Rio Grande do Sul

Geography

Rio Grande do Sul is bordered to the northeast by the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina, to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Uruguay, and to the northwest by the Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones.

The northern part of the state lies on the southern slopes of the elevated plateau extending southward from São Paulo across the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, and is much broken by low mountain ranges whose general direction across the trend of the slope gives them the appearance of escarpments. A range of low mountains extends southward from the Serra do Mar of Santa Catarina and crosses the state into Uruguay. West of this range is a vast grassy plain devoted principally to stock-raising – the northern and most elevated part being suitable in pasturage and climate for sheep, and the southern for cattle. East of it is a wide coastal zone only slightly elevated above the sea; within it are two great estuarine lagoons, the Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim, which are separated from the ocean by two sandy, partially barren peninsulas. The coast is one great sand beach, broken only by the outlet of the two lakes, called the Rio Grande, which affords an entrance to navigable inland waters and several ports. There are two distinct river systems in Rio Grande do Sul – that of the eastern slope draining to the lagoons, and that of the Río de la Plata basin draining westward to the Uruguay River.

The larger rivers of the eastern group are the Jacuí, Sinos, Caí, Gravataí and Camaquã, which flow into the Lagoa dos Patos, and the Jaguarão which flows into the Lagoa Mirim. All of the first named, except the Camaquã, discharge into one of the two arms or estuaries opening into the northern end of Lagoa dos Patos, which is called the Guaíba River, though technically it is not a river but a lake.

The Guaíba River is broad, comparatively deep and about 56 kilometres (35 mi) long, and with the rivers discharging into it affords upwards of 320 kilometres (200 mi) of fluvial navigation. The Jacuí is one of the most important rivers of the state, rising in the ranges of the Coxilha Grande of the north and flowing south and southeast to the Guaíba estuary, with a course of nearly 480 kilometres (300 mi) It has two large tributaries, the Vacacaí from the south and the Taquari from the north, and many small streams. The Jaguarão, which forms part of the boundary line with Uruguay, is navigable 42 km up to and beyond the town of Jaguarão.

Climate

Rio Grande do Sul lies within the south temperate zone and is predominantly humid subtropical (Cfa, according to the Köppen climate classification). The climate is subtropical highland (Cfb) in the highest areas. There are four relatively well-defined seasons and rainfall is well distributed throughout the year, but occasional droughts can occur. The winter months, June to September, are characterized by heavy rains and by a cold southwesterly wind, called minuano, which sometimes lowers the temperature to below freezing, especially in the mountainous municipalities, where snowfalls can occur. The lowest official temperature registered in the state was −9.8 °C (14 °F) in Bom Jesus, on August 1, 1955. In summer, the temperature rises to 37 °C (99 °F), and heat related injuries are not uncommon.

Ecoregions

Several ecoregions cover portions of the state. In the northeastern corner of the state, between the Serra do Mar/Serra Geral and the Atlantic, lies the southern extension of the Serra do Mar coastal forests, a belt of evergreen tropical moist forests that extend north along the coastal strip as far as Rio de Janeiro state. The high plateau behind the Serra do Mar is occupied by the Araucaria moist forests, a subtropical forests characterized by evergreen, laurel-leaved forests interspersed with emergent Brazilian Pines (Araucaria angustifolia). The Alto Paraná Atlantic forests lie on the lower slopes of the plateau south and east of the Araucaria forests, including much of the lower basin of the Jacuí and its tributaries. These forests are semi-deciduous, with many trees losing their leaves in the winter dry season. The Atlantic Coast restingas, distinctive forests which grow on nutrient-poor coastal dunes, extend along the coast, as far as the Uruguayan border.

The southeastern portion of the state is covered by the Pampas, which extends south into Uruguay, in a plateau named Serras de Sudeste (Southeastern Mountain Ranges).

Paleontology

The Caturrita Formation, rich in Triassic fossils, is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Riograndia, a cynodont from these deposits, was named after the state in 2001. Other animals from Caturrita Formation include a dicynodont Jachaleria, a traversodontid Exaeretodon and a rhynchosaur Scaphonyx. The presence of Exaeretodon and Scaphonyx shows the relationships with the fauna of Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina while Jachaleria better correlates with the lower part of Los Colorados Formation. All three genera confirm the Late Triassic age of the deposits, older than the upper section of Los Colorados Formation.

History

During the Brazilian Colonial period, the province of South Rio Grande was the scene of small wars and border skirmishes between Portugal and Spain for the region, the Sacramento Colony, and the Guarani Missions. It was also a focal point for internal rebellions in the 19th and the early 20th centuries.

