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1872 Brazilian census

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First census of Brazil

1 August 1872 1890 →

19th century Brazilians
General information
CountryEmpire of Brazil
Results
Total population9,930,478
Most populous ​provinceMinas Gerais (2,039,735)
Least populous ​provinceAmazonas (57,610)

The 1872 Brazilian census was the first census carried out in Brazilian territory, during the imperial period.[1] All residents in private and collective households (called "fogos") who were in it on the reference date of the census, which was 1 August 1872, were censused. The population was distributed according to color, sex, free or slave status, marital status, nationality, occupation and religion.[2]

General Directorate of Statistics

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During the imperial period, the Brazilian government felt the need to obtain statistical data to better understand the country. Because of this, in 1871, by Decree No. 4,676, in compliance with Law No. 1,829, the General Directorate of Statistics (Diretoria Geral de Estatística, DGE) was created to organize national statistical activities and carry out, in the following year, the first census made in Brazil.[2] With the establishment of the Republic, the new government reorganized the DGE and expanded its activities, implementing the civil registry of births, marriages and deaths. From 1890 onwards, carried out by the then General Directorate of Statistics, censuses took place every ten years, with the exception of 1910 and 1930, in which the political situation in Brazil prevented them from being carried out. The DGE was dissolved in 1931, and only in 1936 would an equivalent body be created, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).[3]

Population profile

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The Neutral Municipality and the provinces of the Empire of Brazil in 1872

The final results revealed that Brazil had 9,930,478 inhabitants, 5,123,869 men and 4,806,609 women. Men represented 51.6% and women 48.4% of the total population. Regarding the number of inhabitants, the results did not include 181,583 inhabitants, estimated for 32 parishes, in which the census was not carried out on the given date.[2]

According to the census, 38.3% were pardo, 38.1% white and 19.7% black. The indigenous population, named in the census as "caboclos", made up 3.9% of the total. After the 1872 census indigenous people remained for 101 years without appearing as a separate category in the population surveys, only returning in 1991. In the case of the indigenous, some due to the tone of skin, may have been classified as pardo, in addition, the vast majority of native peoples did not answer the census; several villages were not counted because it was difficult to reach them. Countless indigenous peoples lived in isolated tribes, preserving their primitive lifestyle.[4]

In 1872 slaves represented 15.2% of the Brazilian population, of which 31% were counted as pardos. Some municipalities had more slaves than free people, as in Santa Maria Madalena, São João da Barra, Valença, Piraí and Vassouras, in Rio de Janeiro; Bananal, in São Paulo; Santa Cruz, in Bahia; and São Luiz Gonzaga, in Maranhão.[5]

Foreigners made up 3.8% of Brazil's population.[6] Of the total number of immigrants, 36% were slaves. “Africans”, slaves, free or freed, were the majority of foreigners (46%); followed by Portuguese (33%), Germans (10.5%), Italians (2.1%) and French (1.8%). Despite being included in the census simply as "Africans", most of them came from different ethnic groups from at least eight major regions of the African continent, such as Senegambia, the Gulf of Benin, West Central Africa and the Gulf of Biafra, and others.[7]

Among the free population, 23.4% of men and 13.4% of women were considered literate. Of the population aged between 6 and 15, 17% of men and 11% of women attended schools. Population data by age group showed that 24.6% of the population were children under 10 years of age; 21.1% were adolescents and young people between 11 and 20 years old; 32.9% were adults between 21 and 40 years old; 8.4% were between 41 and 50 years old; 12.8% were between 51 and 70 years old; and, finally, only 3.4% were over 71 years of age.[citation needed]

99.7% of the population was classified as Catholic (9.900.888 people) and 0.29% (29.590) as non-Catholic.[2] 80% of the "non-Catholics" were German immigrants. However, there were, at that time, about 383 thousand amerindians, who followed their own religious conceptions. Furthermore, all slaves were classified as Catholics, but many of them maintained the original Africann religions that, after the abolition of slavery, would give rise to Afro-Brazilian religions.[citation needed]

