Imperial Brazilian Navy
The Imperial Brazilian Navy was the navy created at the time of the independence of the Empire of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves. It existed between 1889 during the vigency of the constitutional monarchy; the Navy was formed entirely by ships, staff and doctrines proceeding from the transference of the Portuguese Royal Family in 1808. Some of its members were native-born Brazilians. Other members were Portuguese who adhered to the cause of separation and German and Irish mercenaries; some establishments created by King João VI were incorporated. Under the reign of Emperor Pedro II the Navy was expanded to become the fifth most powerful navy in the world and the armed force more popular and loyal to the Brazilian monarchy; the republican coup d'état in 1889, led by army men, put an end to the Imperial Navy that fell into decay until the new century. The Imperial Navy came into being with the independence of the country in 1822 to fight and to expel the Portuguese troops dispersed by the territory.
The transfer of the Portuguese monarchy to Brazil in 1808 during the Napoleonic wars resulted in the transfer of a large part of the structure and ships of the Portuguese Navy. These became the core of the created Imperial Navy. A number of establishments created by King John were incorporated into the navy such as the Department of Navy, Headquarters of the Navy, the Intendancy and Accounting Department, the Arsenal of the Navy, the Academy of Navy Guards, the Naval Hospital, the Auditorship, the Supreme Military Council, the powder plant, others. Due to the necessity of the war, its initial contingent was formed by Brazilians, Portuguese who joined the independence and by foreign mercenaries; the Brazilian-born Captain Luís da Cunha Moreira was chosen as the first minister of the Navy on 28 October 1822. Under Articles 102 and 148 of the Constitution, the Brazilian Armed Forces were subordinate to the Emperor as Commander-in-Chief, he was aided by the Ministers of War and Navy in matters concerning the Army and the Navy—although the Prime Minister exercised oversight of both branches in practice.
The ministers of War and Navy were, with few exceptions, civilians. The model chosen was the British parliamentary or Anglo-American system, in which "the country's Armed Forces observed unrestricted obedience to the civilian government while maintaining distance from political decisions and decisions referring to borders' security". Brazil's first line of defense relied upon a large and powerful navy to protect against foreign attack; the military was organized along similar lines to the American armed forces of the time. As a matter of policy, the military was to be obedient to civilian governmental control and to remain at arm's length from involvement in political decisions. Military personnel were allowed to run for and serve in political office while remaining on active duty; however they did not represent the Army or the Navy, but were instead expected to serve the interests of the city or province which had elected them. Britisher Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane was nominated the commander of the Imperial Navy and received the rank of "First Admiral".
At that time, the fleet was composed of one ship of the line, four frigates, smaller ships for a total of 38 warships. The Secretary of Treasury Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada created a national subscription to generate capital in order to increase the size of the fleet. Contributions were sent from all over Brazil; the Emperor Pedro I acquired a merchant brig at his own expense and donated it to the State. The navy fought in the north and south of Brazil where it had a decisive role in the independence of the country; the navy fought in the north and south of Brazil where it had a decisive role in the independence of the country. After the suppression of the revolt in Pernambuco in 1824 and prior to the Cisplatine War, the navy increased in size and strength. Starting with 38 ships in 1822 the navy had 96 modern warships of various types with over 690 cannons; the Navy blocked the estuary of the Rio de la Plata hindering the contact of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata with the Cisplatine rebels and the outside world.
Several battles had occurred between Brazilian and Argentine ships until the defeat of an Argentine flotilla composed of two corvettes, five brigs and one barquentine near the Island of Santiago in 1827. When Pedro I abdicated in 1831, he left a powerful navy made up of two ships of the line and ten frigates in addition to corvettes and other ships for a total of at least 80 warships in peacetime; the action of the navy was essential during the war of independence to avoid the arrival of new Portuguese troops in Brazilian territory. Both parties saw the Portuguese warships spread across the country as the instrument through which military victory could be achieved. In early 1822, the Portuguese navy controlled a ship of the line, two frigates, four corvettes, two brigs, four warships of other categories in Brazilian waters. Warships available for the new Brazilian navy were numerous, but in disrepair; the hulls of several ships that were brought by the Royal Family and the Court to be abandoned in Brazil were rotten and therefore of little value.
