Rio Grande do Sul

The Rio Grande do Sul (RS) is the southern State of Brazil; it is situated in the border with Uruguay and Argentina (map of the world), having around 10.2 million inhabitants and a Gross Internal Product (GIP) of around USS 53.0 billion. It has four great regions:  

a) the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, directed to the production of goods as shoes, petrochemical, cars and computers components assembly, as well as services, mainly in the area of computer science, health, tourism and education; it encloses around 40% of the State population, and produces around 50% of its GIP; amongst its more representative cities, are Porto Alegre, Canoas, Novo Hamburgo, Gravataí and São Leopoldo;

b) the region of hills, directed to the production of furniture, clothes, kitchen equipment, grapes and wines, apples, buses and trucks, as well as services, mainly tourism; it encloses around 15% of the State population and 25% of its GIP; amongst its more representative and known cities, are: Caxias do Sul, Bento Gonçalves, Farroupilha, Flores da Cunha, Gramado and Canela;

c) colonial northwestern region,  directed to the production from maize, colonial soy, milk, fruits and other products, as well as industrials (mainly agricultural equipment); it withholds around 20% of the State population and 10% of its GIP; amongst its more representative and known cities, are: Passo Fundo, Carazinho, Cruz Alta, Erechim, Ijuí, Panambi, Santo Ângelo, Santa Rosa, Três Passos and Horizontina (land of the agricultural equipment industry SLC/John Deere and of "top model" Gisele Bundchen);  

d) region of the campaign (also called "south half of the State"), more directed  to cattle extensive and the production of rice in wide scale; it withholds around 25% of the State population and 15% of its GIP; amongst its cities more known and representative, are: Pelotas, Rio Grande, Santa Maria, Bagé, São Gabriel, Alegrete, Uruguaiana and Santana do Livramento.

The natural or resident people in RS are called "gauchos"; they originate from a mixture of peoples: natives (indians), Portuguese, Spanish, African, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Ucranians, Jewish; all  colonizers that came to occupy the land.

RS was one of the last States to be part of Brazil; the Madrid Treated between Spain and Portugal, in 1750, fulfilled important paper for the borders definition. From successive border wars, "gauchos" created a strong and distinctive personality. The State became involved in some wars, as the Guaranitic,  in XVIIIth century; Tatters, between 1835 and 1845; Federalist Revolution, after 1890; and the Revolution of 1930, which took  Getúlio Vargas to power, as dictator and, after, as an elected President (a government that all lasted for more than a decade).

The State has some important headings, amongst the States of Brazil: better Index of Human Development (UN), lesser index of illiteracy (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE); more longeva population of Brazil (WHO). The customs of its people, the climate of the land, the mixture of races, and other factors, had made this healthful, educated and diligent people, who respects and cultivates its traditions and origins.

The capital of the State is distinguished for the quality of its Universities (UFRGS, PUCRGS, UNISINOS, ULBRA, FEEVALE), of jobs offered in the area of health and computing science, and of goods production. ed goods. Around it, industries are installed as General Motors and Dell Computers, and highly competitive ones, like Petrochemical.   In Porto Alegre and Sapucaia do Sul,  is placed the  matrix of Grupo Gerdau, that currently is a great multinational most  admired of Brazil.  

This part of Brazil started to be occupied after 1737, when Portugal made maneuvers inthe area, disputed with Spain. At that time, the region of the Prata River , more to the south, was considered of great strategical importance. Therefore, Portugal treated to occupy strategical points, as those that today constitute the cities of Rio Grande, Porto Alegre, Santo Antônio da Patrulha and village of Santo  Amaro. This occupation was made initially with açorian colonists (of the Portuguese island of Açores); the territorial dispute was justified by successive skirmishes, treated wars and, mainly, the Madrid  Treated, 1750. Later, after the independence of Brazil in 1822, with the inbound of the imperial family, of which was part empress Leopoldina, of German origin, Brazilian government managed to occupy the region around Porto Alegre with German colonists. They established populations that currently constitute cities as São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo, Lajeado, Estrela, Santa Cruz do Sul and many others, generally sitated in valleys and plains, to "the foot of the gaucho hill", who constitutes a part of the extensive general hill, that encloses good part of the east coast of the country.

