Alagoas

Maceió orla

The Latin lacus, "reservoir, lake" is the origin, in the primitive vocabulary heritage, of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian lago,[3] French lac,[4] one of its derivatives, the Latin lacuna, "pitfall, hole", "lack, want, neglect", explains the Spanish and Italian laguna.[5][6] But the Portuguese lagoa,[3] coincidentally with the Spanish lagona and Mirandese llagona, suggests a change in suffix,[7] already documented in a 938 document from Valencia, under the spelling lacona,[3] and in another from 1094, in Sahagún, under the spelling lagona.[3]

The Portuguese lagoa under the spelling lagona (perhaps lagõna), is documented in the 14th century,[3] and alternated with the other for a long time; the prosthesis is then explained by the introduction of the article, chiefly in locution (na lagoa, vindo da lagoa) (in the lake, coming from the lake),[3] and for morphologic regularization with the derivatives of the verb alagar (to inundate) (alagadiço, alagado, alagador, alagamento, etc.) (swampish, waterlogged, flooding, overflow, etc.).[3]

The name appears as a competitor with the names of the lagoons of Manguaba, a lagoa do sul ("the southern lagoon"), and Mundaú, a lagoa do norte ("the northern lagoon"), already in the 16th century, when settlements were founded near the Alagoa do Norte and the Alagoa do Sul, the Alagoas, with the inclusion of the rest of the lagoons in the area.[8]

The suffix -ano is characteristic of Brazil: paraibano, pernambucano, alagoano, sergipano, baiano, goiano, and later acriano.[3]

Summer in Maceió.

The state's name originates with the lakes along its coast near the city of Maceió. The coast is bordered by fringing reefs and many fine beaches. Behind the beaches, sometimes only hundreds of meters and defined by steep scarps, lies a stretch of green coastal hills having enough rainfall for considerable agriculture and scarce remnants of the Atlantic Forest that now is largely limited to steep hill tops or steep valley sides and bottoms. This is the area long dominated by sugar cane.

Still farther inland lies the Sertão of the Northeast region of the nation. The Sertão is a high dry region dominated by scrub that is often thorn-filled and sometimes toxic, the caatinga. This area and its people are famed in legend and song. It is the land of the cowboy who is clad from head to toe (if he is lucky) with very thick leather to avoid the sharp vegetation.

Convent of Santa Maria, Marechal Deodoro.

During the first three centuries of its history, Alagoas was part of the captaincy of Pernambuco, only becoming an independent captaincy in 1817. As a reprisal against the Pernambuco Revolution, the King John VI of Portugal ordered a vast portion of the territory of Pernambuco to be taken from it, most including its southern portion, one part was given to the captaincy of Bahia, the other portion was made independent, creating Alagoas as a new Brazilian captaincy.

Initially, in the first years of the 16th century, Alagoas settlement went on slowly, however helped by Africans turned into slaves whose work urged the local economy. In the period of the 16th and 17th centuries, French pirates invaded its territory attracted by the commerce of brazilwood.

Some time later, Duarte Coelho, owner of the captaincy of Pernambuco, gave the control of the region back to the Portuguese, running the territory as part of his captaincy. He increased the number of sugar cane plantations and built some sugar mills, as well as founding the cities of Penedo and Alagoas – this last one originally baptized by Portuguese as Santa Maria Madalena da Alagoa do Sul (Saint Mary Magdalene of the Southern Lake), currently the historic heritage town of Deodoro da Fonseca.

In 1570, a second expedition ordered by Duarte Coelho and led by Cristóvão Lins, explored the north of Alagoas and founded the settlement of Porto Calvo and five sugar mills, which two of them still endure, Buenos Aires and Escurial.

In 1630, the territory was taken by the Dutch, whose interest was to manage the commerce of sugarcane in most parts of the northeastern region of Brazil. As part of one of the wealthiest Brazilian captaincies, Alagoas prospered along with the sugar trade. They built Fort Maurits in Penedo, on the river São Francisco. However, the Dutch colonizers abandoned the territory after being defeated in 1646.

Decades before Alagoas was formed in 1817, its sugar industry had 200 mills, and agriculture also involved cotton, tobacco and corn plantations. With Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822, Alagoas became a province. In 1839, the capital of the province was changed definitively from the town of Alagoas to Maceió, mainly due to the increasing growth of the city because of its port.

Pajuçara Beach in Maceió.

According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 3,173,000 people residing in the state. The population density was 109.9 inhabitants/km².