The census presents, in addition to the population count, specific information about people with disabilities, access to school and professions exercised, among others. At the time, farming was the profession with the most people, followed by domestic services. Of the liberal professions, artists were the most numerous, even among the slave population.[8] Among women, the predominant professions were domestic service, farmers and seamstresses. From the total population (men and women), about 42% had no profession (55% among free people, 24% among slaves). The DGE itself recognizes that the contingent without a specific profession was “huge”, especially in the provinces of Rio Grande do Norte, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco.[7]

The Census recorded almost 10 million inhabitants distributed in 20 provinces and the Neutral Municipality. Brazil was divided into 641 municipalities, which, in turn, were subdivided into 1,473 parishes, the smallest information units. The collection was carried out in the parishes.[9]

In this Census, the current Northeast region still appeared as the largest in the country. Of the eight most populous provinces in Brazil, half were in the northeast, they were also among the most densely populated, since Pernambuco had a smaller area than São Paulo but with a larger population; and Paraíba, with almost the same population as Rio Grande do Sul, had a much smaller area as well. Residents of the present-day northeast and southeast regions combined made up 87.2% of the country's population.[citation needed]

In Imperial Brazil, contemporaries understood the country as being geographically divided into only two major regions: the north (the provinces located from Amazonas to Bahia) and the south (from Espírito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul).[10] Thus, the northern population, that is, those who lived from Bahia to Amazonas, was 4,971,407 (50.06%) and those who lived in the other provinces, that is, the south, were 4,683,469 (47.16%); therefore, the population of the two regions was roughly equivalent, with a slight advantage to the north.[10]

The Neutral Municipality, located between the southern provinces, had 274,972 inhabitants, about 2.77% of the country's population. Minas Gerais, with 2,039,735 inhabitants, was the most populous province and with the largest number of parishes (370), the better distribution of population in parishes (including urban and rural areas) in Minas Gerais was a remnant of the population emigration that resulted from the gold cycle, which had its heyday in the previous century and led to the move of Brazil's capital from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro in 1763 (the two largest cities in the 1872 census).[citation needed]

In 1872, the weight of the rural population was enormous when compared to the urban population. The population of provincial capitals and the Neutral Municipality represented 10.41% of the total population, that is, 1,083,039 people. To complete the picture, 48% of the urban population was concentrated in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife.[citation needed]

Results

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Population by province

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Province Municipalities Non included parishes Total parishes Free population % Free Slave population % Slaves Total population in 1872[2]
Amazonas 7 - 22 56,631 98.30 979 1.70 57,610
Pará 32 - 70 247,779 90.02 27,458 9.98 275,237
Maranhão 37 1 53 284,101 78.95 74,939 21.05 359,040
Piauí 22 2 27 178,427 88.23 23,795 11.77 202,222
Ceará 46 - 57 689,773 95.58 31,913 4.42 721,686
Rio Grande do Norte 22 - 27 220,959 94.44 13,020 5.56 233,979
Paraíba 24 - 38 354,700 94.28 21,526 5.72 376,226
Pernambuco 39 - 71 752,511 89.42 89,028 10.58 841,539
Alagoas 19 - 28 312,268 89.73 35,741 10.27 348,009
Sergipe 24 5 30 153,620 87.16 22,623 12.84 176,243
Bahia 72 - 169 1,211,792 87.84 167,824 12.16 1,379,616
Espírito Santo 13 - 25 59,478 72.41 22,659 27.59 82,137
Rio de Janeiro 33 6 123 490,087 62.61 292,637 37.39 782,724
São Paulo 89 - 142 680,742 81.29 156,612 18.71 837,354
Paraná 16 - 23 116,162 91.67 10,560 8.33 126,722
Santa Catarina 11 - 38 144,818 90.62 14,984 9.38 159,802
Rio Grande do Sul 28 4 72 367,022 84.41 67,791 15.59 434,183
Minas Gerais 72 14 370 1,669,276 81.84 370,459 18.16 2,039,735
Goiás 26 - 54 149,743 93.36 10,652 6.64 160,395
Mato Grosso 9 - 15 53,750 88.97 6,667 11.03 60,417
Neutral Municipality - - 19 226,033 82.20 48,939 17.80 274,972
Empire of Brazil 641 32 1,473 8,419,672 84.78 1,510,806 15.22 9,930,478