The gaucho hill, a little more ahead and to the north of the plain was, later,  intensely occupied by Italian colonists, coming from the north of Italy, after 1870, establishing colonies that became to be important and dynamic current cities: Garibaldi, Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul. The fourth colony was constituted in the center of the State, around of university city of Saint Maria, andt currently constitutes the city of Silveira Martins. In this region of the gaucho hill, we find higly developed enterprises, exporting products to many  countries, as Tramontina, Marcopolo, International Trucks, Vinícola Aurora, Móveis Florense (furniture),  Móveis Todeschini (furniture), Eberle, Lojas Colombo, Randon, Agrale, Guerra, Carraro and others. The region already possess more than 700 thousand inhabitants, with many prosperous cities, as Caxias do Sul (also known as "Turim of Brazil"), Bento Gonçalves, Farroupilha, Flores da Cunha, Garibaldi and others. In Antonio Prado, it is possible to come back in time, and to verify how the village was in the end of  XIX century; Veranópolis is the city of the longevity, because it has the best index of life expectancy of Brazil. There are, also, charming tourist cities, as Gramado and Canela, that are among the prettiest of Brazil. In "fields from above of the hill", there are landscapes of intensy beauty: the cânions of Aparados da Serra, where the green fields "are torn" with enormous fencas, having more than 30km of extension and depths with more than 700 meters, binding the hill to the sea.

The south of Rio Grande do Sul, that cuts the State with an imaginary line that goes from Guaíba until São  Borja (more specifically: Garruchos), is constituted by extensive fields, in plains without end. This region already produced, in the good times of the end of XIX century, more than 50% of the State wealth; however, with its vocation directed to cattle and the great land properties, it lost space for other areas more intensively busy and directed to industry, commerce and jobs. In the east part, in the end of Lagoa dos Patos (Lagoon of the Ducks), the biggest lagoon of the world, with more than 13.000 km2 of extension, it is located Rio Grande, established by Portuguese, in 1737. They aimed to constitute a point of linkage with Colonia de Sacramento, that currently constitutes the city of Colonia, in Uruguay (situated 60 km west of Montevidéu). Northwest from there, not very far, is Pelotas, that at the time golden of  the "charqueadas" (in the end of XIXth century) arrived to rival in wealth with Porto Alegre. In the center of the State, it is the university city of  Santa Maria; and in the other point, the so called border west, in the verge of the State with Argentina, the city of Uruguaiana. Other important cities of this "half south " of the State, are Bagé, Santana do Livramento, São Gabriel, Alegrete and São Borja (also called "land of the marshals", for its importance in the generation of national leaders, as former  Presidents Getúlio Vargas and João Goulart).   

The region northwest of RS constitutes, in geographic terms, extensive plateaus, that inclines, in a plan, to the River Uruguay, that cuts the State to the north and to the west, in the border with Argentina. Before the Madrid Treated, it belonged to Spain; the region of the Missions was occupied initially (in the century XVII) by jesuitic Missions, that established indians villages,  very developed for the time. They were the motive of dispute, deflagrating a war between "bandeirantes" and indians, called guaranitic war, that verwhelmed these Missions. Vestiges of these missions were found in the region of the current city of Santo Ângelo, mainly in the ruins of São Miguel das Missões, that constitutes patrimony of the humanity. In the end of the XIXth century, almost all region was extensive bush, occupied by remaining guaranis indians. With the occupation of the lands around Porto Alegre and Caxias do Sul, the descendants of German and Italians  colonists established successive "new colonies"; in that way, as in a cloud advance, they occupied areas more to the west of the State, until the border with Argentina. Initially, they occupied regions that constituted cities as Passo Fundo, Carazinho, Cruz Alta, Erechim, Ijuí, Frederico Westphalen, Santa Rosa, Três Passos and many others. With the end of these areas, migrants started to occupy the west region of Santa Catarina, later Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia, Maranhão, and other States. Also they migrated for Paraguay, as well as, more recently, for Bahia and other States of Nnorth and Northeast of Brazil. In these proceedings, migrants keep their links with the culture and the customs of RS, expressed in the language, in creation of CTGs (Centers of Gaucho Tradition), churrascarias, use of peculiar language and typical clothes, practice of traditional gaucho dances and, mainly, the habit of drinking "chimarrão". Of this custom, is born the perception that "where it has somebody taking chimarrão, there is a gaucho". Regions as the west of the State of Santa Catarina keep the gaucho tradition even in a more intense form, that many regions of the State of RS. There are academic teses defending that gaucho cultureis one of the more spread in the world. There are hundreds of CTGs outside the State of RS, also in Los Ângeles (U.S.A.) and Tokyo (Japan).  

RS is formed by 497 citie. They perform about 8.8% of the total cities of Brazil. They have around 10.2 million of inhabitants, who perform around 6.2% of the Brazilian population. The area of State, of around 282.000 km2, is equivalent to 3.2% of the total area of Brazil. And its 53 billions of US$ of the GIP are equivalent to around 7.5% of the national GIP.

Its greater cities, in population terms, with respective GIPs, are the following ones:

Others information on the cities of RS, focusing aspects of economic performance, greaters companies of the State, rankings, indices of quality of life and others, can be found in the sections of Data of the Cities of RS and Researches, at NUTEP site.

It is useful, also, to take a look at other sites, that contend many information on cities and on the State of RS, indicated in the section of camera 3 of this WCAMS site.