History of Rio Grande do Sul

Guilhermino César mentioned that the history of the state "is one of the most recent chapters in Brazilian history" because when polyphonic masses were already being sung in the Northeast, Rio Grande do Sul was still occupied by a handful of Portuguese villages and cattle estancias. The south-southeast was a "no man's land" where Spanish troops sent by Buenos Aires often marched, defending the interests of the Spanish Crown, the legal owner of the area at that time. Essentially, Rio Grande do Sul, until the end of the 18th century, was a virgin region inhabited by indigenous peoples. The only relevant signs of European civilization and culture in the entire territory until this time were a group of Jesuit reductions founded in the northwest, most notably the Sete Povos das Missões. However, being of Spanish creation, until recently the Missions were seen as a chapter apart from the state's history. But in recent years they have been assimilated into the integrated historiography of the state. In the first half of the 19th century, after many conflicts and treaties, when Portugal obtained definitive possession of the lands that today make up the state, expelled the Spanish, dismantled the reductions, and massacred or dispersed the Indians, a society with a Portuguese matrix was established and an economy based mainly on charque and wheat began, leading to a cultural flourishing in the biggest centers of the coast - Porto Alegre, Pelotas, and Rio Grande. This growth relied on the contribution of many German immigrants (who cleared new areas and created a significant regional culture and prosperous economies) as well as on slavery. In 1835, began a dramatic conflict that involved the gauchos in a fratricidal war, the Ragamuffin War, with a separatist and republican character. After the war, society was able to restructure itself. At the end of the century, trade grew stronger, immigrants of other origins such as Italians and Jews arrived, and at the turn of the 20th century, Rio Grande do Sul had become the third largest economy in Brazil, with a growing industry and a rich bourgeois class. However, it was still a state divided by serious political rivalries, and there were more bloody crises. At this time Positivism was outlining the government program, creating a dynasty of politicians inherited from Júlio de Castilhos that ruled until the 1960s and influenced all of Brazil, especially Getúlio Vargas, who in his origin was a castilhista. During the period of the military dictatorship, Rio Grande do Sul faced many difficulties with freedom of expression, as did the whole country, but the economic growth of the Brazilian Miracle provided for investments in infrastructure. By the end of the cycle, however, the state had accumulated enormous public debt. In the last decades, the state has been consolidating a dynamic and diversified economy, although linked to the agricultural sector, and has gained a reputation as having a politicized and educated population. Even though there are many challenges to be overcome and great regional differences, in general, the state has improved its quality of life reaching indexes higher than the national average, has projected itself culturally throughout Brazil, and has begun a process of opening to other scenarios in the face of globalization, while it has started to pay more attention to its historical roots, its internal diversity, the minorities, and its environment. == Prehistory ==

. The geographical profile of Rio Grande do Sul was formed by successive transformations that began about 600 million years ago. This territory was once a sea, it was once a desert, and in several regions massive burial by lava flows took place. It is believed that it was only two million years ago that the geography was more or less defined as it is known today, when the sandy strip of coastline was fixed. The prevailing thesis is that they originally crossed the Bering Strait in far northern North America, which was then dry because of global glaciation, and then migrated southward, occupying many spaces along this route over generations. The first to arrive in the territory of Rio Grande do Sul found a region different from the one seen today. At 12,000 years BP, the glaciation that had covered all of Patagonia with ice and cooled the global climate, was beginning to recede, and the region's climate, drier and colder than at present, was warming and moistening. However, snow likely still fell in the region every winter. The sea level was rising, as it melted the glacial ice that had accumulated on the world, and flooded the coastal plain. arrowheads from the Umbu tradition. UFRGS Museum. Human settling occurred through the western border, along the Uruguay River, where the state today borders Argentina and Uruguay. The Alegrete municipality, located in this area, on the banks of the Ibicuí River, is the oldest archaeological site with human remains in the state, dating at 12,770 years old. These first peoples, who shared the same material culture, known as the Umbu tradition, lived by hunting and gathering in the plains of the pampa, among its open fields and riparian forests. They were nomadic and likely established temporary camps according to the seasonal abundance of certain natural resources, following animal migration routes or ripening seasons for edible vegetables. (LEPAARQ-UFPEL) They left relatively poor records. Archaeological sites include remains of settlements, food scraps such as animal bones and seeds, as well as personal adornments and lithic artifacts such as chipped stone arrowheads and