Urbanization: 67.4% (2006); Population growth: 1.3% (1991–2000); Houses: 779,000 (2006).[9]

The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 2,100,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (66.18%), 964,000 White people (30.39%), 96,000 Black people (3.02%), 11,000 Asian people (0.35%).[10]

According to a genetic study from 2013, Brazilians in Alagoas have 53.7% European, 26.6% African and 18.7% Amerindian ancestries, respectively.[11]

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in Alagoas (2010 census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics)[12]
	Rank		Mesoregion	Pop.	Rank		Mesoregion	Pop.
Maceió Arapiraca	1	Maceió	Leste	1.116.000	11	Marechal Deodoro	Leste	43.753	Palmeira dos Índios
	2	Arapiraca	Agreste	220.000	12	Coruripe	Leste	45.197
	3	Palmeira dos Índios	Agreste	70.556	13	Atalaia	Leste	44.611
	4	Rio Largo	Leste	68.885	14	Teotônio Vilela	Leste	41.480
	5	União dos Palmares	Leste	62.645	15	Girau do Ponciano	Agreste	37.118
	6	Penedo	Leste	60.638	16	Pilar	Leste	33.466
	7	São Miguel dos Campos	Leste	55.462	17	São Luís do Quitunde	Leste	32.632
	8	Santana do Ipanema	Sertão	52.716	18	São Sebastião	Agreste	32.232
	9	Campo Alegre	Leste	51.584	19	São José da Tapera	Sertão	30.322
	10	Delmiro Gouveia	Sertão	48.492	20	Maragogi	Leste	29.280

Education

Federal University of Alagoas in Maceió.

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

Ponta Verde Beach in Maceió

Sugarcane seedlings in the interior of the state

Alagoas is one of the poorest states of Brazil. It has the second worst HDI in the country, ahead only of the state of Maranhão, though its indicators have improved in recent years.[14][15] The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 55.8%, followed by the industrial sector at 36.9%. Agriculture represents 7.3% of the state's GDP (2004). Alagoas exports consist of: sugar 58.8%, alcohol 29.4%, chemicals 9%, tobacco 2.1% (2002).

The economy has been agricultural, dependent largely on large sugarcane plantations with some tobacco farming that is concentrated around the city of Arapiraca. Sugar cane formed the basis for an alcohol industry that is in decline. Small to medium-sized tanker ships took alcohol on board in Maceio's port with considerable frequency during the peak period. Such loads still take place with less frequency. Another local industry is based on chemical products from brine pumped from deep wells on the outskirts of Maceió.

In the last twenty years the tourist industry has found the beaches and Maceió itself has changed from a rather sleepy little port with coconut palm plantations along its beaches to high-rise hotels. The northern coast, particularly around the towns Maragogi and Japaratinga is beginning to see some of this development in the form of resorts attracting people from the south and from Europe. There is considerable European investment (as of 2007) in beach property north of Maceió with walled compounds of beach homes.

Estádio Rei Pelé in Maceió.

Alagoas provides visitors and residents with various sport activities. There are several football clubs based in the state, such as ASA de Arapiraca, CRB, CSA, Murici, Coruripe, CSE, Santa Rita, Penedense and Ipanema.

Maceió was one of the 18 candidates to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the selected host, but it did not make the final cut.

• Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira - Lexicographer, philologist, translator, and writer
• Renan Calheiros - PMDB politician and president of the Senate of Brazil
• Djavan - Singer/songwriter
• Deodoro da Fonseca (1827-1892) - First president of Federative Republic of Brazil, 1889-1891.
• Anilda Leão (1923-2012) poet, writer, feminist, actress and singer
• Marta - Women's football striker
• Nise da Silveira - Psychiatrist
• Hermeto Pascoal - Composer and multi-instrumentalist
• Floriano Peixoto - Second President of Brazil
• Graciliano Ramos - Writer
• Bruna Tenório - Top Model
• Mário Zagallo - Football player and manager
• Jorge de Lima - Poet and writer
• Roberto Firmino - Liverpool FC football player

The coat of arms symbolizes the first Alagoan settlement of Porto Calvo. Some plantations, sugarcane, and cotton that provided wealth in the past are incorporated in the design. The colors red, white, and blue refer to the French Tricolore, symbolizing the ideals of the French Revolution (liberté, égalité, fraternité), while the five-pointed star refers to the coat of arms of Brazil.

• List of municipalities in Alagoas
• List of governors of Alagoas

• (in Portuguese) Official Website
• (in English) Brazilian Tourism Portal
• (in Portuguese) Visit Alagoas
• (in Portuguese) Guide of Alagoas
• (in Portuguese) Ministry of Transport port data including main products exported
• (in English) Brazilian Embassy in London: São Francisco River