Paraíba ( , ; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba is the third most densely populated state of the Northeast; João Pessoa, the coastal state capital, and Campina Grande, in the countryside, rank among the fifteen largest municipalities in the Northeast of Brazil. The state is home to 1.9% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.9% of the Brazilian GDP and it is divided into 223 municipalities.
Paraíba is mostly populated along the Atlantic coast, which extends as far as Ponta do Seixas, the easternmost point of the mainland Americas. The state is a tourist and industrial hotspot; it is known for its cultural heritage, amenable climate and geographical features, ranging from the seaside beaches to the Borborema Plateau. It is named after the Paraíba river.
Notable writers and poets from Paraíba include Augusto dos Anjos, José Américo de Almeida, José Lins do Rego, Ariano Suassuna and Pedro Américo, the last being also known for his historical paintings.
Convents, churches, and sugar mills began to sprout up in the captaincy as the colonial population grew. Where once the Portuguese had had a relatively conciliatory relationship with the Tupi people, due in part to their usefulness as allies against other European powers (the French, Dutch, and Spanish), as well as to other hostile indigenous peoples, the growth of the colonies sparked tensions. The principal reasons for heightened tensions were the encroachment of settlers on indigenous territory, driven by the establishment of sugarcane plantations and the increasing nutritional needs of a larger population; the new compulsory labor relations imposed by the Portuguese, which implied the abandonment of the indigenous agricultural production system, essential for the survival of the villages; and the fact that though they were banned from attacking Portuguese settlements, their own villages were subject to attacks from settlers searching for slave labor. Eventually, the tensions came to a head when the Potiguara people, urged on by the French, gathered around 2,000 tribesmen from Paraíba and Rio Grande and attacked the Tracunhaém plantation in 1574, killing all residents. The event had powerful reverberations in Lisbon, leading to King Henry creating the Royal Captaincy of Paraíba, which was subordinate directly to the Portuguese Crown. The "Tragedy of Tracunhaém" also served as the trigger for the Potiguara War, which lasted from 1574 to 1599.
Though it was officially created in 1574, the Captaincy of Paraíba was only made reality eleven years after the fact. In 1572, Luís de Brito was named the governor-general of the country and the governor of the northern captaincies, including Itamaracá. He received from the King the order to punish those responsible for the Tracunhaém attack and create a new city to serve as the governor's seat. Brito's expedition, as well as the next three attempts, ended in failure. Finally, in 1584, the new governor-general, Manuel Teles Barreto, mounted a successful expedition with the help of the captain-major of the captaincy, Frutuoso Barbosa, and the fleet of Admiral D. Diogo Flores de Valdés. At the time, eastern Paraíba was inhabited by the Potiguara people and their rivals, the Tabajaras, who had moved there from the central region following a period of drought. The Tabajara joined the Portuguese and together they chased the Potiguara from the area, thereby completing their original mission. Having now conquered Paraíba, the colonists established the first Royal City in Brazil under the Philippine Dynasty in 1585, named "Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves" (today the capital of Paraíba, João Pessoa). Additionally, to repel French invaders, they constructed the Forte de São Tiago on the edge of the Paraíba do Norte river.
On December 5, 1632, 1,600 Dutchmen landed on Paraíban shores. After undergoing fire from the Portuguese, they began digging trenches in front of the Forte de Santa Catarina, located in Cabedelo, 18 km away from the center of Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves (João Pessoa). Despite this stand, the Dutch once again proved unable to seize Paraíba and they were forced to retreat to Pernambuco, which they had already conquered in 1630.
The Dutch attempted the invasion anew on November 25, 1634, with the arrival of a squadron of 29 ships on the coast of Paraíba. Though reinforcements were sent to Paraíba from as far as Europe to repel the Dutch, the Portuguese had already been too weakened, and allowed the Forte de Santa Catarina and the Forte de Santo Antônio to fall into the hands of the Dutch. The Dutch then went to Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves in search of Governor Antônio de Albuquerque, who was in command of the Portuguese troops. On Christmas Eve, they entered the city, but did not find Albuquerque; instead, they found empty streets and abandoned homes, a shell of the former city. With that final nail in the coffin — despite some ongoing resistance from the local population — the Dutch had finally conquered Paraíba. After Dutch Brazil, the sugarcane economy, the principal industry of the region, was devastated, as many sugarcane plantations on the coast had been set on fire. It was not until 1654, two decades later, that the Portuguese would finally retake Paraíba.
Western expansion was also spearheaded by Catholic missionaries, who sought to convert the local indigenous population. One of the most important missionaries of this time was the priest Martim Nantes, who founded the village of Pilar.
On January 1, 1756, the Captaincy of Paraíba was dissolved and annexed to Pernambuco. This lasted until 1799, when it became the Captaincy of Paraíba again. At this time, some minor adjustments were made to Paraíba's borders, with a portion of its northern territory being given to Rio Grande do Norte.