spears, bolas, cutters, scrapers, and other tools. Their culture predominated for about 11,000 years, although it exhibited regional adaptations to the varied scenery of the territory, which is composed of different types of ecosystems. The climatic changes that the region went through over the millennia determined important modifications in the composition of the flora and fauna, to which the human populations had to adapt, and this was reflected in variations in their customs and cultures. During the climatic optimum, a period of a significant rise in global temperatures that occurred from 6 thousand years B.C. onwards, these peoples began to colonize the forests of the sierras and to climb the plateau. Rock engravings and tools adapted to woodworking appear, especially bifacial axes. The so-called Humaitá tradition was formed there. Museum. Meanwhile, the conquest of the coast was being completed, forming a specific culture, the Sambaqui tradition, adapted to life by the sea and in the coastal plains. Characteristics of this tradition are the deposits of shells, crustacean shells, and fish remains that gave it its name, where one can also find burials and artifacts indicative of its association with the sea, such as hooks and net weights. There is also evidence of rudimentary agricultural practices, suggesting that they were sedentary, for at least part of the year. Other distinguishing features are the settlements on low artificial hills, known as cerritos, formed in floodplain areas of the coastal plain. Around 3,000 years BP, the climate cooled again and stabilized in a condition similar to the present one, producing new adaptations in the wildlife and human cultures that flourished. In the highlands and the plateau, where the climate remained relatively cold, with frequent snowfalls and frosts, the peoples of the Humaitá tradition, who colonized the area during the climatic optimum, needed to adapt, and then typical straw-covered underground shelters appeared, which could be organized into villages with several units. Sometime later, coinciding with the beginning of the Christian era, the second great human wave arrives in the region, composed of Guaraní indigenous people from the Amazon. It is thought that they, too, may have been driven to migration by global climate change. They had a developed agricultural culture, domesticated animals, and mastered the technique of terracotta and polished stone. They colonized the forested valleys of the central depression, the coast, and part of the sierras, but avoided the higher and colder regions, and made little headway into the pampas, as they preferred warmer climates and the forested environment to which they were accustomed in the north. Their sites are distinguished from other traditions by the form of the settlements, in more stable and structured villages, and by the abundance of polished stone artifacts such as arrowheads, axes, macerators, and ceramic vessels of different shapes and decoration, techniques that are now observed to appear in the sites of other groups. Their influence also showed in the expansion of agriculture. Another group to descend from the north along with the Guaranís were the Jês, of similarly developed culture, leaving a greater mark on the plateau, where they first influenced the peoples of the Humaitá tradition and soon supplanted them. But by the time Brazil was "discovered" in 1500, almost all of the state's Indians, who numbered 100,000 to 150,000 by scholarly estimate, were Guaranís or mixed with them. The groups least affected by this invasion were the Jês of the middle plateau, and the Charrúas and Minuanos, of the pampas. == The beginning of European colonization ==

The territory that today constitutes Rio Grande do Sul already appeared on Portuguese maps, under the name of Capitania d'El-Rei, since the 16th century. Despite the Treaty of Tordesillas, which defined the end of the Portuguese lands at Laguna, Portugal was eager to extend its dominions to the mouth of the Rio da Prata. In the 17th century, bandeirantes from São Paulo began to roam the area in search of treasure and to enslave Indians. In this spirit, ignoring the treaties, on July 17, 1676, through a Royal Charter, Portugal delimited two captaincies in the south which together extended from Laguna to the Rio da Prata, donated to the Viscount of Asseca and João Correia de Sá. The first settler families would arrive later that year, but the stretch between Rio Grande, Tramandaí and the fields of the Vacaria region, in the northeastern highlands, were also being settled independently, a situation made easier by the extension, by the tropeiros, of the Estrada Real Road from São Paulo to the Campos de Viamão. As early as 1734, there were already large cattle ranches in the area, the seeds of the first settlements were being sown and the ranchers began to request the granting of sesmarias. As of 1748, Azorean families, sent by the Portuguese Crown to colonize the state, began to arrive. They first settled in Rio Grande, and later others settled in the region of the future Porto Alegre, then still a small settlement built near the port of Viamão. From there, other groups advanced through the valleys of the Taquari and Jacuí rivers. In the 18th century, a new agreement between the Iberian crowns, the Treaty of Madrid, would once again change the borders. This treaty signed on January 13, 1750, established the exchange of the Colônia do Sacramento for the Seven Peoples, whose indigenous populations would be transferred to the Spanish area beyond the Uruguay River. The demarcation of the new borders and the change of the