Riograndense Republic: Difference between revisions

During much of the 19th century, the Riograndense Republic had control over the majority of charque exports in the southern cone. Charque is a type of dry bovine meat that takes a long time to rot, therefore, ideal to export to distant places.  During colonial times, the dry meat was the main dish of the enslaved population across Brazil, and the captaincy of Rio Grande de São Pedro was responsible to fulfill the charque demand of the captaincies of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. When the Riograndense Republic became independent, it made a deal with the Colony Of Brazil to keep sending the important product. Soon Brazil became the most important economic partner of the newborn country.

In the late 19th century, the import of charque from Brazil started to decrease because of two factors. Due to end of the slavery in Portugal in 1874, the demand of Riograndense charque gone down, since local ranching was now capable to fulfill the need. Also, around the late 1860s, western Brazil started to get inhabited. Prior to this, the region consisted of untouched grasslands and swamps. The new lands opened the opportunity to the rise in the number of Brazilian cattle, and thus the government started to focus more investments in the local production than the foreign. The fall of the export income opened the eyes of the Ministry Of Economy, the country would need get its economic sectors more diverse.

The last decades of the 19th century marked the beginning of the industrial revolution in the Riograndense Republic, and the continuation of the close economic relation of the country with the now neighboring Autonomous Oversea Territory of Brazil, established a year prior. In 1879, the two governments started to discuss a partnership to bring development and industrialization for both.

For the next 20 years left in the 19th century, railroads started to cut through the Southern Highlands connecting Rio Grande and Porto Alegre to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Metal and textiles industries were constructed and the port of Porto Alegre, Riograndense Republic largest city, renewed and amplified. During this period, the population exodus from the countryside to urban centers started to grow at a vertiginous rate. In the period of twenty years, the Riograndense Republic became the first luso-american country to have its urban population near 50% at the period.