Guarani Wars

According to the treaty of Tordesillas, the region was to be part of the Spanish possessions in South America. However, the Spanish were much more interested in the Pacific Coast, where gold, silver, and gems were quickly found. Even on the Atlantic coast, their attention was on the River Plate where they built the seaport of Buenos Aires, on its right bank. Consequently, Spanish settlement followed the course of the River Plate and its tributaries, especially the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, largely ignoring the Rio Grande do Sul area. The Spanish introduced livestock which escaped into the plains and attracted gauchos to the area.

The first Spanish to settle in the region that is now Paraguay, northwestern Argentina (Corrientes, Misiones), and Rio Grande do Sul were Jesuit missionary priests who came with the idea of converting the indigenous population to Catholic Christianity. To that end, they founded missionary villages known in Spanish as misiones or reducciones, populated by Guarani Indians.

In the early 17th century, the Jesuits founded missions to the east of the Uruguay river, and in the northwest of modern Rio Grande do Sul.

The missions were destroyed and their Guarani inhabitants were enslaved in large raids by bandeirantes between 1636 and 1638; however, in 1687, the Jesuits were back in the region, having refounded seven reductions, the Misiones Orientales. The region remained under Spanish sovereignty, though in practice the Jesuits operated quite independently as consequence of the Spanish laws, up to the late 17th century. But in 1680, the Portuguese founded Colônia do Sacramento on the northern bank of the River Plate, in what is now Uruguay. War ensued and was intermittent until the independence of Uruguay in 1828.

The logistics of defending Colônia against the Spanish resulted in a government effort to settle Rio Grande do Sul's coastal region with Brazilian and Portuguese colonists. In 1737, a fortified village (today the city of Rio Grande) was built at the entrance of Lagoa dos Patos. In 1752, a group of Azorean settlers founded Porto Alegre; to the west, Rio Pardo was also founded. Towards the middle of the century, Brazilians and Portuguese arrived to the west of the region, clashing with the Jesuits and the Guaranis. Up to 1756, the Guaranis fought back, under the leadership of Sepé Tiaraju, who was popularly canonized as São Sepé (Saint Sepé). However, the Portuguese and Brazilians eventually crushed the resistance, destroyed the missions, and the region came definitely into Portuguese hegemony.

Cisplatine War

The districts of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande had been separated in 1760 for military convenience, and in 1807 the latter was elevated to the category of a "capitania-geral", with the designation of "Sao Pedro do Rio Grande", independent of Rio de Janeiro, and with Santa Catarina as a dependency. In 1812 Rio Grande and Santa Catarina were organized into two distinct comarcas, the latter becoming an independent province in 1822 when the Empire of Brazil was organized.

In 1816, the Portuguese captured Uruguay, which became a Province of Brazil (Província Cisplatina). This situation outlasted Brazil's independence from Portugal in 1822; in 1825, however, Juan Antonio Lavalleja proclaimed the independence of Uruguay; war followed, until in 1828 Brazil recognized Uruguayan independence.

Farroupilha Revolution

Populating Rio Grande do Sul was a constant concern of the Portuguese. To that end, the metropolitan Crown distributed land in the form of enormous latifundia.

In those large latifundia, cattle raising was the predominant economic activity. The Guaranis, under Jesuit rule, had started raising cattle in the Missões. The destruction of the Missões left astray immense herds, which went feral. Thus the newcomers from São Paulo and Santa Catarina settled by re-domesticating these feral herds, called "gado xucro".

The Azorean settlers, on the other hand, mainly introduced wheat crops in much smaller properties. Up to the beginning of the 19th century, wheat was the main export product of Rio Grande do Sul.

However, the introduction of charqueadas in the Southern coast, following the 1777 drought in Ceará, opened new opportunities to husbandry, as from them on, instead of moving herds by land to São Paulo, cattle could be sold in the relatively nearby region of Pelotas, to be slaughtered and processed there, and further transported by sea to Santos, Rio de Janeiro, and other Brazilian harbours. The cheap jerky was commonly used as food for the enslaved laborers in other parts of Brazil.

Up to 1830, political unrest in Argentina and Uruguay favoured the jerky producers of Pelotas. But with order restored in these countries, competition by Argentinian and Uruguayan jerky producers became a concern. The jerky industry of the Plata was favored by the superior quality of Argentinian and Uruguayan pastures, by their better seaports, and by their use of free labor, instead of slavery. Consequently, the regional elites soon started to demand customs protection for the gaúcho jerky against the product of the Rio de la Plata; on the failure of the Imperial government to address those concerns, political demands of greater autonomy, and ideas of a federal relationship towards the rest of Brazil were put forth.

