Recife

Recife (The "R" is pronounced as an "H") (Portuguese for reef), 2005 population 1,501,000 (3,599,181 in the metropolitan area) is the third largest city in the Northeastern Region of Brazil and the largest metropolitan area. It is the 5th largest metropolitan area in Brazil and the capital of Pernambuco. Recife is also where the Beberibe River meets the Capibaribe River to flow into the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major port on the Atlantic Ocean. Recife is served by Guararapes International Airport.

Surrounded by rivers and crossed by bridges, Recife is full of islands and mangroves that magnify its geography. It is known as the Brazilian Venice, thanks to its fluvial resemblance with the european city, and is considered one of Brazil's cultural capitals.

Recife is the birthplace of poets and writers Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Pena Filho, Saulo Moreira, Sebastião Uchoa Leite, Nelson Rodrigues, Gilberto Freyre, Paulo Freire and João Cabral de Melo Neto; and of such composers as Lenine, Fred Zero Quatro, Otto, Pochyua Andrade, Don Tronxo, Valença Brothers, Antônio Nóbrega, Naná Vasconcelos, Jorge du Peixe, Paulo Diniz, Fernando Lobo, Antônio Maria and Chico Science. Canadian ice hockey player Robyn Regehr and footballers Rivaldo and Juninho Pernambucano were also born in Recife.

1 History
2 Photos
3 Geography
4 Tourism and recreation
5 Local Music
6 Main Neighborhoods
7 Sports
8 Crime
9 Shark Attacks
10 External links

[edit] History

The area around Recife was one of the first in Brazil to be settled by the Portuguese Crown. In 1534, John III of Portugal divided Brazil into Hereditary Captaincies (Capitanias Hereditárias, in Portuguese); the Portuguese realized that they had no human or financial resources to invest in such a large and distant colony, and decided to assign this task to private entrepreneurs, called Donatários (this system had already been successful in the settlement of the Portuguese colonies in Africa).

Because of several problems (the most obvious being the lack of support from the Portuguese metropolis), most Captaincies failed. One of the few to prosper was the Captaincy of Pernambuco, which was assigned to Duarte Coelho Pereira (the man who founded Olinda and became famous for expressing his enchantment with the beauty of the place, giving the name to the city).

Pernambuco prospered from the sugarcane industry (beet sugar was not industrially produced in Europe until the beginning of the 19th century). At the time, in Europe, sugarcane plantations could be grown only in Andalusia and the Algarve; in the 1420s, sugarcane was carried to the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores; the sugar from Brazil was very appreciated in Europe. Duarte Coelho found in Pernambuco plenty of fertile land and an excellent climate for the cultivation of cane; all he needed was labor to work in the crops and to keep the "engenhos" (rustic wooden machinery) moving.

At first, the Portuguese tried to use the indigenous peoples of Brazil, but they soon realized that the indigenous culture was not compatible with the work in the engenhos. The solution was to import black slaves from Africa; from the 16th to the 19th century, Pernambuco received many slaves, making it one of the Brazilian States where black culture has the most visible traces (in dance, music, culinary, etc).

Alone, this mixture of Portuguese, Indians and black slaves would be enough to make Recife one of the most culturally diverse cities in Brazil. The Dutch added to the mix. From 1580 to 1640, the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal were unified under the rule of the former. Spain was engaged in a war against Holland, and determined that the Dutch, who were the main distributors of Brazilian sugar in Europe, would be prohibited from coming to Brazil.

The Dutch decided to invade several sugar producing cities in Brazil, including Salvador and Natal. From 1630 to 1654, they took control of Recife and Olinda. During this period, the first synagogue of the Americas was founded in the city, and for this brief time Recife became one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the world. The inhabitants fought on their own to expel the Dutch, being helped by the involvement of the Dutch in the First Anglo-Dutch War. This was known as the Insurreição Pernambucana (Pernambucan Insurrection). Most of the Jews fled to Amsterdam; others fled to North America, starting the first Jewish community of New Amsterdam (now known as New York City).

