Brazil

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

UNITED STATES OF, a former empire, but, since 1889, a Republic of South America; bounded on the E. by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the N., W., and S. by all the other South American Republics except Chile and Ecuador; length, from N. to S., over 2,600 miles; extreme breadth, about 2,700 miles; capital, Rio de Janeiro. 11-Vol. II-Cyc Area and Population. The total area of Brazil is 3,280,900 square miles, exceeding by 250,000 square miles the area of the Alaska. There are 20 states, one terri- United States, excluding tory and one federal district. In 1900 the census gave Brazil a population of 17,371,069. The estimated population in was 27,473,579. This about 600,000 Indians in the Amazon reincludes gion. The largest cities are: Rio de Janeiro, 975,818; São Paulo, 450,000; Bahia, 348,130; Belem, 275,167, and Pernambuco, 216,484. The number of immigrants in 1918 was 20,501. Exceptional advantages are offered by the government to immigrants in order to develop the potential wealth of the Topography. Its seaboard, about 4,- 500 miles long, beginning about 200 miles to the N. of the mouth of the Amazon, reaches to within the same distance of the mouth of the Plata and projects into the Atlantic fully 1,000 miles to the E. of the direct line between its two extremes. Among the chief physical features are the enormous valleys of the Amazon, the São Francisco, and the Plata. Brazil has practically no mountain ranges. The so-called ranges of Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira are merely parallel steps leading from the seaboard to the interior pl plateau, which occupies nearly one-half of the area of the country S. of the Amazon and E. of the Plata. The highest point in the country is the Itatiaia peak, in the Mantiqueira system, 8,900 feet. There are no large interior lakes. The Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, lie along the coast and measure respectively over 200 and 150 miles in length and 80 and 40 miles in breadth. They are navigable by small seagoing steamers. The chief waterways are the mighty AMAZON (q. v.) with its numerous tributaries, the São Paraguay, the Uruguay, the union, the of Parana these, constituting the Plata proper, runs territory through to Argentine the Atlantic and. On the cellent landlocked harbors, but the en- S. E. coast there are many extire N. E. coast has very few, most of the ports being at the mouths of the rivers. Besides numerous islands close to the land, among which are conspicuous Marajo in the mouth of the Amazon, an island nearly as large as Great Britain, Itamaraca in the state of Bahia, Ilha Grande in that of Rio de Janeiro, and Santa Catharina in the state of the same name, Brazil has only two outlying islands: Trinidad and Fernando de Noronha, both of volcanic formation and practically not yet settled. Production and Commerce. Among the mineral treasures, besides gold and diamonds, iron of superior quality is abundant; salt, also, is extensively produced in saline marshes by the alternate processes, according to the season, of inundation and evaporation. The exports are coffee, cotton, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, hides, tallow, horns, drugs, precious stones, chiefly diamonds, gold, dyes, rice, manioc, tapioca, spirits, rosewood, etc. The value of exports varies considerably according to the price of coffee, which represe represents more than threethat the chief articles fourths of the total. of commerce are coffee, rubber, cacao, tobacco, and cotton. In the two former, Brazil leads the world. The yield of coffee was 846,480 tons in 1917 and the rubber crop was 41,500 tons. The average annual production of tobacco is 50,- 000,000 kilos, sugar 300,000 tons, cotton 90,000 tons, wheat 2,421,031 tons, rice 371,989 tons, and beans 326,826 tons. The live-stock in 1917 comprised 17,321,- 210 hogs, 8,443,400 cattle, 1,407,600 horses, 4,604,000 sheep, 351,900 mules, and 138,900 goats. The chief centers of foreign trade, and, with São Paulo, in the interior, the principal cities of the Republic, are Para, Pernambuco, Bahia, Porto Alegre, and Rio de Janeiro. The last named is the chief port. The exports and imports of Brazil were as follows in the year 1918: Exports, $284,275,000 ; imports, $247,351,- 250. The exports were largest to the United States, totaling $98,474,000. The exports to the United Kingdom m were valued at $28,700,500, and to Argentina $43,188,250. The imports from the United States were valued at $88,982, 750. For the first seven months of 1919 the exports totaled 1,140,575 tons, amounting to a money value of 1,289,- 390,000 milreis; the imports were 1,708,- 103 tons, valued at 761,372,000 milreis. Education. Elementary education is free and in some of the states compulsory. There are about 13,000 schools with an attendance of 750,000. No university