States of Brazil

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) which contains the capital city, Brasília. The states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time, though some boundaries are arbitrary. 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.

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 the state of Guanabara until in 1975 it was merged with the state of Rio de Janeiro, 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 the state of Tocantins, 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 creation of two other states in its territory. Depending of the results, two new states (Tapajós and Carajás), one of them, or neither will be created. If the referendum is favorable to the creation of both states, Pará's territory will be reduced to about 25% of its original size and the number of states will increase to twenty-eight.

List of Brazilian states

See also

• Brazil socio-geographic division
• List of Brazil state name etymologies
• List of Brazilian states by area
• List of Brazilian states by murder rate
• List of Brazilian states by population
• List of major cities in Brazil
• Provinces of Brazil

External links

• Economic statistical data for Brazil's 26 states and federal district (in English, Portuguese, and Spanish)
• States of Brazil at the Open Directory Project
• Wikimedia Atlas of Brazil
• Map of Brazil, showing states and their regular timezones
• http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/condicaodevida/indicadoresminimos/sinteseindicsociais2010/SIS_2010.pdf