These escalated into full rebellion in 1835. In 1834, the Imperial government issued an "Ato Adicional", allowing for elected Provincial legislative assemblies. The first gaúcha Legislative Assembly, inaugurated in April 1835, quickly confronted the Provincial President (appointed by the Regency on behalf of the Emperor, who was a minor). Rebellion broke out in the province on September 20, 1835; giving up hope of redress of the situation by the Imperial Government, the gaúchos proclaimed independence of the Riograndense Republic on September 11, 1836.

Conflicts with neighbouring countries

At the mid-19th century, Rio Grande do Sul was repeatedly involved in war between Brazil and its neighbours. Those included war against Argentina and Uruguay (deposal of Juan Manuel Rosas, Argentinian dictator, and Manuel Ceferino Oribe y Viana, Uruguayan president, 1852) and intervention in Uruguay (deposal of Atanasio Cruz Aguirre, 1864). This, in turn, led to Paraguayan intervention, and the Paraguayan War, known in Portuguese as Guerra do Paraguai.

In the war against Rosas, 75% of the Brazilian troops were gaúchos. As the only Brazilian boundaries actually facing foreign armies able to project the Empire's power, Rio Grande do Sul and its gaúchos quickly developed a reputation as soldiers.

Paraguayan War

During this long and bloody war against Paraguay, Rio Grande do Sul remained usually a secondary front. But in 1865 a Paraguayan division invaded the state, occupying Uruguaiana by August 5. By August 16, troops of the Triple Alliance put siege to Uruguaiana, and by September 17, an ultimatum was delivered to General Estigarribia, commander of the Paraguayan division. Having no possibility of breaking the siege or defending the position, the Paraguayans surrendered, under conditions, the following day.

But if the territory of Rio Grande do Sul was spared most action, its dwellers provided a very significant part of the Brazilian troops: about 34,000 soldiers, more than 25% of the Brazilian army. This military characteristic of Rio Grande do Sul lasted long after the Paraguayan War: In 1879, of a standing army of less than 15,000, more than 5,000 were in Rio Grande do Sul. On the other hand, during the late Empire, more Brazilian generals were from Rio Grande do Sul than from any other province. In 1889, of 25 generals born in Brazil, four were from Rio Grande do Sul; and of the three born abroad, two were born in Uruguay but made their careers in Rio Grande do Sul.

Late Empire

Political agitation was frequent in Rio Grande do Sul, but no important revolution occurred after the Ponche Verde Treaty in 1845 until the presidency at Rio de Janeiro of General Floriano Peixoto, whose ill-considered interference with state governments led to the revolt of 1892–94, under Gumercindo Saraiva.

After the Paraguayan War, Rio Grande do Sul underwent important changes in its economy. Railways connected the countryside to Porto Alegre and Rio Grande. Together with the introduction of steam ships, this reduced the costs and duration of transportation, facilitating the province's exports. New cattle breeds were introduced, and barbed wire was used to demarcate properties.As a consequence, the population of the province doubled between 1872 and 1890, from 434,813 inhabitants to 897,455. This was partly due to immigration: about 60,000 immigrants, mostly from Italy, and, in lesser numbers, from Germany, came to Rio Grande do Sul during this period. Most of the Italians settled in the Serra Gaúcha, and most of the Germans in the valleys of the Jacuí, Sinos, and Caí, as small landed proprietors, and agricultural producers. In the area of German settlements, a messianic movement, the Muckers (German for False Saints) erupted in 1874, and was smashed by the Brazilian Army.

Also during this period, the Liberal Party established its hegemony over the province, meaning control of the provincial legislature, the National Guard in Rio Grande do Sul, and most of the municipal governments. Before the War of the Triple Alliance, the Conservative and Liberal parties had alternated in local power, following the national tendency. But, from 1872 on, the Liberals, under the leadership of Gaspar da Silveira Martins, were able to retain provincial power, even when the Conservatives won at national level.

1893 Revolution

In this struggle the revolutionaries occupied Santa Catarina and Paraná, capturing Curitiba, but were eventually overthrown through their inability to obtain munitions of war. An incident in this struggle was the death of Admiral Saldanha da Gama, one of the most brilliant officers of the Brazilian navy and one of the chiefs of the naval revolt of 1893–94, who was killed in a skirmish on the Uruguayan border towards the end of the conflict.

1923 Revolution

In 1923, civil war again exploded between supporters of State President Borges de Medeiros and opposition linked to the Partido Libertador and Assis Brasil.

1930 Revolution

In 1930, State President Getúlio Vargas, after unsuccessfully running in the presidential elections against the candidate of São Paulo, Júlio Prestes, led a revolt against the Federal government, and succeeded in overthrowing it. This eventually led to the Vargas dictatorship in 1937 and the period known as the Estado Novo. What is now the Rio Grande do Sul Military Brigade fought on the side of the state leadership and, as a result, was never reformed. In fact, the Brigade remains the only state militia in Brazil. (The Military Police is the federal force that polices in the other states.) A poignant example of the Brigade's quasi-autonomy is the participation of its servicemen in both the coup attempt of 1961 and the military coup in 1964.