The Brazilian agent in London, Marquis of Batley received orders to acquire warships equipped and manned on credit. No vendor, was willing to take the risks. There w
Empire of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II. A colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese colonial Empire in 1808, when the Portuguese Prince regent King Dom João VI, fled from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. João VI returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir, Pedro, to rule the Kingdom of Brazil as regent. On 7 September 1822, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil and, after waging a successful war against his father's kingdom, was acclaimed on 12 October as Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil; the new country was sparsely populated and ethnically diverse. Unlike most of the neighboring Hispanic American republics, Brazil had political stability, vibrant economic growth, constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech, respect for civil rights of its subjects, albeit with legal restrictions on women and slaves, the latter regarded as property and not citizens.
The empire's bicameral parliament was elected under comparatively democratic methods for the era, as were the provincial and local legislatures. This led to a long ideological conflict between Pedro I and a sizable parliamentary faction over the role of the monarch in the government, he faced other obstacles. The unsuccessful Cisplatine War against the neighboring United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1828 led to the secession of the province of Cisplatina. In 1826, despite his role in Brazilian independence, he became the king of Portugal. Two years she was usurped by Pedro I's younger brother Miguel. Unable to deal with both Brazilian and Portuguese affairs, Pedro I abdicated his Brazilian throne on 7 April 1831 and departed for Europe to restore his daughter to the Portuguese throne. Pedro I's successor in Brazil was his five-year-old son, Pedro II; as the latter was still a minor, a weak regency was created. The power vacuum resulting from the absence of a ruling monarch as the ultimate arbiter in political disputes led to regional civil wars between local factions.
Having inherited an empire on the verge of disintegration, Pedro II, once he was declared of age, managed to bring peace and stability to the country, which became an emerging international power. Brazil was victorious in three international conflicts under Pedro II's rule, the Empire prevailed in several other international disputes and outbreaks of domestic strife. With prosperity and economic development came an influx of European immigration, including Protestants and Jews, although Brazil remained Catholic. Slavery, widespread, was restricted by successive legislation until its final abolition in 1888. Brazilian visual arts and theater developed during this time of progress. Although influenced by European styles that ranged from Neoclassicism to Romanticism, each concept was adapted to create a culture, uniquely Brazilian. Though the last four decades of Pedro II's reign were marked by continuous internal peace and economic prosperity, he had no desire to see the monarchy survive beyond his lifetime and made no effort to maintain support for the institution.
The next in line to the throne was his daughter Isabel, but neither Pedro II nor the ruling classes considered a female monarch acceptable. Lacking any viable heir, the Empire's political leaders saw no reason to defend the monarchy. After a 58-year reign, on 15 November 1889 the Emperor was overthrown in a sudden coup d'état led by a clique of military leaders whose goal was the formation of a republic headed by a dictator, forming the First Brazilian Republic; the territory which would come to be known as Brazil was claimed by Portugal on 22 April 1500, when the navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on its coast. Permanent settlement followed in 1532, for the next 300 years the Portuguese expanded westwards until they had reached nearly all of the borders of modern Brazil. In 1808, the army of French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, forcing the Portuguese royal family—the House of Braganza, a branch of the thousand-year-old Capetian dynasty—into exile, they re-established themselves in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, which became the unofficial seat of the Portuguese Empire.
In 1815, the Portuguese crown prince Dom João, acting as regent, created the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, which raised the status of Brazil from colony to kingdom. He ascended the Portuguese throne the following year, after the death of his mother, Maria I of Portugal, he returned to Portugal in April 1821, leaving behind his son and heir, Prince Dom Pedro, to rule Brazil as his regent. The Portuguese government moved to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had been granted since 1808; the threat of losing their limited control over local affairs ignited widespread opposition among Brazilians. José Bonifácio de Andrada, along with other Brazilian leaders, convinced Pedro to declare Brazil's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822. On 12 October, the prince was acclaimed Pedro I, first Emperor of the newly created Empire of Brazil, a constitutional monarchy; the declaration of independence was opposed throughout Brazil by armed military units loyal to Portugal. The ensuing war of independence was fought across the country, with battles in the northern and southern regions.
