User:DAR7/sandbox/Geography of Brazil/Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul (Portuguese pronunciation: [hiw ˈɡɾɐ̃ːdʒɪ dʊ ˈsuw]) is one of the 27 federal units of Brazil. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, it is located in the South Region. Its boundaries are to the north, with Santa Catarina. To the west, with the Argentine provinces of Misiones and Corrientes. To the south, with the Uruguayan departments of Artigas, Salto, Rivera, Cerro Largo, Treinta y Tres and Rocha. It has 497 municipalities, and its total area is 281,730.223 km2, which is equivalent to 3.3% of the surface of Brazil and slightly larger than Ecuador. Its capital is the municipality of Porto Alegre, and its current governor is Eduardo Leite. The largest cities in terms of population are, in addition to the capital, the following urban centers known for their economic development: Caxias do Sul, Pelotas, Canoas and Santa Maria. The relief is formed by a great lowland, occupied to thenorth by a plateau. Antas, Uruguai, Taquari, Ijuí, Jacuí, Ibicuí, Pelotas and Camaquã are the most important rivers. It has a subtropical climate. Its economy is based on three sectors: agricultural (soybean, wheat, rice, and corn), livestock, and industrial (leather and footwear, food, textile, lumber, metallurgical, and chemical industries).

With more than eleven million inhabitants, or about 5.4% of the Brazilian population, it is the most populous state in the South Region and the fifth in Brazil, and can be compared with Rwanda in terms of the number of inhabitants. The gaucho population is one of the most diverse in the country and descends mainly from Italians and Germans, who began to immigrate to the country at the end of the 19th century. Its population is largely made up of Portuguese, German, Italian, African, Lebanese, and indigenous descendants, with a small part made up of Spaniards, Poles, and French, among other immigrants.

In 1627, Jesuit missions near the Uruguay River were founded by Spanish Jesuits. However, in 1680, the Portuguese drove the Spaniards away, just as the Portuguese Crown took possession of their domain, creating Colonia do Sacramento. The Sete Povos das Missões were established by the Spanish Jesuits in 1687. In 1737, a Portuguese military expedition, led by José da Silva Pais, took over Lagoa Mirim, thus marking the arrival of the Portuguese in the region. The village of Porto dos Casais, later named Porto Alegre, was created by Portuguese settlers in 1742. In 1801, the conflicts over the reconquest of land between Portugal and Spain ended. At that time, the gauchos themselves conquered the Sete Povos das Missões, annexing this region to their territory. The Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul was created on September 19, 1807. On February 28, 1821, it became the Province of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, which would become the current state of Rio Grande do Sul after the proclamation of the republic in Brazil. Since 1824, groups of German and Italian settlers have begun to arrive. The farm society, then he began to live on the small farm, varying the production. Rio Grande do Sul was the scene of republican revolutions, such as the Guerra dos Farrapos (1835–45), during the 19th century. He was present in the fight against Rosas (1852) and in the Paraguayan War (1864–70). Local political conflicts, as in the case of the Federalist Revolution, were intense at the beginning of the Republic, and the state was appeased only during the government of Getúlio Vargas (1928).

It is the southernmost state in the federation, with the fourth-highest GDP, surpassed only by São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais; the fifth most populous; and the sixth-highest Human Development Index (HDI) in the country. In certain places in the state, such as Serra Gaúcha and the rural region of the southern half, it is still possible to hear dialects of Italian (talian) and German (Hunsrückisch, Plattdeutsch). Rio Grande do Sul was mentioned in 2014 by the American newspaper The New York Times as the place with the most European traits in Brazil. Although the state is facing a severe economic crisis, it is also where there are the largest numbers of elderly people. The second-highest life expectancy and where workers are better paid, with one of the lowest illiteracy and infant mortality rates in the country. Even with good social indicators, Rio Grande do Sul suffers from an economic disparity between the northern half, considered industrial, and the southern half, considered agrarian.

