Acre (state)


Acre is a state located in the west of the North Region of Brazil and the Amazonia Legal. Located in the westernmost part of the country, at a two-hour time difference from Brasília, Acre is bordered clockwise by the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Rondônia to the north and east, along with an international border with the Bolivian department of Pando to the southeast, and the Peruvian regions of Madre de Dios, Ucayali and Loreto to the south and west. Its capital and largest city is Rio Branco. Other important places include Cruzeiro do Sul, Sena Madureira, Tarauacá and Feijó. The state, which has 0.42% of the Brazilian population, generates 0.2% of the Brazilian GDP.
Intense extractive activity in the rubber industry, which reached its height in the early 20th century, attracted Brazilians from many regions to the state. From the mixture of sulista, southeastern Brazil, nordestino, and indigenous traditions arose a diverse cuisine.
Fluvial transport, concentrated on the Juruá and Moa rivers, in the western part of the state, and the Tarauacá and Envira rivers in the northwest, is the principal form of transportation, especially between November and June. Heavy seasonal rains frequently make the BR-364 impassable in those months; it usually connects Rio Branco to Cruzeiro do Sul.

Etymology

The name, which was given to the territory in 1904, and to the state in 1962, is derived from one of the local rivers, perhaps originates from the Tupi word a'kir ü "green river", or from the form a'kir, of the Tupi word ker, "to sleep, to rest". It is believed more likely to be derived from Aquiri, a transliteration by European explorers of the term Umákürü, or Uakiry, from the Ipurinã dialect. Another hypothesis is that Acquiri derives from Yasi'ri, or Ysi'ri, meaning "flowing or swift water".
According to one account, agriculturist João Gabriel de Carvalho Melo wrote during an 1878 trip on the Purús River to merchant Viscount of Santo Elias, asking him for goods to be sent to the "mouth of the Aquiri River". In Belém, the local merchant or his employees either misinterpreted Gabriel's handwriting, or he spelled the name wrong: the goods and invoice which Gabriel received were marked as having been sent to the Acre River.
Acre possesses some nicknames: the End of Brazil, The Rubber Tree State, the Latex State and the Western End.
The native inhabitants of Acre are called acrianos, in the singular acri'ano. Until the entry according to the Orthographic Agreement of 1990, the correct spelling was acre'ano in the singular and in the plural acre'ano's. In 2009, with the new orthographic agreement, the change generated controversy between the Academy of Letters of Acre and the Brazilian Academy of Letters. The latter said that the change would mean the denial of the state's historical and cultural roots, by changing the last letter of the toponym from "E" to "I".

Geography

The state of Acre occupies an area of in the extreme west of Brazil. It is located at 70º west longitude and at 9º south latitude. In Brazil, the state is part of the North Region, forming borders with the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, and with two countries: Peru and Bolivia.
Practically all of the terrain of the state of Acre is part of the low sandstone plateau, or terra firme, morphological unit which dominates most of the Brazilian Amazon. These terranes rise, in Acre, from the southeast to the northeast, with very tabular topography in general. In the extreme west is found the Serra da Contamana or Serra do Divisor, along the western border, with the highest altitudes in the state. About 63% of the state's surface lies between in height; 16% between 300 and 609 ; and 21% between 200 and 135.
The climate is hot and very humid, of the Am type in the Köppen climate classification system, and the monthly average temperatures vary between, being the lowest average of the North Region. The rainfall reaches an annual total of, with a clear dry season in the months of June, July, and August.
The Amazon rainforest covers all of the state territory. Very rich in rubber trees of the most valuable species and Brazil nut trees, the forest guarantees that Acre is the greatest national producer of rubber and nuts. Acre's principal rivers, mostly navigable during the wet season, cross the state with almost parallel courses which converge only outside of its territory.
The largest recorded Black Caiman, measured at and weighing, was shot in Acre in 1965.
The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species-rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia. As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. More than 1/3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest.

Statistical and legal subdivisions

Acre is divided into 22 municipalities, 5 immediate regions and 2 intermediate regions:

Rio Branco

  • Immediate Region of Brasileia
  • *:
  • Immediate Region of Rio Branco
  • *:
  • Microregion of Sena Madureira
  • *:

    Cruzeiro do Sul

  • Immediate Region of Cruzeiro do Sul
  • *:
  • Immediate Region of Tarauacá
  • *:

    History

Pre-Columbian era

The region of present-day Acre is thought to have been inhabited by Pre-Columbian civilizations since at least 2,100 years ago. Evidence includes complex geoglyphs of this age found in the area. The natives who crafted them are believed to have had a relatively advanced knowledge of this technology. Since at least the early 15th century, the region has been inhabited by peoples who spoke Panoan languages; their territory was geographically close to that of the Inca.

Bolivian–Peruvian rule

In the mid-18th century, the region was colonized by the Spanish and became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian and Bolivian wars of independence, which ended in 1826, the region and large portions around it became part of both Peru and Bolivia respectively, but independent of Spain and both states disputed the territory. It was a territory of the short-lived Peru–Bolivian Confederation, until the two countries separated and most of the region returned to Bolivian control.
The discovery of rubber tree groves in the region in the mid-19th century attracted numerous immigrants, especially from Brazil and Europe, seeking to build on the rubber boom. Despite the increased numbers of Brazilians, the Treaty of Ayacucho determined that the region belonged to Bolivia. By 1877, Acre's population was composed almost entirely of Brazilians coming from the Northeast.

