then beheaded. The heads of the gang members
were placed in kerosene cans to prevent deterioration. During the
day, soldier Josias Valão arranged the heads on the stairs, including
hats, rifles and other belongings of the gang on the stairs of
Piranhas City Hall, forty kilometers from Fazenda Angicos , in the
municipality of Poço Redondo . The heads then followed a procession
through several cities in the Northeast, until they were taken to the
Instituto Médico Legal Nina Rodrigues , in Bahia. There, the heads
were on display at the Institute's museum between 1938 and 1969,
when they were handed over to their respective families.
Additional Readings
"The war of images: Lampião discovers photography", an article
that is part of the book Conflicts: Photography and Political
Violence in Brazil 1889-1964 .
Anthem of Pernambuco
Heart of Brazil! in your bosom
Runs the blood of heroes - red came
That there is always value to translate
You are the source of life and history
Of this people covered in glory,
The first, perhaps, in the future.
"Hail! Oh land of tall coconut trees!
Of beauty superb clothesline!
New Rome of brave warriors
Pernambuco, immortal! Immortal!
These mountains and valleys and rivers,
Proclaiming the value of your pride,
Play cruel battles.
In the present you are the advanced guard,
Sleepless and sacred sentinel
That defends the laurels from the Fatherland.
"Hail! O land of tall coconut trees!
Of beauties superb clothesline!
New Rome of brave warriors
Pernambuco, immortal! Immortal!
You are the belief of the future, the hope,
Of these people who rest proudly
Like an athlete after fighting...
In the past your name was a myth,
It was the sun shining in infinity
It was glory on earth shining!
"Hail! Oh land of tall coconut trees!
Of beauty superb clothesline!
New Rome of brave warriors
Pernambuco, immortal! Immortal!
The Republic is daughter of Olinda,
Alva star that shines and does not end
Of splendor with its rays of light.
Freedom! One your son proclaims!
Of slaves, the chest inflames
Before the Sun of this land of the Cross!"
"Hail! Oh land of tall coconut trees!
With superb beauty clothesline!
New Rome of brave warriors
Pernambuco, immortal! Immortal!
I want here with a lot of love and intro the nation to say that I am
very happy for this very rare work done by me for everyone to see
that I talk about a profound rebirth that tells the real story of a
people that suffered a lot and was born from the scrub to the vast
sertão that today all my expression and feeling will remain like a fire
ignited and conquered from the bottom of my soul and I want to
wish all of you who like me and dedicate this book to the great
academy Edu and say that you can enjoy and read a little of the
history of our people and thank you all so much for that love. A
strong and faithful hug from the writer Roberto Barros!
THANKS:
I want to thank you for another consecutive year of great
achievements that I show here from the bottom of my words to
show the world a very beautiful and warlike story that is part of my
people and that here I grew up and became a great artist that I
reveal with great love and expression a great love for my life in
which everything was reborn from a sheet of paper and became a
text in which I made beautiful sayings of words and verses from my
childhood until today when I became a beautiful writer and historian
and I want to thank you all for this notion and affection for my land
and that you all have a good reading and I wish with much love and
expression a strong hug from the great writer and researcher
Roberto Barros. Thank you all!
By: Roberto Barros