villages did not go without difficulties. The Jesuits and the Indians protested, confrontation was expected, and the Marquis of Pombal ordered the Portuguese Legate, Captain-general Gomes Freire de Andrade, not to hand over Sacramento without first receiving the Sete Povos. The situation worsened and the expected conflict broke out in Rio Pardo, giving rise to the so-called Guaraní War, which would decimate a large number of Indians and dissolve the Missions. In the episode emerged the legendary figure of the indigenous leader Sepé Tiaraju, today considered a hero of the state and a martyr to the cause of the Indians. After the Guaraní War, Portugal began to pay more attention to the captaincy, which by this time had just over seven thousand inhabitants, distributed in about 400 estancias and a few hamlets and villages. It was detached from Santa Catarina and linked directly to the headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, having a civil governor instead of a military commander. When the Governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, learned that the Treaty of Madrid (1750) had been annulled through the Treaty of El Pardo (February 12, 1761) and therefore the line of the Treaty of Tordesillas had to be re-established, he wrote twice to the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, Gomes Freire de Andrade, Count of Bobadela, (who was also responsible for the government of Rio Grande and Santa Catarina), asking for the return of the Spanish territories occupied by the Portuguese. In 1763, taking advantage of the conflict between Portugal and Spain in the Seven Years' War, Pedro de Cevallos attacked and conquered half of the territory of the captaincy of Rio Grande do Sul along with its capital which was the town of Rio Grande, causing the mass flight of the population and forcing a hasty move of the capital to Viamão. The Portuguese territory was then reduced to a narrow strip between the coast and the valley of the Jacuí River. In 1773, the capital was transferred from Viamão to Porto dos Casais (today Porto Alegre), given its privileged location. In 1776, the town of Rio Grande was retaken by Portuguese settlers in the Spanish-Portuguese War. On October 1, 1777, the First Treaty of San Ildefonso ended the colonial war and gave Portugal definitive possession of the territory of Rio Grande do Sul, except for the Missions, which remained in Spanish possession. Some years later, in the War of 1801, the territory of the Sete Povos das Missões would finally be conquered by the gauchos and annexed to the Portuguese Crown through the Treaty of Badajoz. By the end of the 18th century, there were about 500 active estancias in Rio Grande do Sul. A period account, left by Felix Azara, describes the environment: Despite the problems generated by the practically unrestricted freedom of action of the large estancieiros (owner of an estancia), the Portuguese Crown needed them to ensure the occupation of the territory, which faced a state of chronic military tension given the Rio Grande situation as an unstable frontier, and being needed as suppliers of capital, carts, horses, cattle and soldiers, as well as other goods essential to sustaining the military activity. At the same time, the war brought opportunities for the estancieros for enrichment and increased power through territorial expansion and capture or smuggling of the cattle herds that still lived free. In a province whose population was massively rural, this context formed an eminently militarized society. Many estancias produced a considerable variety of agricultural products and a primitive industry, making the property self-sufficient and alleviating some of the poverty of the bulk of the population. There was entertainment in the bolichos, small trading, drinking, roadside male gathering houses, and religious festivals in the local chapel that brought together the entire small community and attracted groups from other estancias. In these meetings, the folklore of Rio Grande do Sul began to form, in the telling of causos (accounts of feats and extraordinary facts) around the fire, in the horse races, in the exchange of experiences about the countryside life, in the absorption and transformation of local indigenous myths. a figure that was actually "constructed" by the local intelligentsia in the 20th century, but which today is the inspiration for an important part of the state's culture and sense of identity. Another part of the character of this entity, a part that concerns insubordination and freedom, was borrowed from the wandering people of lawless men, made up of Indians who escaped from the missions, smugglers, hide hunters, adventurers, slaves, and outlaws, who roamed in predation over the free cattle fields. Porto Alegre had about four thousand inhabitants and its life as a capital was beginning to be clearly defined, as well as growing as an economic force, assuming the position of the largest market in the south. Its commerce was strengthened by the growing activity of the port, located at the confluence of the two main internal navigation routes. Meanwhile, Pelotas was establishing itself as the biggest center of charque production and through it, an urban aristocracy was being born, although it was to separate from Rio Grande only in 1812, becoming Freguesia de São Francisco de Paula (receiving the name Pelotas a few decades later). On September 19, 1807, the captaincy gained its autonomy and in 1809 was elevated to General Captaincy ("Capitania Geral"), composed of only four municipalities: Porto Alegre, Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Rio