Brazilian acquisition

In 1899, Brazilian settlers in Acre declared an independent state known as the Republic of Acre. Bolivia attempted to reassert control, but Brazilian resistance led to armed clashes, culminating in the Acre War. On 17 November 1903, the Treaty of Petrópolis was signed, transferring final possession of the region to Brazil. Acre was incorporated as a Brazilian territory divided into three departments. Brazil acquired the land for two million pounds sterling, with the territory taken from Mato Grosso under terms that also facilitated the construction of the Madeira-Mamoré railway.
Once the Acre War was over, Peru did not recognize the annexation of Acre until 1909, with the Velarde-Río Branco Treaty, where the borders between Peru and Brazil were defined. It was signed in Rio de Janeiro, on September 8, 1909, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Baron of Rio Branco, and the plenipotentiary minister of Peru in Brazil, Hernán Velarde, by President Augusto B. Leguía then ruled in Peru, and in Brazil by the president Nilo Pecanha, in order to solve the border problems between Peru and Brazil.
Image:Brazil map 1892.gif|left|thumb|300px|Map of Brazil during República Velha, 1892. Note the differences from current western borders in the areas of Pantanal and the Amazon basin — including the lack of Acre's territory, then still part of Bolivia
Acre was united in 1920. On June 15, 1962, it was elevated to the category of state, and was the first to be governed by a woman, Iolanda Fleming, a teacher. During the early twentieth century, rubber seedlings were taken to Southeast Asia, where competitive plantations were established, reducing the importance of the Amazon in production. During the Second World War, Japanese forces took over the rubber tree groves of British Malaya.
Acre was called on to produce rubber for the Allied war effort. The Rubber Soldiers, natives mostly of the Ceará plantation, increased production and provided critical supplies to the Allies. Acre's decisive contribution to the Allied victory may have helped Brazil attract North American investment to form the National Steel Company in the postwar era. This company aided in the industrialization of the Central-south, which did not yet possess basic heavy industries.
On April 4, 2008, Acre won a judicial debate with the state of Amazonas in relation to the dispute surrounding the Cunha Gomes Line. It annexed part of the municipalities of Envira, Guajará, Boca do Acre, Pauini, Eirunepé and Ipixuna. The territorial redefinition consolidated the incorporation of 1.2 million hectares of the Liberdade, Gregório, and Mogno forest complex to the territory of Acre, which corresponds to.

Initial settlement

Since the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs, major geometric earthworks, have been discovered on deforested land in Acre, and dated to between 1–1250 AD. These are cited as evidence of complex Pre-Columbian societies. The BBC's Unnatural Histories explored studies of this area, concluding that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristine "wilderness", has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years. Traditional ancient practices included forest gardening. Ondemar Dias is credited as the first to discover the geoglyphs in 1977. Alceu Ranzi expanded their findings by flying over Acre.
During the 17th century, Portuguese expeditions reached many of the far ends of present-day Brazil. The expansion of the exploration to the west followed, and they reached lands under control by the Spanish colonies. The two nations negotiated to establish their territories, under the Treaties of Madrid and San Ildefonso. Both of the treaties were based on the explorations of Portuguese bandeirante Manoel Félix de Lima of the Guaporé and Madeira river basins. The treaties established the riverbeds of the Mamoré and Guaporé to their maximum western limits on the left bank of the Javari as the border between the Spanish and Portuguese territories.
The Portuguese created the new royal captaincy of Mato Grosso, stimulating settlement toward the frontier. New centers developed: Vila Bela on the banks of the Guaporé, Vila Maria on the Paraguay River, and Casalvasco. Until the mid-19th century, there was little effort to settle the area systematically. At that time, the great virgin source of rubber attracted commercial interest, and development followed.
The empire was directed towards agricultural exports, based on coffee as the most important commodity. The territories of the extreme west were unknown and usually overlooked. For example, although Cândido Mendes de Almeida's Atlas of the Empire of Brazil, was considered a model of its time, geographers knew nothing of the Acre River and its principal tributaries, which did not appear at all in the atlas.
Some few armed bands of Brazilian explorers exploited the rural and unpopulated region, not knowing and little interested in whether they were "controlled" by Brazil, Peru, or Bolivia.
But the rubber boom of the mid-19th century, stimulated exploration by various expeditions to survey this resource and develop a plan for colonial settlement. At that time, João Rodrigues Cametá initiated the conquest of the Purús River; Manuel Urbano da Encarnação, an Indian with extensive knowledge of the region, reached the Acre River, traveling up it as far as the vicinity of the Xapuri; and João da Cunha Correia reached the drainage basin of the upper Tarauacá. For the most part, these expeditions took place on Bolivian land.
Exploitative activities, the industrial importance of the rubber reserves, and the penetration of Brazilian colonists in the region raised the attention of Bolivia, which solicited a better fixation of boundaries. After much failed negotiation, in 1867 the Treaty of Ayacucho was signed, which recognized the colonial uti possidetis, or use of that territory by Brazil. A border was established parallel to the confluence of the Beni and Mamoré rivers, running eastward to the headwaters of the Javari River, even though the source of this river was not yet known.