table also contains the area of each of the provinces, from planimetric calculations made in Gotha in 1872, the official returns on this subject being most obviously exaggerated, and claiming for the empire an area equal to that of .Brazil with all the surrounding republics on the north and west
taken together.| A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
Provinces. Area in English Square Miles. Population. Chief Towns. Free. Slave. Total. Alto Amazonas Grao Para" 753,469 412,407 141,651 81,779 50,262 20,130 20,846 46,257 11,642 12,038 204,803 56,631 232,622 284,101 178,427 689,773 220,959 341,643 752,511 312.268 139,812 1,120,846 979 27,199 74,939 23,785 31,913 13,02( 20,914 89,028 35,741 21,495 162,295 22,659 270,726 48,939 156,612 10,560 14,984 66,876 366,574 10,652 6,667 57,610* 259,821 359,040 202,222 721,686* 233,979 362,557 841 ,539* 348,009* 161,307 1,283,141 82.137* 727,576 274,972* 837,354* 126,722* 159,802 430,878 2,009,023 160,395* 60,417* 9,700,187 5Iana"os. Partt or Kelem. JS. Luiz do Mar- ( anlmo. Thert zina. Fortaleza. Natal. Parahyba. Recife. Maeeio. Aracajii. Bahia. Victoria. j- Eio de Janeiro. Sao Paulo. Curitiba. Destcrro. Po .to-Alegre. Ouro Preto. Goyaz. Cuyabst. i Ccard Hio Grande do Xorte Bahia 17,030 18,490 90,541 108,557 18,924 110,216 237,481 263,373 668,655 59.478 ( 456,850 226,033 680,742 116,162 144,818 364,002 1,642,449 149,743 53,758 Hio du Janeiro ^ Neut. Municipty.j Sao Paulo rarauit Shi. Catharina I!io Grande do Sul... .Minas Geraes 3,288,110 8,223,62011,476,567
- The population figures marked thus are the results of the census begun in 1872; the others are made up from the most recent provincial estimates.
The population of Brazil presents a number of distinct types as well as many varieties blended from these. The aboriginal Indians of the country have to a large extent become amalgamated with the settled population, especially in the eastern or maritime provinces ; but in the vast forests and grass plains of the interior they remain in a more or less completely savage condition. In general description the Indians are of copper colour, of middle height, thick-set, broad-chested, and muscular, with well- shaped limbs and small hands and feet. The hair is black, thick, and straight ; the features broad, cheek bones not generally prominent, eyes black and sometimes oblique, like those of the Tatar races of Eastern Asia; they are of apathetic and undemonstrative nature. Their tribes and subdivisions, scattered over the enormous interior area, are countless ; though these may vary somewhat in physical characteristics, in language, and customs, they belong apparently to one original stock, called by ethno graphers, the Tupi-Guarani. Most of the semi-civilized Indians of Brazil, especially those of the eastern provinces, speak the Lingoa-Geral, a language adapted by the Jesuit missionaries from the original idiom of the Tupinambaras, one of the larger eastern tribes. The less civilized and savage Indians are termed collectively Gentios (heathens) by the Brazilians. The only tribe of the eastern coast- lands which has resisted civilization in some portion of its numbers is that of the Botocudos, inhabiting the forests between the Rio Doce and Rio Parclo, sunk in the lowest barbarism and fast disappearing. From the European chiefly Portuguese immigrants, by mixture with the native Indians, arc descended the Mamelucos, a variety which first made itself prominent in inland raids and con quests in the southern provinces, especially from the neigh bourhood of Sao Paulo, whence they were named Paulistas. The negioes, introduced from Africa in immense numbers, constitute one of the largest elements of population. "From these, by intercourse with the white race, have sprung the mulattoes, and the descendants of these, becoming pro gressively whiter. The Brazilian Creoles, who call them selves Brazileiros, descendants of theso mixed races, prove little inferior in capacity, physical strength, or intelligence to the pure race of Portuguese. The rapidly progressing emancipation of the African slaves in Brazil has been referred to previously. A strong desire pervades those of the slaves not born in Brazil, even though they may have been made captives when mere infants, to return to Africa. Associations have been formed among them in many parts, both for the purchase of the freedom of those still in bondage and for sending the freedmen back to their native country, a movement which has actually taken place to a considerable extent. A result of the emancipation and consequent deficiency of labour, chiefly felt in the neigh bourhood of Rio and the provinces to the south of it, has been the deportation of large numbers of slaves from the northern to the more southerly provinces.
An increase in the population of Brazil being one of the prime requisites for the advancement of the country, the state encourages immigration by every possible means, and especially of late years, since the labour question began to be serious, has made great efforts to entice European colonists. For this end an official agency was established at Rio de Janeiro in 1864, to provide for the conveyance and landing of colonists and for forwarding these to the various localities. The passage from whatever country to Brazil, and thence to the special colony inland, is also defrayed by Government, and other advantages are held out. Notwithstanding the zeal with which the many schemes of state or private colonization in Brazil have been promoted, the results have been far from satisfactory ; as far as British, German, and Swiss experience goes these have been in many instances very disastrous ; and whatever seductive representation of advantages may be held out, any scheme for the introduction of north European colonists into Brazil cannot be too strongly deprecated. Not only is the climate and soil, except perhaps of the extreme southern province, unsuited to the Anglo-Saxon race, but the abandonment of nationality and of language, of customs and laws, and the obnoxious surroundings, prove fatal to success.
The chief state colonies are at the following places. Santa Leopoldina, thirty-three miles distant from the capital of the province of Espiritu-Santo, having free access to it by the Sta. Maria River, is chiefly a German, Swiss, and Dutch colony. Rio Novo is in the same province. Mucury, in the province of Minas Geraes, is also a German colony. Canarea in the province of Sao Paulo, 14 miles from the sea-coast and near the town of the same name, is mainly English. Assimgay, 62 miles from the capital of the province of Parana-, Itajahy, 29 miles from the port of the same name in the province of Sta. Catharina, and Blumenau, also in that province on the navigable River Itajahy, are chiefly German. Sta. Maria de Soledade, near Siio Leopoldo, in Rio Grande do Sul, is also a . state colony. Several places long colonized have passed out of the colonial regime, and have been formed into municipalities. Such are Sdo Leopoldo in Rio Grande, Santa Isabel in the province of Sta. Catharina, Nova Friburgo and Petropolis in elevated districts of the Organ Mountains in Rio de Janeiro.
Private and provincial colonies are rather numerous. Of these there arc eight in Rio Grande do Sul, the chief being that of Sta Cruz; Sta Catharina has two; Minas Geraes and Bahia, each one. Taken together the state, provincial, and private colonies embraced, in 1873, upwards of 40,000 people. During the past two years the unsettled condition and financial difficulties of the La Plata states have thrown large numbers of foreign chiefly Italian settlers into destitution, and many hundreds of these have been induced, by the offer of free passage and land, to seek a new home in Brazil.
