1 POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND POP ULATION.- The Federation of Brazil con sists of 20 states, the Federal district and the territory of the Acre. In alphabetical order, with their areas and populations, capitals and populations in 1912 they are as follows: Area (in square State Population Aladhas 22.583 848,526 Amazonas. 732,439 378,476 Bahia 164,643 2,746,443 Ceara 40,247 1,179,197 Espirito Santo 17,312 362.402 Cayes 288,536 428,661 Maranhao 177,561 683,645 Matto Grosso 332,683 '191,145 Minas Geraes 221,951 4,628,553 Pant 443,903 809,886 Parahyba 28,854 630,171 Parand 10,451 554,934 Pernambuco 49.573 1,649,023 Piaubf 116,523 441,350 Rio de Janeiro 26,634 1,325,927 Rio Grande do Norte 22.195 424,308 Rio Grande do Sul 91.333 1,682,736 Santa Catharine 28,632 463,997 Silo Paulo 112,307 3,700,350 Sergipe 15,093 426,234 Pederal District 538 973,813 AcniTenritory 73,000 86.638 The number of inhabitants in the entire country is approximately 27,000,000, the incre ment being, therefore, 14,000,000 in 27 years, the population in 1890 having been 14,333,915. The estimated population in 1915 was 26,600,000. The rate of growth in Sao Paulo is noteworthy. That state had 837,000 inhabitants in 1872; in 1890 it had 1,384,000; in 1900 it had 2,280,000; and during the next 16 years the increase was over 2,000,000. The state capital, also called Sao Paulo, with only 35,000 inhabitants in 1883, grew with the growth of the coffee-trade and the general prosperity of the state so rapidly that in 1907 the number of its inhabitants was 340,000, and in 1916 about 400,000. The growth of population in Acre territory's seringa forests is also rapid. But such increment as is noted seems slight in view of the fact, emphasized in Bryce's 'South America,' that "taking Brazil as a whole, no great country in the world owned by a European race possesses so large a proportion of land available for the support of human life and productive industry.° The same observer is authority for the state ment that one can hardly reckon the true Brazilian white nation at more than 7,000,000, the other elements being negro, colored, ab origines of the Amazonian forests, half-breeds, etc.; and, finally, the foreign element, more im portant by reason of its energy and industry than on account of numbers, since it probably little exceeds 1,000,000. Substantial increase may be anticipated at Porto Alegre, Pelotas, and the city of Rio Grande do Sul, the three gateways on the Atlantic coast giving access to the rich agricultural plateau of the southern most Brazilian state.
For abstracts of census reports of popula tion, consult the Year Book' and publications of the Pan American Union; for descriptions of the inhabitants of large cities and towns, and for studies of native races, the accounts of travel or exploration mentioned in bibliography under HISTORY.
The number of immigrants entering Brazil from 1908 to 1916 was 926,282. These include 354,820 Portuguese, 190,767 Spaniards, 153,950 Italians, 49,477 Russians, 41,534 Turco-Arabs, 33,578 Germans 21,843 Austrians, 15,773 Japanese and 9,2b7 French.
Brazil has for years past welcomed foreign immigrants and has made considerable effort to turn the tide of European emigration to her own shores. From 1820 to 1915 the number of
immigrants officially entering Brazil is given as 3,363,456, or an average of 35,400 per year. But this official statement covers only a part of the immigration, that part entering the country through the ports of entry; but it takes no account of the population that is and has always been across the borders of the country from neighboring Latin-American nations during the past century. In all cases of i population it is probable that the government estimate is rather under than over the mark owing to the fact that vast stretches of the inland territory of the republic are never visited by the census taker. The Old World immi grants entering Brazil in 1915 were as follows: Portuguese, 15,118; Spaniards, 6,895; Italians, 5,778; Russians (principally Poles), 640; Syrians, 514; French, 410; English, 311; Austro Hungarians, 404. The total officially reported immigration during the year was 30,287. But here again the Latin-American immigrants are not recorded. Help in the way of subvtions was extended to 17,709 of the officially reported immigrants by the Brazilian government, which has for some years past expended considerable money and effort to attract the better class of immigrants. Since 1825 Germans have been going to Brazil where they have helped to develop the coffee and rubber interests, among various other activities. In the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina and Sao Paulo, they have formed important colonies which have been fostered by the Brazilian and German governments and the German steam ship company. To these and to other immi7 grants the Brazilian authorities in the latter part of the 19th century extended free passage from their homes in Europe to their destina tion in Brazil together with cheap land ($1 to $2 per acre) and seeds, provisions and imple ments for the first crop. They had from 7 to 10 years in which to pay for the land. But Germans, Poles, Italians, Portuguese and Spaniards flooded into the country, and the government soon began to restrict the privileges and inducements offered to immigrants, Finally it gave a different complexion to the immigra tion question by the passage of an immigration law encouraging the formation of strong colonization companies to whom vast stretches of land were offered at very cheap prices on the condition that they should be settled with immigrants at the expense of the operating company which was to receive a subvention of $320 for each family brought into the country and settled on these lands. To encourage the opening of ways of communication a subven tion of $700 per mile was offered for roads built. Political troubles two years later inter fered with immigration and discouragpd the numerous colonization companies which had taken advantage of the new law. Since then immigration into Brazil has been slow com pared wth the vast extent of the country, though some years, as 1911, for instance, re corded many newcomers (136,000). Lately the Brazilian government has begun to extend help to immigrants once more.