During the 18th century, riots spread throughout the city, in which the rich farmers of Olinda and the traders from Recife clashed. Recife had a clear advantage in relation to Olinda: Olinda has no harbour, while Recife's Harbor is one of the best on the Atlantic. Recife's victory asserted the supremacy of its bourgeoisie over the decadent sugar aristocrats of Olinda. This was a decisive factor for Recife's growth. Recife is now a large city whereas Olinda is a small historical town.

[edit] Photos

River Capibaribe's bridges viewed through Paço Alfândega's mirror.	River Capibaribe meeting the Atlantic Ocean, viewed through Paço Alfândega's mirror.	Rivers Capibaribe and Beberibe. Old Recife on the back	Paço Alfândega, perspective
Cais de Santa Rita viewed from the Casa de Banhos Restaurant	Instituto Ricardo Brennand	A rainy day in old Recife	Boa Viagem Beach, Piedade on the far end

[edit] Geography

Recife is located in the so called Litoral zone (Seashore Zone) of Pernambuco, an area a few tens of kilometers wide adjoining the coast. Thanks to the proximity with the sea, Recife is not so affected by the droughts commonly observed in the arid zone of the Sertão, which takes the best part of the West of the State of Pernambuco.

Temperature in Recife ranges from 23 to 27 degrees Celsius. The rainy season usually goes from May to August.

Within its metropolitan area are the cities of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Olinda, Paulista, Abreu e Lima, Igarassu, Camaragibe, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, and São Lourenço da Mata.

[edit] Tourism and recreation

Boa Viagem Beach, Recife

Tamandaré Beach.

Among Recife's main tourist attractions are:

Churches and historical monuments, including 17th and 18th Century constructions from Portuguese and Dutch colonizers
Francisco Brennand's atelier of ceramic art
Ricardo Brennand Institute: cultural institute with museun, pinacotec and library.
Ancient Recife buildings: Forte Orange (which is really located in Itamaracá island, some 40 km from Recife)
Boa Viagem Beach (the city's most important beach)
Olinda (neighbor city) - a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Casa da Cultura: souvenir shops in an ancient prision building
The Carnival at Recife Antigo

There are many beaches surrounding Recife, such as:

Porto de Galinhas, Ipojuca, Pernambuco (60 km to the south) --> The most popular nearby tourist destination attracts tourists from around the world and boasts a thriving tourism industry. High end hotels and restaurants compete with more popular options and lie within the budget of most travelers.
Maracaípe, Ipojuca, Pernambuco (65 km to the south)
Serrambi, Ipojuca, Pernambuco (70 km to the south)
Tamandaré, Barreiros, Pernambuco (110 km to the south)
Itamaracá, Pernambuco (40 km to the north)

[edit] Local Music

[edit] Main Neighborhoods

Torre
Ipsep
Boa Viagem
Boa Vista
Bongi
Brasília Teimosa
Cidade Universitária
Cordeiro
Aflitos
Casa Forte
Derby
Tamarineira
Espinheiro
Graças
Ibura
Ilha do Leite
Iputinga
Pina
Recife Antigo
Santo Amaro
Santo Antônio
Setúbal
Várzea
Beberibe
Casa Amarela
Afogados
Imbiribeira
Muribeca
Estância

[edit] Sports

Recife provides visitors and residents with various sport activities. There are several soccer clubs based in Recife, such as Santa Cruz FC, which takes part of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (national main soccer league), Sport (1987 national soccer champion), and Náutico, six consecutive times state champion in the 1960's.

[edit] Crime

Recife is known nation-wide for being the most dangerous major city in the country. Its metropolitan area has a rate of 69,4 murders per 100.000 inhabitants, which is bigger than in much larger Brazilian cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and more than twice the national average.

[edit] Shark Attacks

In recent years, the number of shark attacks on the beaches of Recife has dramatically increased. Surfing has recently been outlawed on the urban beaches (Pina, Boa Viagem, Piedade, Candeias) because of the risk the sport poses.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Recife

(Portuguese) Recife Official Site
http://www.recifeguide.com/ Commercial site with touristic info about Recife.

Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: -8.0845° -34.919°
- Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
- Aerial image from TerraServer
- Satellite image from WikiMapia

Capitals of Brazilian States
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