CEARA, a northern maritime State of Brazil, bounded north by the Atlantic, east by the Atlantic and the States of Rio Grande do Norte and Parahyba, south by Pernambuco, and west by Piauhy, and having an area of 57,356 sq. miles. It lies partly upon the north-east slope of the great Brazilian plateau, and partly upon the sandy coastal plain. Its surface is a succession of great terraces, facing north and north-east, formed by the denuda tion of the ancient sandstone plateau which once covered this part of the continent; the terraces are seamed by watercourses, and their valleys broken by hills and ranges of highlands, usu ally described as mountain ranges, but in fact only the remains of the ancient plateau, capped with horizontal strata of sandstone, and having a remarkably uniform altitude of 2,000 to 2,400f t. The flat top of such a range is called a chapada or taboleira, and its width in places is from 32 to 56 miles.
The boundary line with Piauhy follows one of these ranges, the Serra de Ibiapaba, which unites with another range on the south ern boundary of the State, known as the Serra do Araripe. An other range, or escarpment, crosses the State from east to west, but is broken into two principal divisions, each having several local names. These ranges are not continuous, the breaking down of the ancient plateau having been irregular and uneven. The higher ranges intercept considerable moisture from the south-east trade winds, and their flanks and valleys are covered with forest, but the plateaus are either thinly wooded or open campo. These upland forests are of a scrubby character and are called catingas.
The sandy, coastal plain, with a width of 12 to 18m., is nearly bare of vegetation ; behind there is a more elevated region with broken surfaces and sandy soil which is amenable to cultivation and produces fruit and most tropical products when conditions are favourable. The rivers of the State are small and, with one or two exceptions, become completely dry in the dry season. The largest is the Jaguaribe, which flows entirely across the State in a north-east direction with an estimated length of 210 to 465 miles. The year is divided into a rainy and dry season, the rains beginning in January to March and lasting until June. The soil of the interior is thin and porous and does not retain moisture ; conse quently the long, dry season turns this part of the country into a barren waste, relieved only by vegetation along the river courses and mountain ranges, and by the hardy, widely distributed carna huba palm (Copernicia cerifera), which in places forms groves of considerable extent. Sometimes the rains fail altogether, and then a drought (secca) ensues, causing famine and pestilence throughout the entire region. The most destructive droughts re corded are those of 1711, 1723, 1777-78, 1790, 1825, 1844-45 and the last-mentioned destroying nearly all the live-stock in the State, and causing the death through starvation and pestilence of nearly half a million people—more than half the population— while thousands more were obliged to migrate to other states.
There are two lines of railway running inland from the coast : the Baturite line from Fortaleza to Cedro, 475 miles, and the Sobral line from Camocim (a small port) to Gratheus, about 210 miles. The railways were built by the national government after the drought of 1877-78 to give work to the starving refugees, and are now operated under leases. Great dams are also being con structed and extensive irrigation systems laid out.
Only a very small percentage of the population which numbered 1,626,025 in 1930 is of European origin, the very large ma jority being mestizos. There are few negroes. The number of landed proprietors, professional men, merchants, etc. is compara tively small (about one-sixth) ; the remaining five-sixths own no property, pay no taxes, and derive no benefits from the social and political institutions about them beyond the protection of the proprietors upon whose estates they live, the nominal protection of the State, and an occasional day's wage. Education has made no impression upon such people, and is confined almost exclusively to the upper classes, from which some of the most prominent men in Brazilian politics and literature have come.
The State of Ceara has formed a bishopric of the Roman Catho lic Church since 1853, the bishop having his residence at Fortaleza. The State is represented in the national congress by three senators and ten deputies. The capital is Fortaleza, sometimes called Ceara, which is also the principal commercial centre and shipping port. Its population in 1930 was 98,848. The principal towns are Aracaty, Baturite, Acarahu, Crato, Maranguape and Sobral.
The territory of Ceara includes three of the capitanias origi nally granted by the Portuguese crown in 1534• The first attempts to settle the territory failed, and the earliest Portuguese settle ment was made near the mouth of the Rio Camocim in 1604. The French were already established on the coast, with their head quarters at Saint Louis, now Maranhao. Ceara was occupied by the Dutch from and became a dependency of Pernam buco in 168o; this relationship lasted until 1799, when the capi tania of Ceara was made independent. The capitania became a province in 1822 under Dom Pedro I. A revolution followed in 1824, the president of the province was deposed 15 days after his arrival, and a republic was proclaimed. Internal dissensions im mediately broke out, the new president was assassinated, and after a brief reign of terror the province resumed its allegiance to the empire. Ceara was one of the first provinces of Brazil to abolish slavery.