In 1822, Brazil finally became an independent country and Paraíba was turned into a province of the Brazilian Empire of King Pedro I. Two years later, Paraíba was implicated in the Confederation of the Equator, which was an anti-authoritarian movement that started in Pernambuco. The movement was suppressed by Imperial forces, with some of the leaders sentenced to execution.
Inspired by the various revolutions that took place in Europe in 1848, the Praieira Revolt was organized in Pernambuco at the end of that same year. It arrived in Paraíba in February 1849, led by Maximiano Machado and Borges da Fonseca, demanding various social and economic reforms, such as land ownership changes, democracy, and freedom of the press. The revolt only lasted for about five months and ended in failure. Three years later, in 1851, Paraíba and its neighboring provinces became involved in the Ronco da Abelha revolt. This revolt was a reaction to new modernization laws from the Imperial government that, it was falsely rumored, would enslave the lower-classes of workers in Paraíba now that the slave trade was prohibited in Brazil. Between the months of October and December 1874, Paraíba participated in the Quebra–Quilos revolt, which was instigated by the replacement of the measurement system in Brazil with the metric system. The uprising was mostly concentrated in rural areas and was characterized by several acts of violence, at the same time as the so-called Religious Issue was gaining momentum. Paraíba also participated in the Paraguayan War, with a force of three thousand men.
In 1860, Paraíba had a population of about 212,000 people and suffered from several serious public health problems, including epidemics like cholera and yellow fever. One of the main causes of these issues was the lack of water in the largely semi-arid climate of the province. In 1877, Paraíba was hit by the worst drought in its history, accentuating poverty and prompting migration from the interior to the east.
Dissatisfied with the current oligarchical system, in February 1926 a rebel group called the Coluna Prestes entered Paraíba. The group faced resistance from the local population as they traveled through cities in the hinterland, including in Piancó where a local political leader, Father Aristides Ferreira da Cruz, died during the clashes, becoming one of the Martyrs of Piancó. The sertão was also home to other groups operating outside the law, namely the cangaço bandits (cangaceiros), the most well-known of which is Virgulino Ferreira da Silva (Lampião). In 1928, João Pessoa (the nephew of Epitácio Pessoa, the former president of Brazil) was elected as governor of Paraíba. Under his administration, cangaceiros in the interior of the state were persecuted and oligarchs were defied, generating discontent among the local landlords. This was especially the case with José Pereira Lima, a political leader of the municipality of Princesa Isabel and an ally of presidential candidate Júlio Prestes. With the invasion of the city of Teixeira by the Paraíban police and the imminent invasion of Lima's own Princesa Isabel, on February 28, 1930, he proclaimed the independent "Território de Princesa", which would only be subordinate directly to the federal government. The next day, the national election took place, with João Pessoa as the vice-presidential candidate for Getúlio Vargas. Though they had the support of the Liberal Alliance (Aliança Liberal), created by Paraíba together with Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul in the last year, they were defeated by Júlio Prestes and Vital Soares.
On July 26, 1930, João Pessoa was assassinated by João Duarte Dantas. Generating great national commotion, especially among the states of the Liberal Alliance, the death of João Pessoa was one of the triggers of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 that brought Vargas to power. It also resulted in the weakening of the armed movement in Território de Princesa, which became a part of Paraíba again on August 11, 1930,
Accessed on 2023-07-17. four days after João Pessoa was buried in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The state capital was then renamed to João Pessoa and, three weeks later, the current flag of Paraíba was adopted, representing Pessoa's stand against the presidency of Júlio Prestes. Between the 1930 revolution and Vargas' fall from power in 1946, the state of Paraíba was governed by ten federal appointees, the first being Antenor de França Navarro (1930–1932) and the last being José Gomes da Silva (1946–1947). Only in January 1947 did Paraíba start holding direct elections for the governorship again, with the first governor under the new president being Osvaldo Trigueiro (1947–1951).
In 1964, a coup d'état by military forces deposed President João Goulart from power and instituted a military dictatorship. Pedro Gondim, the governor of Paraíba, had been allied with Goulart, resulting in his mandate being revoked and his political rights being suspended for ten years by the new administration. Among the local Paraíban population, opponents to the coup were arrested, exiled, tortured, or killed, with an amnesty only being granted in the late 1970s. The next few governors were all indirectly elected, either by the legislative assembly or the electoral college, until 1983 when Wilson Braga was democratically elected governor. With the constitution of 1988, Brazil returned to a democratic system of government. Brazil - Constitution:Preamble International Constitutional Law. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
In 1997, the body of former president João Pessoa was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to the eponymous capital of Paraíba, where he was buried in a mausoleum built by the state government.