Grande, and Rio Pardo, which divided among themselves the entire extension of the state. Arriving in Porto Alegre, the immigrants waited until the definition of their land and the granting of initial provisions. In this city, the remaining groups gave rise to the Navegantes neighborhood. The bulk of the contingent, however, headed to the region north of the capital, concentrating around the Sinos River, forming the initial nuclei of cities such as Novo Hamburgo and São Leopoldo, and clearing the surrounding woods to settle rural properties. The waves of German immigrants would continue to arrive throughout the 19th century, totaling more than 40,000 individuals, and the settlement centers they founded developed prosperous economies and characteristic regional cultures. However, their situation, in general, was precarious, they were considered irredeemable outcasts, and one traveler, noting the abandonment they were decaying into, described them as "a bagasse of people." Ragamuffin War . In 1835, the Ragamuffin War began, one of the most dramatic and bloody episodes in the history of Rio Grande do Sul, which lasted ten years and claimed between 3,000 and 5,000 lives. The revolt was born due to a multiplicity of factors. Besides those already mentioned, there were the complaints against the inefficiency of the provincial government, the economy was declining as well as the elite's ability to influence national politics, there were successive agricultural losses due to natural plagues (increasing the difficulties to maintain the productive capacity of the estancias), competition from charque platino (jerky from the plains) damaged the main economic base of the province, military salaries were delayed, the imperial government blamed the gauchos for defeats in important battles during the Cisplatine War, transformed the public war debt into the province's debt, and remained oblivious to the protests. According to Marcia Miranda, the province had been devastated by the enemy, but the Empire continued to despoil it: With the growing dissatisfaction against the government, accused of making a harmful policy to the state, rebels in Porto Alegre expelled the president of the Province from the capital on September 20, 1835, later taking the city. Thus, the movement acquired a separatist and republican character, which caused the imperial government to react. In a short time, Porto Alegre was recaptured; the countryside forces, however, continued to oppose the Empire. The war ended in 1845, with the gaucho forces under the command of the Duke of Caxias, when both sides signed the Peace of the Poncho Verde. This treaty provided for a general amnesty for the insurgents, payment of compensation to the military chiefs, and release of the surviving slaves who had fought in the war. According to Ester Gutierrez, "besides all the rudeness of the work and the treatment given to the slave population, the continuously reigning bad smell, the dirt and the presence of beasts and poisonous and pestilent animals, the internal space of the charque production accompanied the macabre, grim, fetid and pestiferous picture that dominated its environment." The charque industry was also a place where the workers were forced to work, and where they had to work for a long time. and Gumercindo Saraiva, leaders of the Federalist Revolution, appear in this photo, seated in the center While this economic cycle continued, in politics the situation began to change. In 1881, a group of young people led by Júlio de Castilhos returned to their homeland, after a period of studies in São Paulo, where they came into contact with active intellectuals and the positivist philosophy. The abolitionist campaign was gaining ground in the streets and Castilhos immediately took the lead in the movement, at the same time that he created a differentiated Republican Party, the Partido Republicano Rio-grandense (PRR), inspired by Positivism, whose communication medium was the influential newspaper A Federação. Beginning in 1884, through the initiative of the Abolitionist Center of the Literary Parthenon, with the decisive mobilization of the PRR, other parties, and large segments of society, the process of freeing the nearly eight thousand slaves in the state was initiated, four years before the proclamation of the Lei Áurea. The freedmen, however, would not easily find a place in the labor market, gathering in ghettos and villages, suffering privations and discrimination of all kinds, and obtaining low-paid jobs. At the dawn of the Republic, Júlio de Castilhos became secretary of the government and then participated in the drafting of the new Constitution in Rio de Janeiro. Approved on July 14, the first election for a Constitutional presidency was held on the same day, and Castilhos won with 100% of the votes. But political rivalries had reached a point of no return. The Federalist Party (formerly Liberal Party) fought for centralization and the parliamentary system; the Republican Party, for the presidential system and provincial autonomy. After several changes of government, a new civil war broke out in 1893, the Federalist Revolution, led by Silveira Martins, an old adversary of Castilhos, who was once again in power. While in the Ragamuffin War scenes of nobility, honor, and altruism could still be seen, throughout the Federalist Revolution, cruelty and villainy became widespread. Décio Freitas says it was the most violent of civil wars in all of Latin America, and others who have written about it never cease to reiterate expressions of horror. It lasted more than two years and claimed more than ten thousand