exists, though there are numerous normal, agricultural, commercial, and technical schools. There are many public libraries, that at Rio de Janeiro having over 400,000 volumes. Defense. Military service is universal between the ages of 21 and 45. Two years' service is required in the ranks, seven in the reserve, seven in the territorial army and eight in the national guard. In 1918 the men available in the first line numbered 402,000 and in the second 493,000. The navy has two dreadnoughts, two protected cruisers, two coast defense ships of about 3,200 tons each, an almost obsolete protected cruiser, two river monitors, five torpedo gunboats, four first-class torpedo boats, three submarines, and ten destroyers. There are three naval arsenals. Railways. The total railway mileage is 30,101 kilometers, distributed among the various states as follows: Sao Paulo, 6,706; Rio de Janeiro, 3,131; Minas Geraes, 6,527; Rio Grande do Sul, 2,756; Pernambuco, 2,098; Bahia, 1,839; Matto Grasso, 1,168; Paraná, 1,064; Santa Catharina, 1,018; Ceara, 891; Para, 456; Espiritu Santo, 652; Parahyba, 368; Alagoas, 364; Rio Grande do Norte, 313; Sergipe, 292; Federal District, 187; Goyaz, 179; Maranhao, 91; and Amazonas, 6. 15,251 kilometers are ned by the Federal Government, 2,464 kilometers by the state governments, and 10,051 by private companies. Revenues. The revenues and expenditures of the Government for 1919 were as follows, in milreis (a gold milreis representing 54.6 cents in United States money and a paper milreis 27.5 cents): Revenue, 113,533,434 gold; 502,989,000 paper. Expenditure, 80,369,827 gold; 476,641,194 paper. For 1920 the budget estimates were 80,953,000 milreis gold and 526,953,000 milreis paper. The foreign indebtedness of the country was 116,434,274 pounds sterling; the internal debt was 1,012,137,000 milreis. The public wealth was figured at 30,000,000 contos (a conto equals 1,000 milreis), including these items: personal property, 7,000,- 000; improved property, improved property, 10,000,000; railroads 5,500,000; unand ports, 2,000,000; live stock, 5,000,- 000; manufacturing industries, 500,000. Government.-Executive authority is vested in a president whose term is four years and who is not eligible for re-election for a consecutive period. Legislative authority resides with the two chambers of the National Congress, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The former has 63 members, elected for nine years, and the latter 212 members, elected for a three-year term. The President in 1920 was Epitacio de Silva Pessoa, whose term expires in 1922. He visited the United States in 1919 after having served in Paris as one of the Brazilian delegates to the Peace Congress. History. It was only in 1531 that the Portuguese, busy as they were in India, here planted their first settlement. In 1578 Brazil fell, with Portugal itself, under the power of Spain, a connection besides being essentially detribesides into which, mental, speedily threw it as a prey the hands of the Dutch Republic, and, its own indethough Portugal regained pendence in 1640, it was not until 1654 that Brazil was entirely recovered from the Hollanders, almost entirely by the efforts of her own soldiers through a war of more than 30 years. In 1807 the royal family of Portugal fled to Brazil; in 1815 the colony was declared a king- Portuguese court having dom; and the Por returned to Europe in 1821, a National Congress assembled at Rio de Janeiro, and on May 13, 1822, Dom Pedro, the João VI. of Portugal, eldest son of King João was chosen "Perpetual Defender" of Brazil. He proclaimed the independence of the country on Sept. 1, 1822, and was chosen "Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender," on Oct. 12th following. In 1831 he abdicated the crown in favor of his only son, Dom Pedro II., who reigned as Emperor until Nov. 15, 1889, when, by a revolution, he was dethroned, he and his family exiled, and Brazil declared a Republic, under the title of the United States of Brazil. In recent years Brazil's foreign policy has been of a most liberal character and efforts have been made to cement friendly relations with their neighbors in South America and with the United States. Her enlightened ned attitude during the World War and her prompt entrance into it by a declaration of war against Germany, following the example of the United States, resulted in friendly relations between the Allied Powers of Europe and Brazil. This was shown by a visit made to Brazil by the King and Queen of Belgium in September and October, 1919. Dr. Epitacio de Silva Pessoa was elected President on April 13, 1919, to succeed President Alvez who was elected in 1918 and who died in office. Dr. Pessoa, who was in Paris at the time of his election, acting as chief of the Brazilian delegation at the Peace Conference, visited the United States on his way to Brazil to take over the office of the presidency.