The
Northeast
(
nordeste)
of Brazil covers
an immense area
and features a
variety of
climates and
scenery, from
the dense
equatorial
forests of
western Maranhão,
only 200km from
the mouth of the
Amazon, to the
parched interior
of Bahia, some
2000km to the
south. It takes
in all or part
of the nine
states of
Maranhão, Piauí,
Ceará, Rio
Grande do Norte,
Paraíba,
Pernambuco,
Alagoas, Sergipe
and Bahia, which
together form
roughly a fifth
of Brazil's land
area and have a
combined
population of 36
million. When
nordestinos
living outside
the region are
included, they
make up about a
third of
Brazil's total
population.
Within Brazil,
the Northeast is
notorious for
its poverty, and
it has been
described as the
largest
concentration of
poor people in
the Americas.
Yet it's also
one of the most
rewarding areas
of Brazil to
visit, with a
special identity
and culture
nurtured by
fierce regional
loyalties,
shared by rich
and poor alike.
You'll come
across echoes of
Northeastern
culture all over
Brazil - in the
Amazon highway
towns or the
favelas of
Rio and São
Paulo -
engendered by
the millions of
Northeasterners
who migrate out
of the region.
The Northeast
possesses an
identity forged
by
geographical
contrasts, as
most of the
Northeastern
states have
three distinct
areas. First is
the flat coastal
strip, the
zona da mata
, which
literally means
"forest zone".
Little, apart
from the name,
is now left of
the coastal
jungle which
greeted the
first European
settlers in the
sixteenth
century: at the
same time as
they marvelled
at its beauty
they cut it down
and planted
sugar cane,
taking advantage
of the heavy
tropical rains
and rich soils.
It was on the
coast that the
first towns and
cities of the
Northeast grew
up - not for
nothing are all
the region's
state capitals,
save one,
coastal cities -
and to this day
the coastal
strip is by far
the most thickly
populated part
of the Northeast.
Unfortunately,
this fertile
coastal belt is
rather narrow,
and nowhere does
it extend inland
for more than a
hundred
kilometres. It
gives way to an
intermediate
area, the
agreste ,
where hills rear
up into rocky
mountain ranges,
and the lush,
tropical
vegetation of
the coast is
gradually
replaced by
highland scrub
and cactus.
Finally comes
the sertão
, the vast semi-arid
interior that
covers more than
three-quarters
of the Northeast
but houses a
relatively small
proportion of
its population.
The soils here
are poor, the
rainfall is
irregular, and
only the hardy
can scrabble a
living out of
the harsh
landscape.
The contrast
between the
coast and the
interior is the
most striking
thing about the
region. You
could have a
fascinating time
in the Northeast
without ever
leaving the
zona da mata,
but unless you
make at least
one foray into
the interior
you'll only get
a partial view
of what is the
most varied
region in
Brazil. It is
not just a
difference in
the way the
country looks.
Much of it also
has to do with
the racial
mix, a product
of the region's
economic history.
Blacks were
imported to work
on the coastal
sugar
plantations, and
relatively few
of them made it
into the
interior. The
Northeast has
the largest
concentration of
black people in
Brazil, but most
of them still
live either on
or near the
coast,
concentrated
around
Salvador ,
Recife
and São Luís
, where African
influences are
very obvious -
in the cuisine,
music and
religion. In the
sertão,
though,
Portuguese and
Indian
influences
predominate in
both popular
culture and
racial ancestry.
As far as
specific
attractions go,
the region has a
lot to offer.
The coastline
is over two
thousand
kilometres of
practically
unbroken beach,
much of it just
as you imagine
tropical beaches
to be: white
sands, blue sea,
palm trees - the
stuff
advertising
campaigns are
made of. The
colonial
heritage
survives in the
Baroque churches
and cobbled
streets of
Salvador, Olinda
and São Luís,
often side by
side with the
modern Brazilian
mix of
skyscrapers and
shantytowns. And
in Salvador and
Recife, with
populations of
around two
million each,
the Northeast
has two of
Brazil's great
cities .
Head inland
, and the
bustling market
towns of the
agreste and
the enormous
jagged
landscapes of
the sertão
more than repay
the journeys.
But above all,
in both city and
countryside,
there's the
force of a
richly diverse
popular
culture
which you will
find reflected
not only in arts
and crafts, but
in the texture
of everyday life.
The Brazilian
caricature of
frenzied
partying and
football worship
fits this region
better than most.