lives, imprinting a stain of fratricidal hatred that to this day marks the memory of the state. With the defeat of the rebels in 1895, Júlio de Castilhos concentrated on himself the absolute control of the state. The opposition was completely disarticulated and the main leaders of the rebels were either killed or went into exile, accompanied by some 10,000 supporters. Then began a long political dynasty that would rule the State for decades, and influence all of Brazil through one of its disciples, Getúlio Vargas. Castilhos controlled the entire state administrative machine through a network of loyal subordinates, interfering directly in the life of the municipalities. An enthusiastic supporter of Positivism, he guided his administration with his ideas of order, morality, civilization, and progress, but he gave little value to popular opinion, as revealed in his disregard for the vote, being repeatedly accused of rigging elections. In his circle, he was seen as an enlightened one, and even though he exercised dictatorial power, he overlooked old offenses and did not obstruct the work of the press, allowing considerable freedom of expression. His charisma was strong, and his government was praised even by his opponents, such as Venceslau Escobar, who admired his "breadth of vision, realizing and projecting progressive measures". In fact, in his government the state definitively entered modernity, updating an obsolete colonial administrative heritage that until then had been based mainly on improvisation. His first concern was to reorganize justice, transportation, and communications. He supported immigrants and fostered the development of the rural area. In 1898, he left the government assuring the continuity of his program through the election of Borges de Medeiros in an election without adversaries. == 20th century ==

When Borges came to power, Rio Grande do Sul had around one million inhabitants. Castilhos still ruled state politics as head of the PRR, and nominated Borges once again for President of Rio Grande do Sul at the end of his first term. While Castilhos was a charismatic figure, Borges built an image of discretion and modesty, disliking ostentation and personal publicity, but as his mentor, he kept a tight rein on the power system and was another efficient administrator, whose motto was "no expenditure without revenue". He reorganized the tax system and finished the reform of the Judiciary started by Castilhos, encouraged production by immigrants and small industry, and supported improvements in municipal services by expanding water, electricity, and sewage networks, nationalized railroads, and the port of Rio Grande. He maintained a distant relationship with the federal government, and because of this, the state ended up being disadvantaged with a meager transfer of funds. At the beginning of the century, the state reached the third position in the national economy. The 1900 census counted 1,149,070 inhabitants; 67.3% were illiterate and 43% of jobs were in rural areas. Of the total inhabitants, almost 300,000 were workers; of these 56,000 were women, 49,000 were artisans or had a trade, and 31,000 were in commerce. There were also 3,165 "capitalists," as the big industrialists and merchants were called, and 4,455 civil servants. But the demands of fast-paced progress resulted in the working classes' lives being arduous. Although industrialization in various sectors had brought some progress, it was still primitive and required a lot of hard labor. Wages were low and barely covered the most basic sustenance; the factory environments were not primordial in terms of comfort and salubriousness; on the contrary, by today's standards, they were places of slave labor and dens of disease dissemination. In many factories discipline was still imposed by whipping, employees were subjected to periodic searches and paid heavy fines for minor infractions, and children and women usually worked the same hours as adult men, which could be as long as fifteen hours. during the 1923 Revolution. In a rapidly changing scenario, the old pastoral oligarchy, which had become enormously rich and ennobled during the empire, and still maintained at the end of the 19th century the monopoly of the most important means of production, faced with the growing concentration of commercial and industrial activities in the urban centers, found itself losing money, political space, and influence. In the same year occurred the first event entirely dedicated to the arts, the 1903 Salon, promoted by the Gazeta do Commercio. This salon, according to Athos Damasceno, was "the first contest to give the arts in Rio Grande do Sul a statute of autonomy (...) legitimizing them as an object of approval and social distinction". Some of the most notorious names of a local painting of the beginning of the century who went through the Institute are Pedro Weingärtner, a member of the evaluation boards, along with Oscar Boeira, Libindo Ferrás, João Fahrion, and some foreign masters and professors. In music, the activities of the Club Haydn of Porto Alegre stood out, organizing many recitals promoting European and Brazilian authors, complementing the schedule at Theatro São Pedro, where stars such as Arthur Rubinstein and Magda Tagliaferro performed, and the first operas from Rio Grande do Sul, Carmela, by José de Araújo Viana, and Sandro, by Murillo Furtado, were staged. Theatrical and opera companies circulated frequently in the countryside theaters, small vocal and instrumental ensembles of erudite repertoire already existed in several cities, and the consolidation of regionalist and popular musical expressions of the Hispanic-Portuguese, the blacks, and the descendants of immigrants in their colonies was noticeable. Also noteworthy is the qualified teaching provided by the Institute of Fine Arts, where Viana acted along with Tasso Corrêa, Libindo Ferrás, Olinto de Oliveira and some other masters. and sports already had clubs such as Grêmio and Internacional, which would be great forces in Brazilian soccer years later. 