PERNAMBUCO, a north-eastern Atlantic State of Brazil. Area, 38,312 sq.m.; pop. 093o) 2,869,814. It comprises a com paratively narrow coastal zone, a high inland plateau, and an inter mediate zone formed by the terraces and slopes between the two. Its surface is much broken by the remains of the ancient plateau which has been worn down by erosion, leaving escarpments and ranges of flat-topped mountains, called chapadas, capped in places by horizontal layers of sandstone. The coastal zone is low, well wooded and fertile. It has a hot, humid climate, relieved to some extent by the south-east trade winds. This region is locally known as the mattas (forests). The middle zone, called the caatinga or agreste region, has a drier climate and lighter vegetation. The inland region, called the serteio, is high, stony, and dry, and fre quently devastated by prolonged droughts (seccas). The climate is characterized by hot days and cool nights, and is considered healthy, though the daily change tends to provoke bronchial, catar rhal and inflammatory diseases. There are two clearly defined seasons, a rainy season from March to June, and a dry season for the remaining months. The rivers of the State include a number of small plateau streams flowing southward to the Sao Francisco river, and several large streams in the eastern part flowing eastward to the Atlantic. The largest of the coastal rivers are the Goyanna, which is formed by the confluence of the Tracunhaem and Capi baribemirim, and drains a rich agricultural region in the north-east part of the State; the Capibaribe, which has its source in the Serra de Jacarara and flows eastward to the Atlantic at Recife with a course of nearly 30o m. ; the Ipojuca, which rises in the Serra de Aldeia Velha and reaches the coast south of Recife; the Serin haen and the Una.
The State of Pernambuco is, for the most part, agricultural, the lowlands being devoted to sugar and fruit, with coffee in some of the more elevated localities, the agreste region to cotton, tobacco, Indian corn, beans and stock, and the sertao to grazing and in some localities to cotton. Sugar, molasses, rum (aguardi ente or cachaca), tobacco and fruit are largely exported. Coco nuts, cacao, bananas, mangoes and other tropical fruits are pro duced in profusion, but the production of foodstuffs (beans, Indian corn, mandioca, etc.) is not sufficient for local consumption. Man gabeira rubber is collected to a limited extent, and piassava fibre is an article of export. Orchids are also collected for export in the districts of Garanhuns and Timbal:11)a. Cotton-weaving and cigar-making are the principal manufacturing industries, after the large engenhos devoted to the manufacture of sugar and rum. The railways of the State are parts of the Great Western of Brazil railway. All these lines concentrate at the port of Recife.
The capital of the State is Recife, a city that is commonly known among foreigners as Pernambuco. There is a number of large towns in the State, but the 192o census returns in clude their populations in those of the municipios (communes) to which they belong. The most important are : Bezerros (48,190), Born Jardim (92,515), Brejo da Madre de Deus (48,784), a town of the higher agreste region, Cabo (31,911), Caruaril (61,636), Escada (63,723), Garanhuns (21,135, covering six towns and villages), Gloria de Goyta (33,626), Goyanna (53,854), Limoeiro (52,573), Olinda (52,199), the old colonial capital and episcopal see, Rio Formoso (16,126), Timbaaba (52,526) and Victoria Pernambuco, at its inception in 1526, was settled by Christovao Jacques, who founded a settlement on the Rio Iguarassia that was afterwards abandoned. The first permanent settlement was made by Duarte Coelho Pereira at Olinda in 153o, and four years later he was granted a capitania of so leagues extending from the mouth of the Sao Francisco northward to that of the Iguarassn. Adja cent to this grant on the north was the capitania of Itamaraca, granted to Pero Lopes de Souza, which covered the remainder of the present State. The capitania of Pernambuco was ably governed and took an active part in the expulsion of the French from the trading posts established along the coast northward to Maranhao, and in establishing Portuguese colonies in their places.
In 1817 Pernambuco was the scene of a revolutionary outbreak, which resulted irthe separation of the present States of Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte, Ceara and Parahyba having been de tached in 1799. There was another insurrection in 1822 when the Portuguese captain general, Luiz de Rego, and his garrison were expelled, and in 1824 dissatisfaction with the arbitrary proceedings of Dom Pedro I. at Rio de Janeiro led to a separatist revolution for the formation of a new State, to be called the Federacao do Equador. There was another outbreak in 1831 and frequent dis orders down to 1848, when they culminated in another unsuccess ful revolution. The population of the Pernambuco serteio has always been noted for its turbulent, lawless character, due partly to distance from the coast where the bulk of the population is concentrated, partly to difficult means of communication, and partly to the fact that this remote region has long been the refuge of criminals from the coast towns.