The Northeastern region's area is 1 548 672 square kilometres. It's polulation is 34 870 000, which is about 28.9% of Brazil's total population. The states of the Northeast are Bahia, Sergipe, Algos, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande de Norte, Ceará, Piauí, Maranhao. The Northeastern region has an average high of 46 degrees Celcius, and an average low of 37 degrees Celcius. It has an average annual raing fall of 124 centimetres.
The Northeast was the first region of Brazil to be economically develloped, as it was where the Portuguese first landed. Since the Portuguese did not have enough people, or money, to populate and develope Brazil's large land area, they remained scattered along the Atlantic Coast.
The nine states of the northeast all face in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean, and their coastline is about 3500 kilometres. This is a very diverse region, in it's climate, terrain, vegetation and the many different ethnic origins. Climate and vegetation are differed by the altitude, direction of wind, and how far the location is from the ocean. The same conditions apply to the pattern of the rainfall. The rainfall also affects the vegetation as well as the humans. The Northeast still has much of th historical, cultural, and artistic heritage that came with the Portugues, French, African and Dutch settlers.
Settling the Northeast
When the Portuguese first arrived, they were not so sure this was the region they wanted to settle. They didn't want to start plantations, because a fair bit of money was needed for them. The only profitable thing for the Portuguese was to trade brazilwood. However, since these trees were swiftly cut down, there were no permanent settlements built.
After the brazilwood trade was over, the Portuguese ran into more troubles- the Natives of Brazil. During the brazilwood trade, the Natives had traded brazilwood for iron tools and other European items. However, when this trade period ended, the Portuguese tried to convince the Natives to work agriculturally, but this failed. The Portuguese just couldn't have that, so they captured Native villages to be the Poruguese's slaves. The Natives then attacked the Portuguese and the bandeirantes in defense.
The Portuguese wanted to have complete control of Brazil. They made many, many settlements in order to keep out the other "prospective rulers", the English, the French, and the Dutch. In the end, the other three settled new countries around Brazil, but Portugal won Brazil.
Some of the Natives fought with the Portuguese, while some of the others helped them. When the Natives came to the conclusion that the Portuguese were going to be staying in Brazil forever, or at least a really, really long time, the relationship between the helping Natives and the Portuguese eroded quickly. The Natives were soon kicked out of the areas surrounding the Portuguese settlements. The Natives took their refuge within the interior of the rain forest, and they were no longer a big part of the Portuguese people's lives.
As you know, most of the natives refused to work for the Portuguese. In Bahia and Pernambuco, the sugar plantations were the biggest economy. As the Portuguese decided they needed slaves, they imported them from Africa. These African slaves first came in 1538.
The sugar plantations started a class of powerfull masters, who could do almost whatever they wanted. This class started a whole new structure for Brazil- people were now divided into classes. The highest classes were a role model for everyone below them, and they controlled economics and politics. The classes below them were peasants, or slaves. Recently, these classes have started giving way to the new urban middle and industrial classes.
When the African slaves were brought in, they had a huge cultural impact on the Northeast region. This region had the biggest cultural impct from the Africans, as the largest number of them were imported here. 70% of the population of the state Bahia are descendents of the Africans.
The African Influence in Brazil
As said in the above paragraph, the Africans had a very big impact on the culture and ethnic composition of Brazil. Single women from Portugal were strongly discouraged from moving to Brazil, during the first hundred years of Brazil's Portuguese occupation. The Northeast region had a fairly diverse ethnic origin, however it is a melting pot. The Europeans, Africans and Natives all mixed together to form the ABrazilian culture.
Despite the cultural impact of the Africans, very few cities allowed African slaves to keep their culture, certainly religion. So, the slaves merged the Roman Catholic religion with their own African religion. When slavery was made illegal in 1888, the religious systems continued on, and a point where the Afro-Brazilians could come together.
The Brazilian Africans began to see Catholioc saints as their African demi-gods. The Afro-Brazilian religious systems have alot of rythmic music and dancing.
The African Influence can be seen in the art of the Northeast. The straw-thatched houses, that can still be seen, came about as African influence. The Africans introduced the foods okra, coconut oil, taro root, and greens.
Old and New Cities
Some of the important cities of the Northeast are: the capital of Bahia, Salvador, Porti Seguro, the capital of Pernambuco, Recife, and the city Olinda.
The Northeast was was forgotten by the Federal government, so it is a region of very high poverty. The military government toof an interest when the state Pernambuco decided on a communist leader. They were most upset about the fact that the middle and upper classes were the ones who voted for the communist. The government set up an agency that would try to develop the Northeast, and try to rival the communism.