Demographics

According to the IBGE of 2022, there were 10,882,965 people residing in the state. The population density was 38.63 inhabitants per square kilometre (100.1/sq mi).

Urbanization: 81% (2004); population growth: 1.2% (1991–2000); houses: 3,464,544 (2005).

The last 2022 census counted 8,534,229 white people (78.4%), 1,596,357 brown (Multiracial) people (14.7%), 709,837 black people (6.5%), 34,184 Amerindian people (0.3%), 8,158 Asian people (0.1%).

According to a genetic study from 2013, Brazilians in Rio Grande do Sul have an average of 73% European, 14% African and 13% Amerindian ancestry.

Ethnic groups

People of Portuguese – mostly Azorean – background predominate in the coastal region. The Southwest, on the other hand, was originally populated by Pampeano Indians. Like the other Gauchos from the La Plata Basin the population there was a result from the mixture of Spanish and Portuguese men with Amerindian women with a possible predominant Spanish ancestry and also a significant African contribution, resulting in a population that is 81.20% White.

These theoretical speculations about Spanish predominance among the population of Southwestern Rio Grande do Sul are widely presumed, but they contradict the historical knowledge about the region. In fact, there was always some Spanish colonial presence there, however in practice restricted to Jesuit religious initiatives towards the Amerindian populations, which had limited genetic impact in the demographic composition of aboriginal populations. On the other hand, it is broadly accepted that it is northern Uruguay that always has had an important Luso-Brazilian influence, which in fact impacts to this day the mixed Spanish-Portuguese language of northern Uruguay along the border with Brazil (borderlands).

People of German descent predominate in the Sinos Valley (Novo Hamburgo, São Leopoldo, Nova Hartz, Dois Irmãos, Morro Reuter, etc.) and in the center-eastern part of the State (Santa Cruz do Sul). People of Italian descent predominate in the mountains (Serra Gaúcha: Caxias do Sul, Bento Gonçalves, Farroupilha, Garibaldi, etc.). The Northern and Northwestern parts of the State also have significant numbers of people of both Italian and German descent. There are sizeable communities of Poles and Ukrainians across the state, notably in the northwest. People of African ancestry are concentrated in the capital city and in some cities in the litoral, such as Pelotas and Rio Grande.

According to Argentine demographer Miguel Ángel García, Italian immigrants were 60% of the total immigration to Rio Grande do Sul and according to French historian Jean Roche as of 1950 people of German descent made up 21.6% of the state's population.

The region that is now Rio Grande do Sul was originally settled by Amerindian peoples, mostly Guaraní and Kaingangs and, to a lesser extent, Charrúas and Minuanes. European presence in the region started in 1627 with Spanish Jesuits. The Jesuits established Indian Reductions in the region; those reductions where populated exclusively by Amerindians, mainly Guarani, and certainly not by Europeans, either Spanish or Portuguese. Portuguese Jesuits established Indian Reductions in 1687 and dominated the region. Most of the Indians of the region became Catholics and went to live among the Jesuits. These reductions were destroyed by the Bandeirantes from São Paulo in the 18th century, who wanted to enslave the Indians. The Portuguese settlement in Rio Grande do Sul was largely increased between 1748 and 1756, with the arrival of two thousand immigrants from the Azores Islands, Portugal. They settled many parts of the state, including the nowadays capital, Porto Alegre. Blacks were 50 percent of Rio Grande do Sul's population in 1822. This proportion decreased to 25 percent in 1858 and to only 5.2 percent in 2005. Most of them were brought from Angola to work as slaves in the charqueadas.

Religion

According to the 2022 Census, the population of Rio Grande do Sul aged over 10 declared their religion as follows: Roman Catholic (60.63%), Protestantism (21.35%), non-religious (8.82%), Umbanda and Candomblé practitioners (3.19%), Spiritists (2.86%), Indigenous traditions (0.03%), does not know or no declaration (0.08%), and other religions (3.04%).

From a religious standpoint, Rio Grande do Sul is diverse. Of the ten municipalities with the highest percentages of Catholics in Brazil, nine are located in the state, including the most Catholic municipality in the country, Montauri (98.3%). Of the ten most Evangelical municipalities in Brazil by percentage, six are in Rio Grande do Sul, including the one with the highest percentage, Arroio do Padre (88.7%). The state has the highest percentage of practitioners of Umbanda and Candomblé among Brazil’s federative units, and nine of the ten municipalities with the highest number of practitioners of these religions are located in Rio Grande do Sul.