The last Portu
Júlio de Castilhos Museum
Júlio de Castilhos Museum is a museum located in the city of Porto Alegre. It is the oldest museum in Rio Grande do Sul state, its collection, over 10 thousand pieces, is Brazilian national heritage, comprises objects of historical, artistic and archaeological character related to the history of Rio Grande do Sul. Its sections for the Ragamuffin War and the Paraguayan War are specially rich; the museum preserves a few but important examples of sculptures produced within Indian Reductions by Jesuits and indigenous peoples. Museum website
Militia
A militia is an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a nation, or subjects of a state, who can be called upon for military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel, or members of a warrior nobility class. Unable to hold ground against regular forces, it is common for militias to be used for aiding regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or irregular warfare, instead of being used in offensive campaigns by themselves. Militia are limited by local civilian laws to serve only in their home region, to serve only for a limited time. With the emergence of professional forces during the Renaissance, Western European militias wilted; the civic humanist ideal of the militia was spread through Europe by the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli Beginning in the late 20th century, some militias act as professional forces, while still being "part-time" or "on-call" organizations. For instance, the members of some U.
S. Army National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to maintain the same standards as their "full-time" counterparts. Militias thus can be paramilitary, depending on the instance; some of the contexts in which the term "militia" is used include: Forces engaged in defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory and laws. The entire able-bodied population of a community, county, or state, available to be called to arms. A subset of these who may be penalized for failing to respond to a call-up. A subset of these who respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation. A private, non-government force, not directly supported or sanctioned by its government. An irregular armed force enabling its leader to exercise military and political control over a subnational territory within a sovereign state. An official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers. Called by various names in different countries, such as the Army Reserve, National Guard, or state defense forces.
The national police forces in several former communist states such as the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, but in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia. The term was inherited in other former CIS countries, where they are known as militsiya. In France the equivalent term "Milice" has become tainted due to its use by notorious collaborators with Nazi Germany. A select militia is composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population politicized. Militia derives from Latin roots: miles /miːles/: soldier -itia /iːtia/: a state, quality or condition of being militia /mil:iːtia/: Military serviceThe word militia dates back to ancient Rome, more to at least 1590 when it was recorded in a book by Sir John Smythe, Certain Discourses Military with the meanings: a military force, it should be noted that the term is used by several countries with the meaning of "defense activity" indicating it is taken directly from Latin. In the early 1800s Buenos Aires, by the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, was attacked during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.
As regular military forces were insufficient to counter the British attackers, Santiago de Liniers drafted all males in the city capable of bearing arms into the military. These recruits included the criollo peoples, who ranked low down in the social hierarchy, as well as some slaves. With these reinforcements, the British armies were twice defeated; the militias became a strong factor in the politics of the city afterwards, as a springboard from which the criollos could manifest their political ambitions. They were a key element in the success of the May Revolution, which deposed the Spanish viceroy and began the Argentine War of Independence. A decree by Mariano Moreno derogated the system of promotions involving criollos, allowing instead their promotion on military merit; the Argentine Civil War was waged by militias again, as both federalists and unitarians drafted common people into their ranks as part of ongoing conflicts. These irregular armies were organized at a provincial level, assembled as leagues depending on political pacts.
This system had declined by the 1870s due to the establishment of the modern Argentine Army, drafted for the Paraguayan War by President Bartolome Mitre. Provincial militias were outlawed and decimated by the new army throughout the presidential terms of Mitre, Sarmiento and Roca. Armenian militia, or fedayi played a major role in the independence of various Armenian states, including Western Armenia, the First Republic of Armenia, the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh. Armenian militia played a role in the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992–1993. In the Colony of New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie proposed a colonial militia but the idea was rejected. Governor Ralph Darling felt. A military volunteer movement attracted wide
Argentina
Argentina the Argentine Republic, is a country located in the southern half of South America. Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, the country is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Drake Passage to the south. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the fourth largest in the Americas, the largest Spanish-speaking nation; the sovereign state is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress. The provinces and the capital exist under a federal system. Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; the earliest recorded human presence in modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The Inca Empire expanded to the northwest of the country in Pre-Columbian times; the country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century.
Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The declaration and fight for independence was followed by an extended civil war that lasted until 1861, culminating in the country's reorganization as a federation of provinces with Buenos Aires as its capital city; the country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with several waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural and demographic outlook. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest nation in the world by the early 20th century. Following the Great Depression in the 1930s, Argentina descended into political instability and economic decline that pushed it back into underdevelopment, though it remained among the fifteen richest countries for several decades. Following the death of President Juan Perón in 1974, his widow, Isabel Martínez de Perón, ascended to the presidency, she was overthrown in 1976 by a U.