Etymology

State name

According to Antenor Nascentes, author of the Etymological Dictionary of the Portuguese Language, it is the traditional designation of the mouth of the Rio Grande, the outlet of Lagoa dos Patos, and the Brazilian state. It was a captaincy in 1760, a province in 1822, and today it has been a federative unit since 1889. The name of the state comes from the channel that connects Patos Lagoon with the Atlantic Ocean, according to information from Henrique Martins, author of Corografia do Brasil. In 1737, the so-called mainland of São Pedro (which had the settlement nucleus of the Rio Grande) became subaltern to the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro. And it proclaimed its autonomy by decree of September 19, 1807.

Demonym

The natural inhabitants of Rio Grande do Sul are called gaúchos, rio-grandense-do-sul or sul-rio-grandense. The gentile in the masculine singular is gaúcho and in the feminine, gaúcha. It is a word from the Castilian gaucho, an adjective that, applied to people, can mean noble, brave, and generous; peasant experienced in traditional livestock farming; or even rogue, astute, dissimulated, or cunning; but it can also have the meaning of vagabond, smuggler, unruly, and underprivileged.

History

Indigenous peoples and colonial period

The Minuanos, Charruas and Caaguarás inhabited the region that currently constitutes Rio Grande do Sul, at the time of the discovery of Brazil. The first inhabitants of the current state territory lived 12,000 years ago B.C. They were excellent potters. And, in animal extraction, they used boleadeiras, to this day one of the tools of the gaucho laborer.

These tribes lived for a long time without maintaining contact with the Caucasian settlers. The Portuguese and Spanish empires disputed the borders of their colonies in America. This claim meant that only in the seventeenth century was the region conquered. The Jesuit priests from Spain were the first to settle in the region.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries, all the current territory of the state of Rio Grande do Sul was on the west side of the Treaty of Tordesilhas. Therefore, it was part of the Government of the River Plate and Paraguay. Later, it was subordinated to the Government of the River Plate, two historical subdivisions of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.

The participation of Europeans in the colonization of the soil of Rio Grande do Sul began with the Jesuit missions. Missions were established by Spanish Jesuits from Paraguay on the east bank of the Uruguay River in 1627. Several expeditions were carried out to capture the indigenous people. These were already acculturated by the Jesuits, catechized, and accustomed to agricultural work. Among the expeditions, the one led by Antônio Raposo Tavares deserves to be highlighted. This broke into the reduction of Jesus, Mary, Josephin 1636. The missions were devastated, and millions of natives were hunted. And the cattle strayed into the fields. In 1687, new reductions, called Sete Povos das Missões, were created by the Jesuits in the northwest of the territory.

Previously, however, Colonia del Sacramento, on the banks of the Río de la Plata, opposite Buenos Aires, was created in 1680. Spain reacted violently. Montevideo was founded by the Portuguese on November 22, 1723, as a support point for Sacramento. But this, however, did not achieve the expected purposes. Better equipped with weapons and more numerous, the Spaniards did not allow the Portuguese colony to develop. Montevideo was dominated and conquered by destiny itself.

An emergency expedition led by José da Silva Pais was sent south by the then governor of Rio de Janeiro, Gomes Freire de Andrade, in 1737. Prevented from carrying out his mission, Silva Pais climbed the coast and entered the channel of Lagoa dos Patos. He created the first permanent Portuguese settlement in the current state of Rio Grande do Sul, the then village of the Rio Grande, the capital and main settlement of the Capitania d'El-Rei.

The stray cattle reproduced due to predatory expeditions. The nutrition and transport needs of the population, which moved to Minas Gerais, increased after the discovery of gold in the region. To attend to all this, cowboys and traders settled in the area and started to transport cattle through the old trail of the bandeirantes. This extended from Viamão, in the south of Brazil, to Sorocaba, in São Paulo. Cattle hunting expeditions penetrated the territory, and Portuguese participation grew.

Colonization grew with the stimulus of the immigration of Azorean couples, who, from 1740 to 1760, disembarked on the Rio Grande. The village of Porto dos Casais was created in 1742. Portugal and Spain, in conflict on the European continent, fell out. This disagreement had repercussions in the colonies. In 1763, a good part of the Gaucho territory was dominated and invaded by the Spaniards for thirteen years.

The lands that belonged to Portugal were reduced by the Treaty of Santo Ildefonso, enacted in 1777, to one third of the size regularized by the Treaty of Madrid (1750). New conflicts broke out between Portugal and Spain. These armed struggles allowed for the possession of new lands. And the Sete Povos das Missões were annexed to the territory of Rio Grande do Sul in 1801. Prince Regent Dom João raised the territory to captaincy-general, with the name of São Pedro do Rio Grande, in 1807. Such a region would no longer integrate the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro.

