Sertão

The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the "hinterland" or "backcountry". In Brazil, it refers both to one of the four sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil (similar to the specific association of " outback" with Australia in English) or the hinterlands of the country in general. Northeast Brazil is largely covered in a scrubby upland forest called a '' caatingas.'' Its borders are not precise. It is an economically poor region that is well-known in Brazilian culture, with a rich history and much folklore, something like the American South. The sertão is also detailed within the famous book of Brazilian literature '' Os Sertões'' (''The Backlands''), which was written by the Brazilian author Euclides da Cunha.

Originally the term referred to the vast hinterlands of Asia and South America that Portuguese explorers encountered. In Brazil, it referred to backlands away from the Atlantic coastal regions where the Portuguese first settled in South America in the early sixteenth century. A Brazilian historian once referred to colonial life in Brazil as a "civilization of crabs", as most settlers clung to the shoreline, with few trying to make inroads into the ''sertão''. In modern terms, "''sertão''" refers to a semi-aridhttp://antigo.sudene.gov.br/images/arquivos/semiarido/arquivos/mapa-semiarido-1262municipios-Sudene.pdf region in northeastern Brazil, comprising parts of the states of Alagoas, Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Maranhão, Piauí, Sergipe, and Minas Gerais.

Geographically, the ''sertão'' consists mainly of low uplands that form part of the Brazilian highlands. Most parts of the ''sertão'' are between and above sea level, with higher elevations found on the eastern edge in the Borborema Plateau, where it merges into a sub-humid region known as agreste, in the Serra da Ibiapaba in western Ceará and in the Serro do Periquito of central Pernambuco. In the north, the ''sertão'' extends to the northern coastal plains of Rio Grande do Norte state, while to the south it ends gradually in the northern part of Minas Gerais.

Two major rivers cross the ''sertão'', the Jaguaribe and further east the Piranhas, and to the south, the larger São Francisco River is in part in the ''sertão''. Smaller rivers dry up at the end of the rainy season.

The term ''sertão'' is also used in Portuguese to refer to the Brazilian hinterland in general, regardless of region. It is this sense that corresponds to ''sertão'' music, ''música sertaneja'', roughly "country music". To avoid ambiguity, the region in the northeast is sometimes called the ''sertão nordestino'', while the Brazilian hinterland may also be called the ''sertânia'', the land of ''sertões''.

Climate and vegetation

Because the ''sertão'' lies just south of the equator, temperatures are nearly uniform throughout the year and are typically tropical, often extremely hot in the west.

However, the ''sertão'' is distinctive in its low rainfall compared to other areas of Brazil. Because of the relatively cool temperatures in the South Atlantic Ocean, the intertropical convergence zone remains north of the region for most of the year, so that most of the year is very dry.

Although annual rainfall averages between and over most of the ''sertão'' and on the northern coast at Fortaleza, it is confined to a short rainy season. This season extends from January to April in the west, but in the eastern ''sertão'' it generally occurs from March to June. However, rainfall is extremely erratic and in some years the rains are minimal, leading to catastrophic drought, while in others rains are extremely heavy and floods occur. This variability has caused extreme famines among subsistence farmers in the region, exacerbated by the extreme imbalance of land ownership throughout the ''sertão''. The worst of these famines, between 1877 and 1879, was said to have killed over half the region's population.

In its natural state, the ''sertão'' was covered by a distinctive scrubby caatinga vegetation, consisting generally of low thorny bushes adapted to the extreme climate. Several species of tree in the caatinga, such as the cashew, have become valuable horticultural plants. Most of the ''sertão'' vegetation is now substantially degraded as a result of centuries of cattle ranching or clearing for cotton farming.

Parts of the ''sertão'' are recognized as a biodiversity hot-spot because of its unique flora.

File:Grande Sertao Veredas 4.jpg, Sertão in the Grande Sertão Veredas National Park
File:Rainbow at Brazilian Sertão (desert).JPG, Rainbow at Brazilian Sertão (desert). Cícero Dantas, Bahia, Brazil.
File:2003SertaoNordestino.jpg, The Sertão (desert) of Brazil

See also

* Agreste
* Brazil Socio-Geographic Division
* Brazilian literature
* Caatinga
* Drought
* History of Brazil
* '' Os Sertões'', a classic book about the ''sertão''.
* '' Tieta do Agreste'', a Brazilian novel and film

References

Sources

Nonfiction

* Michael H. Glantz; ''Currents of Change: El Niño's Impact on Climate and Society''; published 1996 by Cambridge University Press. .
* Michael H. Glantz (ed.); ''Drought Follows The Plow: Cultivating Marginal Areas''; published 1994 by Cambridge University Press. .
* Fagan, Brian; ''Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Niño and the Fate of Civilizations''; published 2000 by Basic Books. .
* Nicholas G. Arons; ''Waiting for Rain: The Politics and Poetry of Drought in Northeast Brazil''; published 2004 by University of Arizona Press. .
* Euclides da Cunha, ''Rebellion in the Backlands'' (''Os Sertões''), 1902

Fiction

* Graciliano Ramos, '' Vidas Secas'' ("Barren Lives"), novel

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sertao
Brazilian literature
Climate of Brazil
Droughts
Northeast Region, Brazil
Words and phrases with no direct English translation