Federative units of Brazil

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The Federative Republic of Brazil is a union of twenty-seven Federative Units (Portuguese: Unidades Federativas (UF)): twenty-six states (estados; singular estado) and one federal district (distrito federal), where is located the federal capital, Brasília. The states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time. The federal district is not a state in its own right, but shares some characteristics of a state and some of a municipality. The Federal District is bordered by the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. The codes given below are defined in ISO 3166-2:BR.

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History

The first administrative divisions of Brazil were the hereditary captaincies (capitanias hereditárias), stretches of land leased to Portuguese noblemen or merchants with a charter to colonize the land. The captaincies were to be passed from father to son, but the crown retained the power of revoking it, which the king indeed did in the 16th century. Then the vast Portuguese dominion in South America was divided between the State of Brazil, in the southern half, and the State of Maranhão, in the northern half (note that Maranhão by then referred not only to current Maranhão, but rather to the whole of the Amazon region; the name marã-nã in old Tupi language means "wide river", i.e. the Amazon River).

After the Iberian Union (1580–1640), the territory of Portuguese colonial domains in South America was more than doubled, and the land was divided into captaincies, royal captaincies and provinces. Unlike Spanish America, the whole territory was united under a single viceroy, with a seat in Salvador (and after 1763, Rio de Janeiro). This situation contributed later to keeping Brazil as a unified nation-state and avoiding the fragmentation of the Spanish domains.

With independence, in 1822, the colony became an empire and all captaincies were turned into provinces. Most internal borders were kept unchanged from the colonial period, generally following natural features such as rivers and mountain ridges. Minor changes were made to suit domestic politics (such as the Triângulo Mineiro from Goiás to Minas Gerais, the splitting of Paraná and the left bank of the São Francisco River from Pernambuco to Bahia), as well as additions resulting from diplomatic settlement of territorial disputes by the end of the 19th century (Amapá, Roraima, Palmas). When Brazil became a republic in 1889, all provinces were immediately turned into states.

In 1943, with the entrance of Brazil into the Second World War, the Vargas regime detached seven strategic territories from the border of the country in order to administer them directly: Amapá, Rio Branco, Acre, Guaporé, Ponta Porã, Iguaçu and the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. After the war, the first three territories became states, with Rio Branco and Guaporé being renamed Roraima and Rondônia, respectively, whilst Ponta Porã and Iguaçu remained as territories. In 1988, Fernando de Noronha became part of Pernambuco.

In 1960, the square-shaped Distrito Federal was carved out of Goiás in preparation for the new capital, Brasília. The previous federal district became Guanabara State until in 1975 it was merged with Rio de Janeiro State, retaining its name and with the municipality of Rio de Janeiro as its capital.

In 1977, Mato Grosso was split into two states. The northern area retained the name Mato Grosso while the southern area became the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, with Campo Grande as its capital. The new Mato Grosso do Sul incorporated the territory of Ponta Porã and the northern part of Iguaçu. Central Iguaçu went to Paraná, and southern Iguaçu went to Santa Catarina.

In 1988, the northern portion of Goiás became Tocantins State, with Palmas as its capital.

Proposed division of Pará

On 11 December 2011, a plebiscite was held in the state of Pará to consult the population about the possibility of splitting the state of Pará into three different states (Pará, Tapajós and Carajás). Both Tapajós and Carajás were rejected by the population by approximate margins of 2:1.[1]