According to the territorial division of the Catholic Church in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul belongs to the Southern Region III, and its territory is divided into four ecclesiastical provinces. These are formed by the archdioceses of Porto Alegre, which is divided into four suffragan dioceses: Caxias do Sul, Montenegro, Novo Hamburgo, and Osório; Pelotas, which is subdivided into two: Bagé and Rio Grande; Passo Fundo, subdivided into three: Erechim, Frederico Westphalen, and Vacaria; and Santa Maria, which is divided into five: Cachoeira do Sul, Cruz Alta, Santa Cruz do Sul, Santo Ângelo, and Uruguaiana.

Rio Grande do Sul also has a wide variety of Protestant or Reformed denominations. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the Christian Congregation, Baptist churches, and the Assembly of God are the largest denominations. As mentioned, 18.32% of the state’s population declared themselves Evangelical, with 15.76% belonging to churches of Pentecostal origin, 8.43% to unspecified Evangelical churches, and 5.70% to mission churches.

Education

There are more than 100 universities in the state.

The largest public university is UFRGS and the largest private one is PUCRS.

In 2018, a total of 1,298,736 students were enrolled in elementary education. These students attended 5,926 elementary schools in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Of these institutions, 5,166 were run by municipalities, 4,135 by the state government, 4 by the federal government, and 1,019 by the private sector. The teaching staff consisted of 73,770 teachers, of whom 44,018 taught in municipal schools, 31,433 in state schools, 143 in federal schools, and 12,960 in private institutions. In the same year, secondary education was provided by 1,503 schools, with 338,065 enrolled students taught by 27,771 teachers.

In 2019, the state literacy rate reached 97.4%, the fourth highest in Brazil and comparable to that of Singapore. The school attendance rate for the population aged 8 to 14 was 18.3. In 2008, 14.8% of the population of Rio Grande do Sul was considered functionally illiterate. The state’s Education Human Development Index (HDI–Education) is the eighth highest in Brazil, at 0.642.

The most important universities in the state include the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the Federal University of Santa Maria, the Federal University of Pelotas, the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, the Federal University of Rio Grande, the University of Caxias do Sul, the University of Passo Fundo, the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, the Lutheran University of Brazil, Feevale University and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Economy

The industrial sector is the largest component of GDP at 43%, followed by the service sector at 41%. Agriculture represents 16% of GDP (2004). Rio Grande do Sul exports: footwear 18%, soybeans 14%, tobacco 13.6%, vehicles 8%, frozen meat 7.2%, chemicals 6.8%, and leather 5% (2002).

Share of the Brazilian economy: 7% (2005).

One of the most prosperous Brazilian states, Rio Grande do Sul is known especially for its grain production, viticulture, ranching, and for its considerable industrial output.

In 1827, emigrants from Idar-Oberstein discovered the world's most important agate deposit in Rio Grande do Sul. As early as 1834, the first delivery of agate from Rio Grande do Sul had been made to Idar-Oberstein. The Brazilian agate exhibited very even layers, much more even than those seen in the local agates. This made them especially good for making engraved gems.

In agriculture, the state stands out in the production of soybeans, maize, wheat, rice, tobacco, grape, apple, cassava and yerba mate, in addition to also producing oat, barley, orange, peach, fig, tangerine, persimmon and strawberry.

In 2020, the South Region produced 32% of the national total of cereals, vegetables and oilseeds. There were 77.2 million tons, second place in Brazil, losing only to the Midwest. Rio Grande do Sul (14.3%) was the 3rd largest producer in the country.

Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of rice in the country, with 70.5% of Brazil's production, close to 7.3 million tons in 2020. It is also the largest producer of tobacco in Brazil, and is the largest exporter in the world. Brazil is the second largest producer in the world and leader in tobacco exports since the 1990s, with 98% of Brazilian production being carried out in the South Region. The state is responsible for 90% of the national production of grapes, and produces 90% of the wine produced in the country, 85% of the sparkling wine, and 90% of the grape juice, mainly in the area of Caxias do Sul and surroundings: 664.2 thousand tons of grape in 2018.

