Alagoas
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALA : Alagoas
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| Flag of Alagoas | ||
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| See other Brazilian States | ||
| Capital | Maceió | |
| Largest City | Maceió | |
| Area | 27 818 km² | |
| Population - Total - Density | 2 822 621 101.5 inh./km² | |
| Governor | Ronaldo Lessa | |
| Demonym | Alagoano | |
| HDI (2000) | 0.649 – medium | |
| Timezone | GMT-3 | |
| ISO 3166-2 | [[ISO 3166-2:BR>BR-AL]] | |
Alagoas (AL), pron. IPA: /a.la.'go.ajs/ The presented pronunciation is in Brazilian Portuguese. The European Portuguese pronunciation is: /ɐ.lɐ.'ɣo.ɐʃ/., is a small state in northeastern Brazil lying between the states of Pernambuco and Sergipe; touching the state of Bahia along a part of its southwestern border. The southern border of Alagoas is defined by the Rio São Francisco (São Francisco River). Alagoas has an area of 27.933 km² and a population of approximately 2,818,000. The capital city is Maceió.
Geography
The state's name originates with the lakes along its coast near the city of Maceió. The coast is bordered by fringing reefs and many fine beaches. Behind the beaches, sometimes only hundreds of meters and defined by steep scarps, lies a stretch of green coastal hills having enough rainfall for considerable agriculture and scarce remnants of the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Rain Forest) that now is largely limited to steep hill tops. This is the area long dominated by sugar cane.
Still further inland lies the Sertão of the Northeast region of the nation. The Sertão is a high dry region dominated by scrub that is often thorn filled and sometimes toxic, the caatinga. This area and its people is famed in legend and song. It is the land of the cowboy who is clad from head to toe (if he is lucky) with very thick leather to avoid the tearing vegetation.
History
During the first three centuries of its history, Alagoas was part of the captaincy of Pernambuco, only changing into an independent captaincy in 1817. As a reprisal against the Pernambucan Revolution, the King John VI of Portugal ordered a vast portion of the Pernambucan territory to be taken apart, most including its southern portion, one part given to the captaincy of Bahia, the other portion made independent and bringing up Alagoas as a new Brazilian captaincy.
Initially, in the first years of the 16th century, Alagoas settlement went on slowly, however helped by Africans turned into slaves whose work urged the local economy. In the period between the 16th and 17th centuries, French pirates invaded its territory attracted by the commerce of Brazil wood.
Some time latter, Duarte Coelho, owner of the captaincy of Pernambuco, gave the control of the region back to the Portuguese, running the territory as part of his captaincy. He gave impulse to grow sugar cane plantations and to build up some sugar mills as well as founded the cities of Penedo and Alagoas – this last one originally baptized by Portuguese as Santa Maria Madalena da Alagoa do Sul (Saint Mary Magdalene of the Southern Lake), currently the historic heritage town of Marechal Deodoro.
In 1570, a second expedition ordered by Duarte Coelho and leaded by Cristóvão Lins, explored the north of Alagoas and founded the settlement of Porto Calvo and five sugar mills, which two of them still endure, Buenos Aires and Escurial.
In 1630, the territory was taken by the Dutch, whose interest to manage the commerce of sugar in most part of the northeastern region of Brazil urged a fight to take the control of the region. As part of one of the wealthiest Brazilian captaincies, Alagoas prospered exactly for the sugar commerce. However, the Dutch colonizers abandoned the territory after being defeated in 1645.
Decades before Alagoas being done apart in 1817, its sugar industry was formed by 200 mills and the agriculture took impulse by cotton, tobacco and corn plantations. With Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822, Alagoas becomes a province. In 1839, the capital of the province is changed definitively from the town of Alagoas to Maceio, mainly due to the increasing economy of the city year by year because of its port.
Economy
The economy has been agricultural, dependent largely on large sugar cane plantations with some tobacco. Sugar cane formed the basis for an alcohol industry that is in decline. Small to medium sized tanker ships took alcohol onboard in Maceió's port with considerable frequency during the peak period. Such loads still take place with less frequency. Another local industry is based on chemical products from brine pumped from deep wells on the outskirts of Maceió.
In the last twenty years the tourist industry has found the beaches and Maceió itself has changed from a rather sleepy little port with coconut palm plantations along its beaches to high rise hotels. The northern coast, particularly around the towns Maragogi and Japaratinga is beginning to see some of this development in the form of resorts attracting people from the south and some from Europe.
Major cities
- Arapiraca
- Coruripe
- Maceió
- Maragogi
- Marechal Deodoro (H)
- Palmeira dos Indios
- Penedo (H)
- Piranhas (H)
- Porto Calvo
- Porto de Pedras (H)
- Santana do Ipanema
- União dos Palmares
- Viçosa
- List of cities in Brazil (all cities and municipalities)
Flag
The coat of arms symbolizes the first Alagoan settlements, Porto Calvo and Penedo. Some plantations, sugar cane and cotton, that stood out as the foremost wealth in the past also are designed in the coat. The colors in each stripe, red, white and blue, that commit to memory the French flag, symbolize exactly the motto of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. The star above the coat represents the state itself.Notes
External links
- [Alagoas' location on a 3D globe (Java)]
- [Alagoas] (In Portuguese with tourism oriented information.)
- [Estado de Alagoas] (In Portuguese with flag and outline map.)
- [Brazilian Embassy in London: São Francisco River]
| States of Brazil |
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|---|---|
| Brazilian Federal District | |
| Acre | Alagoas | Amapá | Amazonas | Bahia | Ceará | Espírito Santo | Goiás | Maranhão | Mato Grosso | Mato Grosso do Sul | Minas Gerais | Pará | Paraíba | Paraná | Pernambuco | Piauí | Rio de Janeiro | Rio Grande do Norte | Rio Grande do Sul | Rondônia | Roraima | Santa Catarina | São Paulo | Sergipe | Tocantins | |
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