S.-backed coup which installed a right-wing military dictatorship. The military government persecuted and murdered numerous political critics and leftists in the Dirty War, a period of state terrorism that lasted until the election of Raúl Alfonsín as President in 1983. Several of the junta's leaders were convicted of their crimes and sentenced to imprisonment. Argentina is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America, retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America, membership in the G-15 and G-20 major economies, it is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization, Union of South American Nations, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Organization of Ibero-American States. Despite its history of economic instability, it ranks second highest in the Human Development Index in Latin America; the description of the country by the word Argentina has been found on a Venetian map in 1536.
In English the name "Argentina" comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, but Italian. Argentina means in Italian " of silver, silver coloured" borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine " of silver" > "silver coloured" mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the feminine form of argentin and derives from argent "silver" with the suffix -in; the Italian naming "Argentina" for the country implies Terra Argentina "land of silver" or Costa Argentina "coast of silver". In Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said l'Argentina; the name Argentina was first given by the Venetian and Genoese navigators, such as Giovanni Caboto. In Spanish and Portuguese, the words for "silver" are plata and prata and " of silver" is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin.
The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region. Although "Argentina" was in common usage by the 18th century, the country was formally named "Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata" by the Spanish Empire, "United Provinces of the Río de la Plata" after independence; the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name "Argentine Republic" in legal documents. The name "Argentine Confederation" was commonly used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the country's name as "Argentine Republic", that year's constitutional amendment ruled all the names since 1810 as valid. In the English language the country was traditionally called "the Argentine", mimicking the typical Spanish usage la Argentina and resulting from a mistaken shortening of the fuller name'Argentine Republic'.'The Argentine' fell out of fashion during the mid-to-late 20th century, now the country is referred to as "Argentina".
In the Spanish language "Argentina" is feminine, taking the feminine article "La" as the i
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Founded in 1769 by Manuel Sepúlveda, its population of 1,481,019 inhabitants makes it the tenth most populous city in the country and the centre of Brazil's fifth largest metropolitan area, with 4,405,760 inhabitants; the city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian state. Porto Alegre was founded in 1769 by Manuel Jorge Gomes de Sepúlveda, who used the pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo to hide his identity; the vast majority of the population is of European descent. The city lies on the eastern bank of the Guaíba River, where five rivers converge to form the Lagoa dos Patos, a giant freshwater lagoon navigable by the largest of ships; this five-river junction has become an important alluvial port as well as a chief industrial and commercial center of Brazil. In recent years, Porto Alegre hosted the World Social Forum, an initiative of several non-government organizations; the city became famous for being the first city that implemented participatory budgeting.
The 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches was held in Porto Alegre in 2006. Since 2000, Porto Alegre hosts one of the world's largest free software events, called FISL; the city was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, having been a venue for the 1950 FIFA World Cup. A safe city by Brazilian standards, Porto Alegre is going through a growing wave of violence in this decade, it's now ranked 43rd among the world's 50 most violent cities; the official date of the foundation of the city of Porto Alegre is 26 March 1772 by Manuel Sepúlveda, when Freguesia de São Francisco do Porto dos Casais was created and changed a year to Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre. However, the village started in 1752, when 60 Azorean couples were brought over by the Treaty of Madrid in order to set up Missions at the Northeast Region of Rio Grande do Sul, handed over to the Portuguese Crown in exchange for the Sacramento Colony located on the margin of the Plata River. Land demarcation took a long time and the Azoreans settled permanently at Porto de Viamão, the first name by which Porto Alegre went by.
On 24 July 1773, Porto Alegre became the capital city of the province, when the administration of Manuel Sepúlveda, who used the fictitious name or pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo, to hide their identity started. In 1824, immigrants from all over the world started arriving German, Spanish, Polish and Lebanese; this mosaic of diversity in appearance, ethnic origin and languages is what makes Porto Alegre, nowadays with nearly 1.5 million inhabitants, a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. The city is an example of diversity and plurality; the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul is the capital city of the Pampas region, the name given to the region of fauna and flora typical of the vast plains that dominate the landscape of the South of Brazil, part of Argentina and Uruguay. This is where the Gaúcho comes from, the historical figure of a brave warrior that fought legendary battles and wars in the quest to conquer the borders of the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain in the 16th century. There were many wars, but it was the nineteenth century that marked its people, after they fought a long war for their independence from the Brazilian Empire.