1930's to 1960's In 1928, Getúlio Vargas succeeded Borges de Medeiros, and was another castilhista in power. He sought the support of the estancieros, representing the class before the federal government, and protecting the unions they were organizing. Finding transportation costs to be the biggest problem, he expanded the railroads and encouraged the state's first airline, the future VARIG. To facilitate credit, he founded the Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. His greatest achievement, however, was the dissipation of old political rivalries that had long plagued Rio Grande do Sul. The fruit of this was the construction of the Liberal Alliance, of which he was the candidate in the national elections in 1930, losing, however to Júlio Prestes. But the latter would not take office, being deposed by the Revolution of 1930, which elevated Vargas to the presidency with decisive participation of the gauchos. Despite the turmoil, the economy recovered quite well after the world economic crisis of 1929. It had relatively no effect on the state, except for its financial sector, with the bankruptcy of important banks such as the Pelotense Bank, which sealed the beginning of a long period of economic stagnation for Pelotas and other cities. However, at this time, Rio Grande do Sul was supplying a significant portion of the national market with its agricultural production. In 1935, to celebrate the centenary of the Ragamuffin War, another general exhibition was organized in Porto Alegre, the biggest the city had ever seen. Besides presenting the fruits of the gaucho economy to society, it had a cultural section and was also important for having introduced modern architecture to the south, which was henceforth to constitute the main architectural style employed in the state until the 1980s, revolutionizing the conceptions of gaucho urbanism. The right-wing movements culminated in 1937 with the creation of the Estado Novo (New State) through a new ''coup d'état'' by Getúlio Vargas, who imposed a fascist Constitution. The euphoria of the descendants of immigrants, who gathered in marches throughout the state to acclaim the new regime, was soon undone, as Vargas began to orient policy toward the construction of a sense of national identity, and thus all foreigners began to be severely censored, initiating a time of persecution and repression in the colonies, and instead of collaborators in the process of growth and population, immigrants began to be seen as potential enemies of the homeland. The process reached its extreme with Brazil's entry into World War II against the Axis countries, with heavy economic and social consequences for the immigration region, including the colonies in the capital. In the economy, the trend was the unification of the national market, with the loss of regional dynamism. At a time when some industries from the state of Rio Grande do Sul were already projecting themselves nationally, such as Eberle, Renner, Berta, and Wallig, it was becoming easier for national competitors to penetrate the Rio Grande do Sul market. At the same time, the colonial economies based on family businesses weakened, starting a process of economic devaluation of traditional crafts and manufacturing cottage industries, and cooperatives. This negative impact on the colonies also triggered the rural exodus in the state and the appearance of the first slums in Porto Alegre. However, the state government tried to minimize the problems with protectionist measures on exportable products, investing in the transport sector, sympathizing with the issues of the productive sector as a whole, as well as creating a network of health centers. For blacks, who until then had been continuously despised by society, the year 1943 represented the initial milestone of their mobilization, when the Union of Men of Color was founded, which five years later would already be branching out to ten other states of the Federation. Porto Alegre in the 1950s already had its layout largely transformed by modernist architecture, which included major improvements in the urban plan and large public buildings. The city was holding its Book Fair, had a museum specially dedicated to the arts (MARGS), a federal university (UFRGS), was hearing concerts by its new orchestra (OSPA), and names such as Mário Quintana, Aldo Obino, Lupicínio Rodrigues, Dante de Laytano, Aldo Locatelli, Érico Veríssimo, Manuelito de Ornelas, Paixão Côrtes, Walter Spalding, Bruno Kiefer, Túlio Piva, Barbosa Lessa, Armando Albuquerque, Ado Malagoli, and Ângelo Guido, among many others, were references in the fields of literature, poetry, historiography, traditionalism and folklore, fine arts, music, and art criticism. Education throughout the state reached an advanced level, expanding to rural areas, and with large schools operating in many cities, which often relied on the efforts of religious institutions, especially Catholics, who, besides schools, also maintained hospitals, asylums, and other welfare works. By the end of the 1950s, there were more than two thousand elementary schools, and colleges multiplied, reaching almost 150. The number of cities with more than five thousand inhabitants reached