- The beautiful
beaches of the capital, Maceiσ,
with their blue-green sea set against a history of almost five centuries
of dissent of all kinds, show the extent to which Alagoas is a land
of contrasts. One of the regions invaded by the French early in the
16th century when France was in conflict with Portugal over vast areas
of the Brazilian territory, Alagoas became a stage where war and peace
have provided contracting scenarios.
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- The region was
liberated from the French in 1535 only to be invaded by the Dutch,
who were driven out by the Portuguese, only fifteen years after occupation
in 1645. During that period - between 1590 and 1694 - the region was
the scene of the most important resistance movement by slaves in Brazil,
during which thousands of Negroes fled from the estates, towns and
villages of the Northeast and took refuge in the Quilombo dos Palmares.
Alagoas was also the land of brave Indian warriors who, like the Negroes,
bravely resisted slavery but who nowadays are reduced to around 6,000
individuals spread over eight groups.
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- The State of
Alagoas was one of the regions patrolled by Virgolino Ferreira da
Silva, known as "O Lampiγo" (the lantern), Brazil's most famous, mythical
highwayman who died in 1938. He was a kind of righteous rogue who
for more than a decade instilled terror across the entire Northeast
of Brazil. This "king of the highwaymen", his wife and nine other
gang members were brutally beheaded by the police who organized a
gruesome procession in which their heads were displayed along 145
km of bushland.
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- Alagoas is known
as the "land of the marshals" because it was the birthplace of Brazil's
first two presidents - Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca and Marshal Floriano
Peixoto. The same State was the political cradle of Fernando Collor
de Mello, who was president of Brazil for almost three years before
his impeachment in 1992 in the face of accusations involving corruption.
Responsible for financial irregularities during the period, Paulo
Cιsar Farias, a key player in the impeachment process, was imprisoned
and, upon release, was murdered in the State.
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- Alagoas was
also the birthplace of Graciliano Ramos whose novels - chiefly "Vidas
Secas" (Dry Lives) - best described the cyclic phenomenon of drought
in the Brazilian Northeast. Initially a provincial politician, Ramos
discovered his vocation as a writer when he was mayor of Palmeira
dos Νndios and wrote to friends protesting against the corruption
and bureaucracy that were a feature of the administration in his region.
Graciliano Ramos joined the Brazilian Communist Party in the underdeveloped
city which he governed and was later to become a political prisoner
during the first dictatorship in the history of Brazil. It was in
prison that he wrote "Memσrias do Cαrcere" (Prison Memoires), another
of his masterpieces.
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- Over recent
decades, the State of Alagoas has become one of Brazil's main tourist
areas, attracting visitors mainly because of its beautiful beaches,
in particular that of the capital, Maceiσ.
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- In economic
terms, the State is also a major producer of sugar and alcohol, although
this has declined in recent years. At present, its economy centres
mainly around small industrial production, oil drilling, livestock
and agriculture with products such as avocado, coconut, beans, tobacco,
cassava and maize. The State has mineral reserves consisting of rock-salt
and natural gas.
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