Pernambuco: Difference between revisions

'''Pernambuco''', officially the '''Republic of Pernambuco''' (Portuguese: ''República de Pernambuco'') is a country located in northeastern South America. It borders [[Bahia Republic|Bahia]] to the south and [[Equador]] to the west. It comprises ten states and a capitol district where Recife, the capital and largest city, is located. Culturally, Pernambuco is a mix of indigenous American, African, and European elements.

 

 

== History ==

 

=== Pernambucan Independence ===

 

 

 

=== Pernambuco in the late 19th century and early 20th century ===

 

To build public buildings, schools, universities and infrastructure, Pernambuco needed to borrow money from foreign nations. In the period of two decades beyond 1882, Pernambuco passed through a series of modernization and development. The country sponsored artistic and scientific expeditions to non-Portuguese scientists and artists (Portuguese law forbade people of other descent enter in the colonies beyond the city ports). The first university was built in Recife, with focus on Law, Medicine and Mathematics.

 

Economically, Pernambuco for most of its history was an agrarian nation, exporting products such as sugar, cotton, meat and salt. In the early 20th century, Pernambuco made economic deals promoting economic privileges to raw materials in exchange to investments on textile industries in the cotton producing state of Maranhão, mining in the Sertão, railroad construction and many other sectors.

1915 marked the beginning of a complete shift on Pernambuco economical and social situation. In this year, the British aspiring writer Oliver Brown's death in the Pernambucan Sertão started a chain of events that changed the country’s fate.

 

Brown was born in a high middle class family in Manchester, England, in 1878. He started his writer career writing articles for a local newspaper, but although in a comfortable position, Brown craved for more. In 1913, he finally gathered enough money to travel to South America to write about life in different countries of the continent in an informative book. He started his way in Carolina, then Portuguese Brazil and Bahia, but was in Pernambuco where his journey would come to an end.

 

In the search of anything valuable in possession of Brown, the group stormed the town the next night, invaded the house where Brown and his two guides were and killed the trio.

 

After a week of delay on the scheduled return to Recife, the British Consulate became worried of what might have happened, and asked for an investigation by the Pernambucan government. Later on it was discovered that Brown was killed. The news soon arrived in London and outraged Britain as a whole. In December 1915, a Anglo-Pernambucan committee gathered in Recife to discuss what should be made. The British were interested in sending an expeditionary force inside Pernambuco to deal with the bandits, but the Pernambucan government was reluctant to send an army to the Sertão. After days of discussion, it was decided that an expeditionary force would be sent to Pernambuco, and Britain would assist the South American nation in dealing with its problematic countryside, invest in infrastructure, especially railroads and modernize the outdated Pernambucan warfare. In exchange, the Recife-London Partnership Deal was established, tying the Pernambuco economy almost totally to Britain and its allied nations.

 

In March 1916, the Recife-London Partnership Deal was signed. From 1916 to 1922, the deal with Britain resulted in a heavy upgrade in Pernambuco infrastructure, especially in the terms of transportation and urbanization.