about 70, and the conurbation of Porto Alegre with neighboring cities was evident, forming a metropolitan region with more than 800 thousand inhabitants when the total of the state exceeded 5 million. Military dictatorship In 1962, Meneghetti was reelected, in a coalition that had the support of large conservative forces, while the Labor party was divided with the emergence of Fernando Ferrari's renovating Laboriousm. Meneghetti represented the most sensible option for those important sectors of society that, fearing the communist advance, were preparing the military coup of 64, when the governor played a major role. He articulated decisive connections with national leaders and, on the afternoon of April 1, 1964, transferred the state government to Passo Fundo, in Operation Farroupilha ("Ragamuffin"), in order not to be deposed by the resistance that was being organized in Porto Alegre by the forces loyal to João Goulart. On the 3rd, when Goulart was in the countryside, about to retire into exile in Uruguay, Meneghetti returned to the capital, led by a combined force of units from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, based in Santa Maria, and troops from the Military Brigade. The military movement was consolidated through force. Immediately there were reactions in various spheres, including anti-coup street demonstrations, but all were violently repressed. The mayor of Porto Alegre, Sereno Chaise, was arrested, along with hundreds of people. However, they were mostly released in the first week. Repression remained the usual resource for preserving the new order, justified as a national security measure, and soon there were more arrests, along with the closing of newspapers, peasant leagues, unions, and the Student Union, revocation of politicians, extinction of parties and purges of professors from universities. It also created a system of indirect elections for governor. The main theoretician of the regime was the Rio Grande do Sul general Golbery do Couto e Silva, who became head of the National Intelligence Service, although he was not a hardliner. Until 1968, the students remained the main force of opposition to the military, challenging them in several confrontations. That same year Institutional Act 5 was created, which unleashed a new cycle of impeachment, generalized censorship of the press, and the officialdom began to use torture and death as a means of silencing opposing voices. The kidnapping of Lilian Celiberti and Universindo Diaz was emblematic. They were taken to Uruguay, tortured and convicted of political crimes, as part of Operation Condor, a political-military alliance between the various military regimes in South America with the aim of coordinating the repression of opponents of these dictatorships. Still, the distension process was irreversible. In 1979, in pioneering initiatives, the state began a process of amnesty for the politically persecuted, when the Assembly honored those who had been expelled, the Porto Alegre City Council rehabilitated councilmen, and the Cruz Alta City Council readmitted public servants expelled by the military. At the same time, the parties were allowed to function again and the union movement was reborn in Rio Grande, with the outbreak of several strikes, but not without facing violent repression, the same happening with the articulation of the Landless Workers' Movement. Juremir Machado da Silva complements, reinforcing its importance, by saying that it was a space in which == Recent History ==

The movement for the re-democratization of Brazil finally won in 1985, amidst intense mobilization of society. In Porto Alegre, the rallies for Diretas Já gathered 200,000 people. But when Pedro Simon, the first democratic governor, took office, the state was on the verge of bankruptcy, with a 4,185% increase in the public deficit in the previous two years alone. Several protest movements erupted among the productive classes and several other sectors of society, such as teachers and public servers. Even though Simon managed to clean up part of the state finances, he did not have a surplus for many investments. One of the measures adopted by the government was the creation of the Regional Development Councils (Coredes), for the application of possible investments following the priorities indicated by regional leaders. At this time, the municipality of Porto Alegre instituted the Orçamento Participativo (Participatory Budget) program, to share with society the responsibility for decisions, soon to become an administrative model for other cities; the MERCOSUR was articulated, and given its strategic geographical location, the state assumed a prominent role. with about 30% of its assets (2005) in the form of active debt, practically all of it under judicial collection, and being forced to recently borrow US$1.1 billion from the World Bank for public debt restructuring, its general situation at present is positive. According to the 1998 United Nations report, the state achieved an HDI higher than the national average, with 0.869 points, driven by good income distribution and the high level of schooling, with illiteracy remaining below 10%. In 2007, the state GDP was the fourth largest in Brazil, reaching R$175 billion, and the GDP per capita was R$15,800. Life expectancy is around 70 years old, and the total population has surpassed 10 million, 80% of which lives in urban areas. About 40% of the state resources are generated in the countryside. Production festivals such as the Festa da Uva, Expointer, Fenasoja and Fenarroz have become international events, where large business deals are made. Rio Grande