Riograndense Republic: Difference between revisions

The name Riograndense Republic in a literal translation means “the Republic of the Great River". This name came from misconceptions about the geography of the region. During early colonial times, many explorers had mistaken the Patos Lagoon( Lagoa dos Patos ) as the mouth of a large river. Although geographically incorrect, the name sticks to the region to this day.

The Riograndense Republic saw two periods of a significant European migration to the nation, most notable people from the Italian Peninsula and German states. The first in the 1850s and 60s These people left their nations in search of starting new lives on the other side of the Atlantic escaping from revolts and poverty. The Riograndense government took advantage of the situation and started to offer free land for those who wanted to migrate to the country.

A second period of rise on immigration was in the early 1900s and majority italian. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Italian Peninsula became a troublesome area. In 1903 the Latial Famine hit the region, five years later, in 1908, war took place in the Papal States. Adding this to economic and political issues facing the Italian nations, an influx of thousands of individuals left Europe.

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 due to two factors. The abolishment of slavery in Portugal and its overseas territories and the colonization of the grasslands in western Brazil. Due to end of the slavery, the demand of Riograndense charque gone down, since local ranching was now capable to fulfill the need.

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 this made the government start to focus more investments in the local production than the foreign. The large ranches in the Riograndense Republic saw their income fall, and the government in Rio Grande started to discuss more investments in other economic sectors.

For the next 20 years left in the 19th century, railroads started to cut through the Riograndense 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, were 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.