The Farrapos War started with the confrontation in Porto Alegre, near the Azenha bridge on 20 September 1835. Albeit terminated, this conflict etched in the pages of history the myth of the gaucho, until our days praised in songs and celebrated in annual pageants and honored as names of streets and parks; when the Farrapos War ended, the city continued to develop and underwent strong urban restructuring during the last decades of the 18th century, driven by the accelerated growth of port-related activities and shipyards. Its development continued over time and the city kept abreast with cultural and social events that were taking place within Brazil. Porto Alegre is the birthplace of great writers, artists and episodes that marked the history of Brazil; the city became known worldwide in 1963 through hosting the World University Games. In 1985, the people of Porto Alegre joined the movement for free elections and one of the largest demonstrations took place in the city; the city is on a delta resulting from the junction of five rivers called Guaíba Lake.
Although its origins date from the mid-18th century, when immigrants from the Azores settled in the area, the city was established in 1742. Porto Alegre is one of the wealthiest cities in Latin America and one of the most diverse, it has welcomed immigrants from all over the world, the largest numbers coming from Portugal, Italy and Poland. There are significant Arab and Jewish contingents among its population; the Afro-Brazilian population of the state is concentrated in the city. Before this, Porto Alegre was the port of Viamão on the shore of Guaíba Lake, its previous name was Porto dos Casais, it was settled by Azoreans. Many families of settlers came from the city of Rio Grande in the littoral Lagunar region, to the south, a military fortress at that time. Today Rio Grande is the most important port of the State of Rio Grande do Sul; the city is known as "Porto do Sol" and "Cidade Sorriso". More than 70 neighborhoods are part of the city and two-thirds of the population are concentra
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is a state located in the southern region of Brazil. It is the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is bordered clockwise by Santa Catarina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Uruguayan departments of Rocha, Treinta y Tres, Cerro Largo and Artigas to the south and southwest, the Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones to the west and northwest; the capital and largest city is Porto Alegre. The state has the highest life expectancy in Brazil, the crime rate is considered to be low. Despite the high standard of living, unemployment is still high and according to census data, it is one of the most difficult states in Brazil for foreigners to find jobs; the state has a gaucho culture like its foreign neighbors. It was inhabited by Guarani people; the first Europeans there were Jesuits, followed by settlers from the Azores. In the 19th century it was the scene of conflicts including the Farroupilha Revolution and the Paraguayan War.
Large waves of German and Italian migration have shaped the state. 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, 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, 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, the southern for cattle. East of it is a wide coastal zone only elevated above the sea; 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, 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, 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, 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 long, with the rivers discharging into it affords upwards of 320 kilometres 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 It has two large tributaries, the Vacacaí from the south and the Taquari from the north, 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. In addition to the Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim there are a number of small lakes on the sandy, swampy peninsulas that lie between the coast and these two, there are others of a similar character along the northern coast; the largest lake is the Lagoa dos Patos, which lies parallel with the coastline and southwest, is about 214 kilometres long exclusive of the two arms at its northern end, 40 58 km long and of its outlet, the Rio Grande, about 39 km long. Its width varies from 35 to 58 km; the lake is comparatively shallow and filled with sand banks, making its navigable channels tortuous and difficult. The Lagoa Mirim occupies a similar position farther south, on the Uruguayan border, is about 175 kilometres long by 10 to 35 km wide, it is more irregular in outline and discharges into Lagoa dos Patos through a navigable channel known as the São Gonçalo Channel. A part of the lake lies in Uruguayan territory, but its navigation, as determined by treaty, belongs to Brazil.
Both of these lakes are evidently the remains of an ancient depression in the coastline shut in by sand beaches built up by the combined action of wind and current. They are of the same level as the ocean, but their waters are affected by the tides and are brackish only a short distance above the Rio Grande outlet. One-third of the state belongs to the Río de la Plata drainage basin. Of the many streams flowing northward and westward to the Uruguay, the largest are the Ijuí of the plateau region, the Ibicuí, which has its source near Santa Maria in the central part of the state and flows westward to the Uruguay a short distance above Uruguaiana, the Quaraí River which forms part of the boundary line with Uruguay; the Uruguay River itself is formed by the confluence of the Pelotas rivers. The Pelotas, which has its source in the Serra do Mar on the Atlantic coast, the Uruguay River forms the northern and western boundary line of the state down to the mouth of the Quaraí, on the Uruguayan frontier.
Rio Grande do Sul lies within the south temperate zone and is predom
.svg){kind=small}
.svg)