List of Brazilian states

Flag State Abbreviation Capital Area (km²) Population (2010) Density (2010) GDP (% total) (2008) GDP per capita (R$) (2008) HDI (2007) Literacy (2008) Infant mortality (2009) Life expectancy (2009)
Acre AC Rio Branco 152,581.4 732,793 4.80 6,730,000 (0.2%) 9,896 0.780 84% 28.9‰ 72.0
Alagoas AL Maceió 27,767.7 3,168,922 112.39 19,477,000 (0.6%) 6,227 0.720 75% 46.4‰ 67.6
Amapá AP Macapá 142,814.6 668,689 4.68 6,765,000 (0.2%) 11,033 0.800 97% 22.5‰ 71.0
Amazonas AM Manaus 1,570,745.7 3,480,937 2.21 46,823,000 (1.6%) 14,014 0.800 93% 24.3‰ 72.2
Bahia BA Salvador 564,692.7 14,021,432 24.83 121,508,000 (3.9%) 8,378 0.767 83% 31.4‰ 72.6
Ceará CE Fortaleza 148,825.6 8,448,055 56.76 60,099,000 (1.9%) 7,112 0.749 81% 27.6‰ 71.0
Distrito Federal DF Brasília 5,822.1 2,562,963 441.74 117,572,000 (3.8%) 45,978 0.900 97% 15.8‰ 75.8
Espírito Santo ES Vitória 46,077.5 3,511,672 76.23 69,870,000 (2.3%) 20,231 0.821 92% 17.7‰ 74.3
Goiás GO Goiânia 340,086.7 6,004,045 17.65 75,275,000 (2.5%) 12,879 0.824 91% 18.3‰ 73.9
Maranhão MA São Luís 331,983.3 6,569,683 19.78 38,487,000 (1.2%) 6,104 0.722 81% 36.5‰ 68.4
Mato Grosso MT Cuiabá 903,357.9 3,033,991 3.36 53,023,000 (1.6%) 17,927 0.808 90% 19.2‰ 73.7
Mato Grosso do Sul MS Campo Grande 357,125.0 2,449,341 6.85 33,145,000 (1.1%) 14,188 0.830 91% 16.9‰ 74.3
Minas Gerais MG Belo Horizonte 586,528.3 19,595,309 33.40 282,522,000 (9.1%) 14,233 0.825 92% 19.1‰ 75.1
Pará PA Belém 1,247,689.5 7,588,078 6.08 58,519,000 (1.9%) 7,993 0.782 88% 23.0‰ 72.5
Paraíba PB João Pessoa 56,439.8 3,766,834 66.74 25,697,000 (0.9%) 6,866 0.752 78% 35.2‰ 69.8
Paraná PR Curitiba 199,314.9 10,439,601 52.37 179,270,000 (6.1%) 16,928 0.846 93% 17.3‰ 74.7
Pernambuco PE Recife 98,311.6 8,796,032 89.47 70,441,000 (2.3%) 8,065 0.742 82% 35.7‰ 69.1
Piauí PI Teresina 251,529.2 3,119,015 12.40 16,761,000 (0.5%) 5,373 0.740 76% 26.2‰ 69.7
Rio de Janeiro RJ Rio de Janeiro 43,696.1 15,993,583 366.01 343,182,000 (11.2%) 21,621 0.852 96% 18.3‰ 73.7
Rio Grande do Norte RN Natal 52,796.8 3,168,133 60.00 25,481,000 (0.8%) 8,203 0.753 82% 32.2‰ 71.1
Rio Grande do Sul RS Porto Alegre 281,748.5 10,695,532 37.96 199,499,000 (6.6%) 20,331 0.847 95% 12.7‰ 75.5
Rondônia RO Porto Velho 237,576.2 1,560,501 6.56 17,888,000 (0.6%) 11,977 0.784 90% 22.4‰ 71.8
Roraima RR Boa Vista 224,299.0 451,227 2.01 4,889,000 (0.2%) 11,845 0.782 93% 18.1‰ 70.6
Santa Catarina SC Florianópolis 95,346.2 6,249,682 65.54 123,283,000 (4.1%) 20,369 0.860 95% 15.0‰ 75.8
São Paulo SP São Paulo 248,209.4 41,252,160 166.19 1.003016×10^9 (33.9%) 24,457 0.857 95% 14.5‰ 74.8
Sergipe SE Aracaju 21,910.3 2,068,031 94.83 19,522,000 (0.7%) 9,779 0.770 84% 31.4‰ 71.6
Tocantins TO Palmas 277,620.9 1,383,453 4.98 13,091,000 (0.4%) 10,233 0.784 86% 25.6‰ 71.9

See also

References

  1. ^ "Brazil's Para state rejects three-way split: official". Retrieved 22 dec 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

External links

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