Infrastructure

Highways

The state has 153,960 km of highways, under national, state or municipal jurisdiction. The main highways are: BR-101, BR-116, BR-153, BR-158, BR-163, BR-285, BR-287, BR-290, BR-293, BR-386, BR-392 and BR-471. After decades of meager investments by successive State Governments, Rio Grande do Sul currently has a deficient road network and one of the worst in the southern half of the country: in 2020, there were still 54 cities without asphalt access (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul had 100% of cities with asphalt access at the same time, Paraná and Minas Gerais had almost 100%). The State also has few duplicated highways, roughly in the vicinity of the capital Porto Alegre, most of which belong to the Federal Government; despite the large number of state highways, the State Government did little in this field. The situation only began to change in 2019, when the State carried out an economic and financial reorganization plan, and launched a specific program aimed at recovering and evolving the state's road network. This year, 62 municipalities still did not have access to asphalt: the project was to arrive in 2023 with 22 cities without access. Highway concessions held by Rio Grande do Sul, such as BR-287 and BR-386, carried out at the same time, aim to double the granted portions of these highways by 2035. Currently, 211 km of the BR-116 between Guaíba and Pelotas are being duplicated, and in 2022 there were already 148 km duplicated.

Ports

The Port of Rio Grande is of great importance for Mercosur, and also the main point of multimodality in the state, causing part of the road and rail system to focus on the Port of Rio Grande. The main ports are: Port of Rio Grande, Port of Porto Alegre, Port of Pelotas and Port of Estrela. The port terminals of Rio Grande, Porto Alegre and Pelotas handled, in 2021, 47.6 million tons of cargo, 45.18 million in the Port of Rio Grande alone.

International airports

With 37.6 thousand square meters of constructed area and four levels, the passenger terminal at Salgado Filho International Airport can receive 28 large airplanes simultaneously.

The terminal has 32 check-in counters, ten boarding bridges, nine elevators and ten escalators. It has a totally automated aircraft movement control center and the main spaces are air conditioned.

The apron, surfaced with prestressed concrete, can serve jumbo jets like the Boeing 747-400.

The garage structure has eight levels, 44 thousand square meters and 1,440 parking spaces.

Another terminal, with 15 thousand square meters and capacity for 1.5 million passengers a year, serves general, executive and third-tier aviation (conventional piston-engine and turboprop planes).

Porto Alegre Airport was the first one administered by Infraero to have integrated check-in. This service offers flexibility in use of terminal facilities and installations, enabling carriers to access their own data centers via shared-use computers from any check-in counter position. This makes it much easier to allocate counter space according to demand fluctuations, making for less idle space.

The Aeroshopping area – a center for commerce and leisure – operates 24 hours a day with shops, services, a food court, along with a triplex cinema, the first to be established at a Brazilian airport.

Salgado Filho International Airport also has an air cargo terminal, built in 1974, with 9,500 thousand square meters of area and capacity to handle 1,500 tons of export cargo and 900 tons of imports each month.

The average daily movement (arrivals and departures) is 174 aircraft, flying scheduled routes connecting Porto Alegre directly or indirectly to all the country's other major cities, as well as smaller cities in the interior of the states of the South Region and São Paulo. There are also international flights with direct connections to cities of the Southern Cone.

National airports

Hugo Cantergiani Airport (CXJ/SBCX) serves a vast region of important economical and touristic counties in the vicinities of Caxias do Sul, totalling 34 municipalities in this area of the "Serra Gaúcha". It is located at an altitude of 754 m (2 474 ft) as has one concrete runway (15/33) with the length of 2 000 m (6 562 ft) although only 1.650 m are usable if landing on runway 15. It is served on a daily basis by GOL and Azul airlines linking Caxias do Sul to São Paulo. It is equipped with a VASIS visual approach aid and is also certified for IFR approaches. References to these informations are published in the Portuguese version of this site.

Energy

In 2021, Rio Grande do Sul had around 7.2 GW of installed electrical power, a relatively low number compared to the country's total, which was around 170 GW at the time. Of the total, 80.6% came from renewable sources - 49% corresponded to hydroelectric plants, 19.5% to wind energy and 8.2% to photovoltaic solar energy. The state has high potential for wind power installation due to the average wind speed being one of the highest in the country. There are currently several projects for new wind farms in progress, in addition to investments in the state's power transmission lines, which were limited. Most projects for offshore wind energy in Brazil, in 2021, were in Rio Grande do Sul, with installation scheduled for 2030.

In March 2022, Rio Grande do Sul was the 3rd Brazilian state with the most solar energy installed in the individual distributed micro generation modality.

