Riograndense Republic

Riograndense Republic
República Rio-Grandense
Unrecognized state
1836–1845
Flag Coat of arms
Motto Liberdade, Igualdade, Humanidade "Liberty, Equality, Humanity"
Capital		Piratini
Languages		Portuguese
Government		Constitutional Presidentialist Republic
President
•	1836-1841	Bento Gonçalves da Silva
•	1841-1845	José Gomes de Vasconcellos Jardim
Historical era		19th Century
•	Independence of Empire of Brazil	September 11, 1836
•	Confederation with Juliana Republic	24 July 1839
•	Constitution adoppted	8 February 1843
•	Ponche Verde Treaty	March 5, 1845
Area
•	1842	281,748 km2 (108,784 sq mi)
Population
•	1842 est.	350.000
Density		0/km2 (0/sq mi)
Currency		Brazilian Real
Preceded by Succeeded by Empire of Brazil São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul Province Empire of Brazil São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul Province

Proclamation of the Piratini Republic. Antônio Parreiras.

The Riograndense Republic,^[1] often called Piratini Republic (Portuguese: República Rio-Grandense or República do Piratini), was a de facto state that seceded from the Empire of Brazil roughly coinciding with the present state of Rio Grande do Sul. It was proclaimed on September 11, 1836, by General Antônio de Sousa Neto, as a direct consequence of the victory obtained by Gaucho oligarchic forces at the Battle of Seival (1836), during the Farroupilha Revolution (1835-1845). However, the main objective was never to proclaim a nation-state of its own, and therefore separate from the Brazilian state, but rather to show to the Brazilian Empire that the Gaucho oligarchies were not at all satisfied with the high taxes. Although never recognised as a self-governing state, it voted itself a Constitution in 1843. It was recognized only by Uruguay and Britain.

The official flag of the Rio-Grandense Republic was composed of green, yellow and red colors. There are two versions for the motif of the composition of the flag: one version explains that the colors-symbols of Brazil, yellow-green and red, symbolize the republic, intersecting them; Another version explains that the green represented the forest of the pampas, the red the revolutionary ideal, and the yellow the riches of the gaucho territory; And another version says to be the green of the Portuguese flag and the yellow of the Spanish flag (respectively, the most important colonizer and the second most important colonizer of the territory of the state of Rio Grande do Sul), interspersed by the vertical red stripe that Would be symbol of federation in the platine region from the time of Jose Gervasio Artigas (1764-1850). However, green would only be added to the Portuguese flag in 1910, 65 years after the end of the Farroupilha Revolution, which discards this latest version. Likewise, the current flag of the state of Rio Grande do Sul comes to have the same colors, having been added the coat of arms of the Rio-Grandense Republic in the middle of the flag.

In 1839, the Riograndense Republic formed a confederation with the short-lived Juliana Republic (República Juliana in Portuguese) which proclaimed its independence in the same year. November 1839, however, saw the war result in the defeat and disappearance of the Juliana Republic. The Riograndense Republic had five capitals during its nearly nine years of existence: the cities of Piratini (for which it is often called Piratini Republic), Alegrete, Caçapava do Sul (official capitals), Bagé (for only two weeks), and São Borja. The war between the Gaúchos and the Brazilian Empire was ended by the Ponche Verde Treaty.

Notes

References

• Varela, Alfredo. História da Grande Revolução. 6v. Ed. Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, 1933. http://www.pampalivre.info/alfredovarela/historia_da_grande_revolucao__alfredo_varela.htm (in Portuguese)
• http://www.brazil.org.uk/events/machadodeassis_assets/openingaddressvilaca.pdf  – Opening address of Dr Marcos Vinicius Vilaça, President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.