- Sergipe is the
smallest state in the federation and, with an area of 22,050.4 km2,
it represents 0.25% of Brazil. Almost entirely covered in scrubland,
with a coastal strip of tropical forest apart from beaches and dunes,
the state has extensive mango groves. The capital,
Aracaju, was one of the first city to be planned in Brazil and
was founded in 1855 as the state capital.
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- Sergipe accounts
for approximately 0.40% of Brazil's GDP, with sugar-cane being its
main activity. Vast plantations extend across the region's fertile
soil, producing an average harvest of 1.4 million tons of cane each
year. There are also plantations of cassava yielding 617,400 tons
per annum and orange, producing 14.4 million fruits which are harvested
throughout the year. Because of the small land area, animal-rearing
is restricted to a herd of one million cattle and 207,200 sheep. Industrial
activity is largely concentrated on agricultural products and leather,
the processing of foodstuffs and small-scale textile production.
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- The soil of
Sergipe is mainly massapκ which is fertile and rich in mineral deposits
such as rock salt and potassium. With extensive reserves of oil and
natural gas, most of the state's development is concentrated on the
exploitation of these products, with considerable Federal Government
support. However, further efforts are continuing in the planting and
processing of sugar-cane.
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- The first settlement
of the region was in Sγo Cristσvγo, at that time a small village and
the state's first capital, designated as a National Monument in order
to conserve its architecture, which dates from colonial times and
includes the Museum of Sacred Art. The state was originally called
Sergipe D'El Rey, referring to the Tupi word meaning a type of crab.
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- Sergipe has
a history of struggles and opposition in relation to national sovereignty.
Similar to other north-eastern states, it was invaded by French pirates
who wanted to exploit king-wood. Military expeditions and action by
the Jesuit missionaries between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
finally put an end to this illegal trade. More recently, in 1938,
the bushlands of the Angicos region witnessed the execution of Virgolino
Ferreira da Silva known as Lampiγo, who was the most notorious bandit
in the Brazilian outback. He was just and fair-minded but inspired
terror throughout the entire Brazilian north-east for a whole decade.
Together with his wife, Maria Bonita, and the nine members of his
band, the "king of the bandits" was beheaded with extreme violence
by the police, who displayed the heads in a gruesome procession along
several kilometres of scrubland.
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- TSergipe is
also a festive state. In Estβncia, for example, there are forty consecutive
days of festival in honour of St. John, starting one month before
and ending ten days after celebrations have stopped in the rest of
Brazil, where the saint is celebrated on June 24th. Some of the most
delicious dishes made from fish and crustaceans come from Sergipe,
including moqueca de pitu (stew made of freshwater prawn), barbecued
crab and fish, enjoyed by both the people of Sergipe and tourists
visiting the state's beautiful beaches. In the beach shacks and seaside
restaurants, it is compulsory to order one of the typical dishes of
beans, fish or oyster served with their juices, or else one of the
typical dishes from the interior of the state, such as paηoca, a delicious
mixture of dried meat shredded with cassava flour.
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