The production of crude mineral coal in Brazil was 13.6 million tons in 2007. Santa Catarina produced 8.7 Mt (million tons); Rio Grande do Sul, 4.5 Mt; and Paraná, 0.4 Mt. Brazil has reserves of peat, lignite and hard coal. Coal totals 32 billion tons of reserves and is mainly in Rio Grande do Sul (89.25% of the total). The Candiota Deposit (in Rio Grande do Sul) alone has 38% of all national coal. As it's a coal of inferior quality, it's used only in the generation of thermoelectric energy and at the site of the deposit. The oil crisis in the 1970s led the Brazilian government to create the Energy Mobilization Plan, with intense research to discover new coal reserves. The Geological Survey of Brazil, through works carried out in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, greatly increased the reserves of coal previously known, between 1970 and 1986 (mainly between 1978 and 1983). Good quality coal, suitable for use in metallurgy and in large volume (seven billion tons), was then discovered in several deposits in Rio Grande do Sul (Morungava, Chico Lomã, Santa Teresinha), but at relatively great depths (up to 1,200 m), which has hindered its use until now. In 2011, coal accounted for only 5.6% of the energy consumed in Brazil, but it is an important strategic source, which can be activated when, for example, the water levels in the dams are very low, reducing excessively the supply of hydroelectric power.

Culture

The state of Rio Grande do Sul is renowned as one of the most culturally rich states of Brazil. Rio Grande's music is a blend of many styles (most a continuum of rhythms found in neighboring countries), including the Chamamé, Milonga, Polca and Chacarera. Modern gaucho music or tchê music has been popular since the late 1980s. The inhabitants of the state are known in the country for drinking chimarrão, a local version of the mate drunk in neighbouring Uruguay and Argentina, and for consuming churrasco very regularly (a practice common due to the abundant sources of high quality meat), even going so far as considering this one of the most important elements of everyday life. Porto Alegre is home to Sport Club Internacional and Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense. They are arch-rivals, one of the biggest rivalries in Brazil.

Each region of the state has its own cultural background. In the pampas (Southwest), the culture is still largely influenced by the old Gaúchos. Gaúcho is a term that can describe anyone born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. However, it is also used to describe the 19th century rural workers of the region.

Other parts of the state have a slightly different culture, influenced mainly by German or Italian immigrants. After some generations, the descendants of immigrants were integrated in the local society, even though their cultural influences are still strong, mostly in the countryside. Despite these differences, the Gaucho people maintain a particular zeal for their culture and its variations.Although the Gaucho culture and its Portuguese-based language prevails in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, sharing many of its folklore characteristics with neighboring horseback livestock raising, grassland centered cultures, such as found in Uruguay and in Argentina, the state also has other strong albeit less prominent cultural focus areas.

These are, notably the German-Brazilian cultural identity and the Riograndenser Hunsrückisch language (the estimated number of speakers are around 1,500,000), spoken in the state since 1824; it received official recognition by the state House of Representatives in 2012 by unanimous vote. Also, as the result of European immigration stated in the 19th century, the state has an Italian culture and language of its own, the Talian language (a Veneto-based language/dialect), spoken mostly in the highlands region, at the so-called Old Italian Colonies in the upper state (see Italian-Brazilian).

Tourism and recreation

High-end tourism is very popular in the Germanesque cities of Gramado and Canela; their cold weather is among their attractions for internal tourism. Tourism is also high in the wine regions of the state, principally Caxias do Sul and Bento Gonçalves. The pampas of the native Brazilian Gaúcho are both a national and international curiosity to tourists and their customs are alive in the capital city of Porto Alegre as well as in the cities of the "interior" or western Rio Grande do Sul such as Santa Maria and Passo Fundo. The state is also home to the historic São Miguel das Missões, the ruins of an 18th-century Jesuit Mission.

The state of Rio Grande do Sul and its cities have developed a series scenic routes to appeal to tourists. The Rota Romântica is a popular scenic drive that exhibits the diverse Germanic culture of the mountainous regions of the state referred to as the Serra Gaúcha. One can visit the state's Italian settlements through Caminhos da Colônia, tour the wine country through the Wine and Grapes Route and visit a subsection of the Rota Romântica called the Região das Hortênsias, the region filled with blue hydrangea flowers each spring.

In the far western area of the state are the remnants of Brazil's 17th century Jesuit missions or reductions (aldeias) to the Guaraní Indians.

Of all the ruins left behind by the vanished Guarani Missions, the most significant one is São Miguel or São Miguel Arcanjo, located nearby the present city of Santo Ângelo. There is an ongoing Light and Sound (or Som e Luz in Portuguese) show presented at the ruins of the São Miguel church.

Language

As in all Brazil, Portuguese is the main spoken language. A few expressions of Spanish origin are common (such as "gracias" instead of "obrigado", or the vocative "tchê") etc., due to the proximity with Argentina and Uruguay and their common Gaucho past. Also a few words of German origin, particularly referring to cuisine, have entered the vocabulary, such as "chimia" (from "schmier") and "cuca" (from "Kuchen"). Words of Guarani language origin also make up the vocabulary, an example being the largely used word "guri", meaning "boy".