Between 2012 and 2017, Paraíba faced the worst drought in its recent history, which put more than 90% of Paraíba municipalities in a state of emergency and had significant ramifications for agriculture, electricity generation, and water supply. In 2017, after years in the works, the east axis of the multi-billion dollar São Francisco river transfer project was completed, allowing for water to be diverted to the Paraíba do Norte river. The goal of the project — the largest water infrastructure project in Brazil's history — is to alleviate the impact of droughts and water shortages in the semi-arid regions of the Northeast.
There are 11 river basins in Paraíba, the largest of which is the Piancó-Piranhas river basin, which feeds six sub-basins and covers an area of approximately 26,047.49 km2, followed by the Paraíba river basin, which feeds four sub-basins and covers an area of approximately 20,071.83 km2.
Paraíba goes through Wet season and , with most of its rain falling in the first third of the year, especially in March and April. However, in the east, including the coast and the agreste mesoregion, most rainfall occurs from April to June.
In the entire state, the period from October to December is the hottest and driest of the year, whereas June to August is the coldest, with temperatures in some areas reaching below 20 °C. Areia, located in the agreste, is the coldest city of the state while Patos, located in the sertão, is the hottest. A record low temperature of 7.7 °C was recorded in the city of Monteiro on July 28, 1976.
Initially, the nomenclature for this tourmaline was "Paraíba tourmaline". In 2006, the LMHC (Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee) agreed that "Paraíba" should be simplified to "paraiba" and should refer to a variety of tourmaline instead of indicating a geographic origin. The term "paraiba tourmaline" may now refer to gems found in Brazil, Nigeria, and Mozambique that contain copper and have the characteristic fluorescent blue-green color.
The stone has since become among the most sought-after gemstones on the market, yielding upwards of $50,000+ per carat. These tourmalines are often subject to heat-treatment and clarity enhancement to achieve a more desirable color. A lack of these treatments often increases the value of the stone.
The 2022 census also revealed the following figures relating ethnicity: 2,207,880 Brown (Multiracial) people (55.5%), 1,419,778 White Brazilian people (35.7%), 316,572 Afro-Brazilian people (8.0%), 25,478 Amerindian people (0.6%) and 4,912 Asian Brazilian (0.1%) people.
Among people of mixed ancestry the White, Amerindian and African altogether combination is the most prevalent one, followed by caboclo, mulato and zambo.
English language and Spanish language are part of the official high school curriculum.
Share of the Brazilian economy: 0.8% (2004).
The Paraíba economy is largely based upon the making of and other leather products, the raising of cattle for beef, and sugarcane, Maize. Though historically sugarcane has dominated the Paraíba agriculture sector, pineapple, Maize, and beans cultivation are also widespread. The other important economical sector in the state is tourism, especially the state urban and unspoilt beaches, ecotourism and festivals such as "carnaval" and "São João."
The surrounding area is sparsely populated, with large open spaces. The existing developments are industrial with some small weekend country houses. There is no rough terrain or tall buildings nearby creating obstacles for takeoffs and landings. The airport also is blessed with excellent climatic conditions for air operations. Moreover, within its approach radius there are no obstacles that can hinder or create risk for local air traffic. Named for a past president (former name for governors) of Paraíba, Castro Pinto, the airport operates round the clock.
The current passenger terminal, built in an area of , has two levels, gardens and ample vehicle parking. It has all the expected amenities: arrival and departure lounges, a main concourse, check-in counters, baggage storage lockers, airline counters, snack bar/restaurant, tourist information booth, car rental agencies, Taxicab service and private parking.
The old building was demolished and on the site a new facility was built holding nine shops, the main concourse, arrival and departure lounges, VIP lounge, bathrooms, mezzanine and a diaper-changing area.
The terminal area was increased to . The boarding area has and the parking lot has spaces for 180 cars.
This expansion benefited the city both economically and from the standpoint of tourism. With the possibility for new flights, the air cargo movement will be able to grow, along with the number of tourists coming to attend the city's São João Festival. A panel measuring in the front of the building carries a poem by the Paraíban writer Ariano Suassuna, in homage to his father, for whom the airport is named. Three more artworks are on permanent display in the passenger terminal.
Due to Milk Coffee Politics in Brazil, the president of the country always alternated between someone from the state of Minas Gerais and someone from the state of São Paulo. In 1929, the incumbent president from São Paulo, Washington Luís, was supposed to support a politician from Minas Gerais as the next president, but he instead decided to nominate someone from São Paulo for the second time in a row, Júlio Prestes. The state governor of Paraíba, João Pessoa Cavalcânti de Albuquerque, refused to support the appointment of Júlio Prestes, and in 1930, Pessoa joined the alliance for the overthrow of the federal government. The revolution succeeded in toppling the Old Republic and installing Getúlio Vargas—who was from neither Minas Gerais nor São Paulo—as the president of Brazil, however, João Pessoa was assassinated; there is still debate as to whether the motive behind his murder was personal, political, or both. Following these events, the word nego was added to the flag of Paraíba.
According to the official government site of the state of Paraíba, the red color stands for the blood of João Pessoa after his assassination, while the black color represents mourning.
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