After its foundation in 1807, on October 7, 1809, the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande was divided into the first four villages. They are: Porto Alegre, Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Rio Grande, and Rio Pardo.

Imperial period

Rio Grande do Sul was elevated to the category of imperial province, with Brazilian independence (1822). The colonization of German immigrants began in 1824. The German colonizers took care of the crops and encouraged the occupation of the Rio dos Sinos valley region. It was common for Europeans to come to Rio Grande do Sul, over the course of about fifty years. Since 1875, the Italians have arrived and settled in Serra Gaúcha.

The Guerra dos Farrapos, of federalist and republican origin, broke out in the province on September 19, 1835. It was the longest-lasting revolution in all the provinces of Brazil and lasted 10 years. For this reason, the province of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul suffered an agitated political and social situation due to the increase in the export of beef jerky. This, in turn, originated the biggest military conflict of the regency period in all the administrative subdivisions of the Empire of Brazil. The Republic of Piratini, in the homonymous municipality in the south of the province, was proclaimed by the revolutionaries, on September 11, 1836. It was understood that the current Rio Grande do Sul, from 1836 to 1845, was a country bordering, to the north, with the Empire of Brazil. However, the Rio-Grandense Republic was considered, in fact, an unrecognized state, as not even Uruguay had finished the recognition process.

Pedro II of Brazil appointed Luiz Alves de Lima e Silva, the future Duke of Caxias, as president of the province on November 9, 1842. A year later, Caxias began to wage war against the revolutionaries, who were defeated by imperial troops. The Treaty of Ponche Verde, a peace agreement that ended the Farroupilha Revolution, was signed on March 1, 1845.

When the Brazilians fought the Argentine Rosas. And when the Paraguayan War broke out, the participation of Gaucho soldiers was enormous. Despite the deaths and occupations, the demographic flow benefited the province. This, to supply the troops, brought development to farming and grazing.

Republican period

The Federalist Revolution took place in Rio Grande do Sul after the proclamation of the Republic in Brazil. This was commanded by the magistrate Gaspar Silveira Martins and won by the state president, Júlio de Castilhos. In 1895, peace was restored; however, in 1923, the struggle, led by Assis Brasil, began again, coming to an end in November of the same year. In 1924, the rebel units of the Military Brigade, led by Captain Luís Carlos Prestes, supported the São Paulo lieutenants. The movement was unsuccessful, and the rebels left the municipalities they had occupied, starting the Coluna Prestes march. Republican Getúlio Vargas, who, in 1928, was elected president of the state, resolved the political struggles in the region.

Armed conflicts have been paralyzed, and the Rio Grande do Sul has joined Vargas' rise to power after the 1930 Revolution. The state was politically important at the time. This political importance has been demonstrated at different times. Jânio Quadros resigned from the presidency in 1961. At that moment, the investiture of the vice president, João Goulart, as president of Brazil was ensured thanks to the defense of two authorities. Leonel Brizola, governor of the state between 1959 and 1963, and General Machado Lopes, commander of the III Army, based in Porto Alegre. Brizola was twice governor of Rio de Janeiro (1983–87; 1991–94). In 1962, he was re-elected Ildo Meneghetti, who had already administered the state between 1955 and 1959.

Rio Grande do Sul, at the time when Brazil was administered by the military, had governors, among others. They were: Walter Peracchi Barcelos (1967–1971), Euclides Triches (1971–1975), Sinval Sebastião Duarte Guazzelli (1975–1979), and arena artist José Amaral de Sousa (1979–1983). Pedestrian Jair de Oliveira Soares (1983–1987) was elected in 1982 with the return of direct gubernatorial elections. Then came Pedro Simon (1987–1991) and Alceu Collares, who, in 1990, were elected and, in 1991, took office. PMDB supporter Antônio Britto was elected governor in 1994 and sworn in 1995. Olívio Dutra was elected governor in 1998, assuming power in 1999. They were followed by Germano Rigotto (2003–2007), Yeda Crusius (2007–2011), Tarso Genro (2011–2015), Ivo Sartori (2015–2019), and Eduardo Leite (since 2019).