The Gaúchos use the pronoun "tu", instead of "você", the latter being the formal second person singular noun and the first being the informal noun equivalent. In the traditional Gaúcho dialect of the Pampas, the verb is conjugated correctly in the second person singular, as in European Portuguese (tu cantas, tu bates, tu partes, tu pões). In the colloquial Portuguese of Porto Alegre, however, the verb is conjugated in the second person as in the third person (tu canta, tu bate, tu parte, tu põe).

Gaúcho Portuguese phonology

Although this process is very common in the Southeast, in Gaúcho Portuguese the letters "s" and "z" are never pronounced as palato-alveolar consonants in coda position (e.g., pasto "pasture" is [ˈpaʃtu] in Rio de Janeiro, but [ˈpastu] in Porto Alegre).

In Rio Grande do Sul, as in most of Brazil, the letters "t" and "d" are pronounced as palato-alveolar affricate consonants, when immediately succeeded by the vowel "i" (a process of palatalization which, however, does not happen in the varieties of the Pampas). Moreover, the unstressed "e" and "o" are often reduced into [ɪ] and [ʊ], respectively. Therefore, in Porto Alegre, the unstressed "te" syllables are pronounced [tʃi], for example, while in the Pampas they are usually pronounced [tɪ]:

Porto Alegre: antigamente – [ɐ̃(n)ˌtʃiɡaˈmeȷ̃tʃʲ] or [ɐ̃(n)ˌtʃiɡaˈmentʃʲ]

Gaúcho Pampas: antigamente – [ɐ̃ˌtʃiɡaˈme̞nte̞]

(compare Spanish: antiguamente – [ãn̪t̪iɣ̞waˈmẽ̞n̪t̪e̞])

The dialect of the Pampas had experienced a stronger influence of Spanish language, while the dialect of Porto Alegre suffers modern influences of the Southeastern varieties.

Also, the vowel nasalization in Porto-alegrense Portuguese is far different from that seen in French, for example. In French, the nasalization extends uniformly through the entire vowel. In Porto Alegre, the nasalization begins almost imperceptibly, and then gets far stronger in the end of the vowel, therefore being closer to the nasalization of Hindi-Urdu phonology (see Anusvara). In some cases, the nasal archiphoneme actually represents the addition of a nasal consonant, like [m, n, ŋ, ȷ̃, w̃, ɰ̃].

manta = [ˈmɐ̃ntɐ]

tampa = [ˈtɐ̃mpɐ]

banco = [ˈbɐ̃ŋku]

bem = [bẽȷ̃]

Minority languages

Minority languages spoken in Rio Grande do Sul include Indigenous languages (Guarani, Kaingang, etc.), and European derived languages (Talian, Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, East Pomeranian dialect of

Low German, Yiddish and Polish).

Most of the German dialects speakers in southern Brazil spoke or eventually adopted Hunsrückisch so that it became the most commonly used German dialect in this part of the world and is still spoken by many people today (also referred to as Riograndenser Hunsrückisch to differentiate it from the Hunsrückisch spoken in Germany).

In its 180 years of history Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has been influenced by Portuguese and by other German dialects, such as Pfälzisch.

Talian is a Brazilian variety of the Venetian language, also often called Vêneto for that reason.

All minority languages in southern Brazil have experienced a significant degree of decline in the last few decades.

Sport

Rio Grande do Sul currently has eight football teams belonging to the divisions of the Brazilian Football Championship: Internacional, Grêmio, Juventude, Caxias, Brasil de Pelotas, Aimoré, Novo Hamburgo São José and Ypiranga. Sport Club Rio Grande, from the municipality of Rio Grande, is the oldest in Brazil and currently plays in the Campeonato Gaúcho of the Second Division.

Rio Grande do Sul is also a national and world reference in futsal, with teams such as Inter/Ulbra in Porto Alegre, ACBF in Carlos Barbosa, Atlântico in Erechim, Ulbra in Canoas, Assoeva in Venâncio Aires and Enxuta in Caxias do Sul. The municipality of Carlos Barbosa is considered the futsal capital in Brazil.

Olympic medalists who were born in the state include: Mayra Aguiar and Daniel Cargnin (judo); Fernando Scheffer (swimming); André Johannpeter (equestrian); André Heller, Gustavo Endres, Murilo Endres, Renan Dal Zotto, Paulão, Fernanda Garay, Carol Albuquerque, Éder, Janelson, Jorge Édson, Lucão, Marcus Vinícius and Thiago Alves (volleyball). Also from the state is Thomaz Koch, considered one of the greatest tennis players in the history of Brazil and Henrique Mecking, considered the greatest Brazilian chess player of all time, who came to be the 3rd best in the world; in addition to World Championships medalists such as Babi and Deonise in handball, João Derly and Maria Portela in judo, Daiane dos Santos in gymnastics and Samuel de Bona in the aquatic marathon.