Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/495

* BRAZH,. 437 BRAZIL. cal science at Sao Paulo and Pernambuco, four military schools giving courses in civil engineer- ing, a naval academy, a polytcclinie school, a school of mines, a number of agricultural schools, a conservatory of music, and an academy of fine arts. The larger cities have museums and li- braries, and the Xational Library at Rio de Janeiro has a magnificent collection of printed volumes, manuscripts, and iconographical exhib- its, numbering, in all, over 525,000 pieces. Keuciox. Church and State are entirely sepa- rated, but the Government provides for the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, which is the faith of 0!) per cent, of the i>eople. The country is divided into eleven episcopal sees, in each of which a theological seminary is lo- cated. The Archbishop of Bahia is metropolitan of the province and under him are 11 bishops, 12 vicars-general, and about 2000 curates. History. By the provision of the treaty of Tordesillas, signed by Portugal and Spain in 1494, most of the territory within the present limits of Brazil fell to the share of the former. Early in 1500 Vicente Yanez Pinzon landed on the coast of Brazil, probably near Cape Saint Augustine, and coasted as far as the Orinoco Kiver, discovering the mouth of the Amazon. In the same year Pedro Alvarez Cabral landed at Porto Seguro, and, taking possession of the country in the name of his monarch, gave it the name of Vera Cruz, later changed to Santa Cruz. In 1501 and 1503 the country was visited by expeditions luider Amerigo Vespucci, who in the latter year left a garrison of twenty-four men Iwhind him and returned with a cargo of Brazil- wood, which gave the vast region its name. The first permanent settlement was made by the Portuguese on the island of Sao Vicente in 1.501, other colonies founded subsequently being aban- doned on account of the hostilities of the Indians. r>ahia was founded in 1549 and till 1763 was the capital of Brazil. The Huguenot settlement established in the Bay of Rio de .Janeiro in 1555 was broken up in 1507 by the Portuguese, who founded the town of Rio de Janeiro. From 1580 to 1G40 Brazil as a dependency of Portugal was in the possession of Spain, and in the latter part of this period the Dutch, who were at war with Spain, seized upon a considerable portion of the countrj-, which they held for some time. In 1030 they captured Pernambuco and retained the stronghold of Olinda till 1654. Between Portugal and Spain there was a long standing dispute con- cerning the possession of the eastern shore of the La Plata, which was not settled until 1.S28. when Brazil recognized the independence of the Banda Oriental (see I'Rixr.iY). The discovery of gold in 1691 and of diamonds in 1710 resulted in the rise of a number of mining towns. The arbitrary colonial order under which Brazil had been set- tled, the so-called captaincy system, similar to the patroon system in Xew York, greatly re- tarded the progress of the country. In 1807, under the pressure of French invasion, the royal family of Portugal fled to Brazil, which re- mained virtually the seat of government until 1821, when King .Tohn VI. returned, leaving his eldest son, Dom Pedro, as Prince Recent; but in the following year (September 7, 18221 the in- dependence of Brazil was proclaimed, and on Oc- tober 12 the Prince Regent was crowned Em- peror. Early in 1824 he took his oath to the Constitution, and in 1825 the independence of Brazil was formally recognized by the Portuguese King. Dom Pedro soon became unpopular, and in 1S31 abdicated in favor of his five-year-old son. 1_ nder the regencies which followed, Brazil was plunged into disorder and political intrigue, and the result was that, as a reaction against repub- licanism, the young prince was declared of age in 1840, and in 1841, at the age of fifteen, was crowned Emperor, as Dom Pedro II. The only wars during his reign, aside from a few revo- lutionary outbreaks, were those waged against Ro.sas, the Dictator of Buenos Ayrcs, in 1852, and against, Paraguay in 1865-70. Pedro II. was a ])atriotic and enlightened monarch. Among the events of his administration was the passage of an act in 1871 providing for the gradual aboli- tion of slavery. The centralized system of gov- ernment, hoecr, and the general prevalence of corruption in the provincial administration, excited a widespread feeling of discontent, espe- cially in the army, and an attemi)t in 1889 to form a national guard under imjierial control hastened the crisis. On Xovcmbor 15 intelligence that Rio Janeiro was in the hands of the in- surgents reached the Emperor at his country-seat, and on hastening to the capital he found that the ilinistry had been deposed. Later in the day a Provisional Government, headed by Marshal Deo- doro da Fonseea (q.v.), was organized, which is- sued a manifesto proclaiming a republic. All these changes met with little opposition; indeed, it had been long and widely believed that the Em- pire would not outlive the Emperor. Dom Pedro attempted to form a new ilinistry. but failed, and a new decree ordered him to leave the coun- trj' with his family within twenty-four hours. The same decree continued the imperial dowry and granted the Emperor a subsidy of .'}!2.500.006, both of which he refu.sed. On the following day, November 10. the Emjieror and his family em- barked for Portugal, and the concession (Novem- ber 21) of universal sutfrage to all Brazilians that could read and write was followed by the appointment of a commission to draft a Federal Constitution. On January 10, 1890. the separa- tion of Church and State was decreed by the Provisional Government. The new Constitution (subject to further revision) was promulgated on June 23. In February, 1891, ilarshal Fonseea was elected the first President of the Republic, but before the close of the year his arbitrary pro- ceedings provoked a revolutionary movement in Rio de Janeiro, which forced him to resign. He was succeeded by the Vice-President, General Peixoto. In 1893 a revolt, probably aiming at the restoration of the Empire, was headed by Admirals Da Gama and Mello and supported by the nav^-. Rio de .Janeiro was blockaded and shelled by the rebels, but, owing largely to the unfavorable attitude of the Ignited States, whose war-vessels broke the blockade, the revolt (which was accompanied by insurrections in some of the States) collapsed early in 1894, and the insurgents fled or surrendered. Peixoto was succeeded later in the same year by Dr. Prudente de Moraes. Another rising, headed by a religions fanatic, .-Antonio Con- seilheiro, broke out in 1897 in the State of Bahia. It was probably assisted financially to some extent by the partisans of the old Empire, and threatened for a few months to cause the Government much trouble, but it was eventually crushed. .An attehipt to assassinate President