Geography

Rio Grande do Sul covers an area of 281,730,223 km2 (more than 3.31% of the entire territory of the country, corresponding to Ecuador). Its territory is located entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It belongs to the Pampa and Atlantic Forest biomes. It has a coastline with sand and restinga, medium elevations in the west and northeast portions, and depressions in the central portion.

Rio Grande do Sul is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, located in the extreme south of the southern region, having as limits. They are: a Brazilian state, six Uruguayan departments, and two Argentine provinces. It is limited to the north, in the state of Santa Catarina. To the south, with the departments of Artigas, Salto, Rivera, Cerro Largo, Treinta y Tres and Rocha. To the west, with the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes. The Atlantic Ocean bathes the state to the east of the territory. It has two of the most extensive lagoons in Brazil: Lagoa Mirim and Lagoa Mangueira. In addition, it comprises one of the most extensive lagoons on Earth, Lagoa dos Patos, which has brackish water.

It is one of the largest federative units in Brazil and the largest in the southern region. The northernmost municipality in the state is Alpestre and the southernmost is Santa Vitória do Palmar. Its coastline is 622 kilometers long. These are delimited by the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean, tying with São Paulo. It is shorter in dimension than the coasts of Bahia, Maranhão and Rio de Janeiro and larger than the coasts of Amapá and Ceará. Its population is more than 6% of the country's population.

Geomorphology

Forest and grassland soils are quite different. The former are suitable for crops in agriculture, while the campestres serve livestock. The geomorphology of the state is largely made up of low, flattened, or gently undulating hills. It comprises six different geomorphological units. They are: the coastal lowlands, the basaltic plateau, the plateau slope (or Serra), the central depression, the southeastern mountains, and the Campaign plain.

The coastal plain follows the entire coastline of the state. It is formed by a belt of sandy lands of variable length. To the north of the state rises the basaltic plateau. In its eastern part, it forms an abrupt escarpment with elevations beyond 1200 meters. It constitutes the highest region of the state. To the west, it decreases slightly, reaching 670 meters in the Passo Fundo area and only 250 meters in Santa Rosa. The plateau slope covers two different stretches. They are: to the east, a steep cuesta that makes up the Serra Geral. To the west, a mountainous geomorphology is crossed by a huge number of rivers, among them the Jacuí, Caí, Taquari and Ibicuí. It decreases in altitude as it approaches the Uruguay River valley.

The central depression is located in the Jacuí river valley, dividing the state into two parts, in an east-west direction. Its average altitudes are not very high, not exceeding one hundred meters. The southeastern dissected plateau encompasses this region of the state. It is constituted by undulating lands, with altitudes oscillating around 500 m. It receives the local names of the Erval, Canguçu, Tapes, and Encantadas mountains. The Campaign Plain is located west of the southeastern dissected plateau. In its total extension, it has enormous valleys and countless hills (reduced and successive elevations, in the shape of a ball).

Hydrology

The hydrographic network covers rivers belonging to the Uruguay River basin and flumens that descend towards the Atlantic Ocean. The Jacuí, Taquari, Caí, Gravataí, Guaíba and dos Sinos rivers, among others, are reasonably navigable. The entire west of the state and a short belt of land along the border with Santa Catarina form part of the Uruguay River basin. It encompasses not only the Uruguay River and the Pelotas, from which it is born through its union with the Canoas, but also Santa Catarina. It also houses the tributaries of the south bank: the Passo Fundo, the Ijuí, the Piratini, the Ibicuí and the Quaraí.

The South Atlantic watershed comprises the entire eastern half of the state. This is irrigated by rivers whose waters, before reaching the sea, will reach one of the lakes on the coast. In this way, the Mirim lagoon receives water from the Jaguarão, Patos, Turuçu, Camaquã and Jacuí rivers. Lagoa dos Patos receives water from the latter through the Guaíba estuary. Lagoa dos Patos connects with Lagoa Mirim through the São Gonçalo channel and with the sea through the mouth of the Rio Grande. In addition to the two huge lakes, there are also several other smaller ones in the coastal plain, among them Itapeva, Quadros, Peixe, and Mangueira.