do Sul is also currently one of the largest producers and exporters of grains in the country, and these factors, together with the good conditions of the roads, telecommunications and energy, and the state government's economic development programs, place it as the most attractive Brazilian state for national and foreign investments. Universities have become active regional research centers in various fields, introducing a number of new techniques and technological resources in the productive sectors and deepening intellectual production, fostering the economies and culture of the areas where they are located with highly qualified work. The state government has also joined this academic effort by investing in research in science and technology, and there are several official programs to support researchers. The good overall position of the state hides, however, regional disparities. In the west, child mortality rates are among the highest in Brazil; traditional cultures in the former colonies show serious impoverishment in the face of widespread modernization; large urban concentrations face difficult challenges in housing, pollution, employment, security, and other basic infrastructure and service issues. The area under cultivation is shrinking, and large trade, service, and industrial networks compete with small businesses, disrupting small regional markets, a symptom of the globalization that has characterized the world economy in recent years. Another area where problems are growing is the environment. Even though the state invests many resources on several fronts and the subject is part of the school curriculum since primary levels, the balance of its environmental policy has been poor, and institutions, academics, and environmental organizations have been denouncing the scrapping and inefficiency of the control apparatus and institutional infrastructure, the creation of contradictory legislation and the action of corruption schemes. This is a context that has caused profound damage to nature on a large scale, brought countless species to the brink of extinction, depleted or misused their natural resources, and caused diseases in the population, as well as compromising the future of new generations. Problems of pollution, mismanagement, and depletion of water sources in all the major watersheds are becoming especially serious, with several water bodies of enormous importance in critical situations in almost their entire length, such as the Lagoa dos Patos, Lake Guaíba, and the Sinos River; the deforestation of the Atlantic Forest, which preserves only 7% of its original cover and is under constant pressure; the pollution of soils, water, and food by pesticides, using almost twice the national average in a country that is notorious in the use of these chemicals, and the desertification of the pampa, associated with the introduction of rice, pine, and eucalyptus monocultures and overexploitation of cattle. Culture and society House of Culture, in the former railway station building. The last decades have confirmed Rio Grande do Sul as an important, dynamic, up-to-date and politically engaged voice on the Brazilian cultural scene. Throughout the state, there are cultural centers and universities in intense activity. In an overview of this period, some points stand out: • The recovery of the social memory, of the non-material culture and folklore, revealed in the rescue of the gaucho figure, the immigrants, the black and other minority groups, of the material goods with the preservation of the ancient architecture and the multiplication of historic-artistic museums, and in the large investments in culture, heritage, and cultural tourism. • The creation of a decidedly cosmopolitan culture in large urban centers. Indians in São Miguel das Missões. • The awareness about the problems of the environment, with the surging of ecological movements and the evidence of governmental interest in the creation of environmental laws and preservation areas (which increased tourism). • The revelation of the state of abandonment and poverty in which the indigenous populations found themselves. • The problematization of social coexistence in cities, with the increase in crime rates with threats to life and property, generating a general feeling of insecurity. In all areas with deficiencies, remedial measures have been taken, although much remains to be done and complaints from society are constant. In the early 1980s, civil society was beginning to regain its space of political representation. The state artistic production, as well as the civil one, which had been kept under the pressure of censorship and rearticulated itself in a highly politicized form, claiming the normalization of Brazilian institutional and cultural life. Porto Alegre would lead the main advances. Sandra Pesavento states that in this period 's Festivals Palace. In this new panorama of urban life in Porto Alegre, one of the most important spaces was the district of Bom Fim and its bars, forming almost an independent republic in the heart of the city. The main leaders of the protestatory activity of the time gathered there, people with different ideologies, who lived utopias transformed into lifestyles - such as punks, rockers, along with filmmakers, philosophers, and poets - which would result in the definition of the identity of an entire generation. It was the effervescence point of the underground and pop music scene, with the emergence of several bands and singers who marked the local music, such as Os Replicantes, Bebeto Alves, Os Cascavelletes, Nei Lisboa, TNT, Graforréia Xilarmônica. == See also ==