Climate

The Gaucho territory covers two climatic types. The subtropical climate, with well-divided rainfall throughout the year and hot summers (CFA in the Köppen classification), appears in much of the state. It has average annual temperatures of 18 °C and a rainfall of 1,500 mm. The CFB's subtropical climate features well-divided annual rainfall and mild summers. It appears in the highest parts of the territory of Rio Grande do Sul. That is, in the highest part of the basaltic plateau and the dissected plateau of the southeast. It has an average annual temperature of 16 °C and a rainfall of 1,100 mm per year. Of the winds that blow in the state, both have regional names: the pampeiro, a warm wind that comes from the platinum pampas; and Minuano, a cold wind of Andean origin.

With regard to rainfall, the wettest area of the state is the plateau, with a rainfall of around 1,900 mm. Meanwhile, the portion of the state with the lowest rainfall is in the extreme south. This has an annual amount of rainfall of around 1100 mm in the municipality of Santa Vitória do Palmar.

The lowest temperature record in the state was -9.8 °C in the municipality of Bom Jesus on August 1, 1955. Meanwhile, the highest temperature record was 42.6 °C in Jaguarão, in the south of the state, in 1943. Municipalities such as Uruguaiana, Lajeado and Campo Bom deserve to be highlighted in records of high temperatures in the summer, registering values that rarely reach 40 °C. The state is still subject, in autumn and winter, to the climatic phenomenon of the dry spell. This is formed by days that follow one another with an abnormal rise in temperatures for the season.

Wildlife

Both vegetation formations appear in Rio Grande do Sul: fields and forests. Fields comprise more than 66% of the state's area. Generally, they cover the topographically medium, flattened, or slightly undulating regions, that is, the central depression and a good part of the basaltic plateau.

Forests cover 29% of the state's land. They occur in the foothills and higher parts of the basaltic plateau, in the southeastern dissected plateau. They also appear in the form of riparian forests and capons, scattered across the fields that surround the rest of the state. In the higher regions, with altitudes greater than 400 m, it occupies the so-called araucaria forest, which mixes broadleaved trees with conifers. In both categories of forest, there is Yerba maté, which has been economically exploited since the beginning of the time when the state was colonized. On more than 5% of the state's land, coastal vegetation appears, developed on the coastal sands.

The natural grasslands of the Pampas cover the southern half of the state. Riparian forests thrive on the banks of rivers. In the fields, umbus, native fig trees, and eucalyptus trees, cultivated by humans, provide protection for the cattle. On the plateau, Araucaria forests prevail. Howler monkeys, squirrels, and various birds inhabit these forests. The blue jay, as is the case, has the habit of placing Araucaria seeds underground as a food reserve. In this way, she “grows” new trees.

In open fields and forests, there are armadillos, anteaters, coatis, deer, and tapirs. Carnivores such as the puma, the ocelot, and the wild cat are also common. In the coastal lagoons, mainly in the Taim swamp, there are capybaras, broad-snouted caimans, and various water birds. Migratory species from North America make intermediate stops every year in the Taim floodplains. In the immense rivers inhabit fish such as the dorado, thepainted and the curimbatá.

The lapwing, known by the gauchos as the “sentinel of the pampas”, is the symbol bird of Rio Grande do Sul.

Ecology

In Rio Grande do Sul, according to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, there are 40 CUs. They are: 1 environmental protection area, 1 area of relevant ecological interest, 2 ecological stations, 3 national forests, 3 national parks, 1 wildlife refuge, and 29 RPPNs.

The conservation units managed by the Union are the PARNA of Serra Geral and the Aparados da Serra. Lagoa do Peixe; the FLONA of Canela; the one of So Francisco de Paula. The one in Passo Fundo; the APA of Ibirapuitã; the ARIE from Pontal dos Latinos and Santiagos. Finally, the EE of Aracuri-Esmeralda, Taim and the RVS of Ilha dos Lobos.

The state, which had the first Brazilian ecology movement, is currently experiencing several serious environmental problems and a lack of financial and social resources for the region. It presents an extensive list of endangered species. However, numerous governmental projects and private decisions are trying to undo this depressing picture and spread environmental awareness among society, and there are already important ecological laws.