Population of the provincial capitals

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Province Capital Population[2] Proportion in relation to the province Position in the country
Amazonas Manaus 29,334 50.9% 74th
Pará Belém 61,997 22.5% 7th
Maranhão São Luís 31,604 8.8% 62nd
Piauí Teresina 21,692 10.7% 137th
Ceará Fortaleza 42,458 5.9% 26th
Rio Grande do Norte Natal 20,392 8.7% 160th
Paraíba Paraíba 24,714 6.6% 105th
Pernambuco Recife 116,671 13.9% 3rd
Alagoas Maceió 27,703 8% 83rd
Sergipe Aracaju 9,559 5.4% 366th
Bahia Salvador 129,109 9.4% 2nd
Espírito Santo Vitória 16,157 19.7% 211th
Rio de Janeiro Niterói 47,548 6.1% 20th
São Paulo São Paulo 31,385 3.8% 64th
Paraná Curitiba 12.651 10% 280th
Santa Catarina Desterro 25,709 16.1% 96th
Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre 43,998 10.1% 23rd
Minas Gerais Ouro Preto 48,214 2.4% 19th
Goiás Goiás 19,159 11.9% 174th
Mato Grosso Cuiabá 35,987 59.6% 48th

Most populous municipalities in 1872

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Largest cities or towns in the Empire of Brazil
(1872 census)[2]
Rank Province Pop. Rank Province Pop.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Salvador
Salvador
1 Rio de Janeiro Neutral Municipality 274,972 11 Queluz Minas Gerais 56,902 Recife
Recife
2 Salvador Bahia 129,109 12 Sabará Minas Gerais 55,449
3 Recife Pernambuco 116,671 13 Minas Novas Minas Gerais 54,447
4 Campos Rio de Janeiro 88,832 14 Caruaru Pernambuco 54,278
5 Cachoeira Bahia 88,181 15 Grão Mogol Minas Gerais 53,005
6 Serro Minas Gerais 67,436 16 Feira de Santana Bahia 51,696
7 Belém Grão-Pará 61,997 17 Rio Pardo Minas Gerais 51,583
8 Minas do Rio das Contas Bahia 59,893 18 Santa Bárbara Minas Gerais 48,344
9 Santo Amaro Bahia 58,252 19 Ouro Preto Minas Gerais 48,214
10 Ponte Nova Minas Gerais 57,231 20 Niterói Rio de Janeiro 47,548

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Censo de 1872 é disponibilizado ao público". Portal Brasil. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rodarte, Mario Marcos Sampaio; Paiva, Clotilde Andrade; Godoy, Marcelo Magalhães (2012). "Publicação Crítica do Recenseamento Geral do Império do Brasil de 1872" (PDF). Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Retrieved 15 October 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Dilma, Cabral (2020). "Diretoria-Geral de Estatística (1889-1930)". Mapa. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  4. ^ Verona, Ana Paula; Dias Júnior, Claudio Santiago (2018). "Os indígenas nos Censos Demográficos brasileiros pré-1991". Revista Brasileira de Estudos de População (in Portuguese). 35 (3). doi:10.20947/s0102-3098a0058. ISSN 0102-3098.
  5. ^ "Publicação aborda evolução da divisão territorial brasileira de 1872 a 2010". Agência IBGE notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  6. ^ Tokarnia, Mariana (2013). "Único a incluir população escrava, Censo de 1872 é disponibilizado ao público". Agência Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b Mariani, Daniel; Roncolato, Murilo; Almeida, Rodolfo; Tonglet, Ariel (2017). "Censo de 1872: o retrato do Brasil da escravidão" (in Portuguese). Nexo Jornal. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. ^ Tokarnia, Mariana (14 January 2013). "Censo de 1872 é disponibilizado ao público". Exame. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  9. ^ Jansen, Roberta (12 January 2013). "Censo de 1872, único a registrar população escrava, está disponível". O Globo. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  10. ^ a b Melo 1984, pp. 13–26.

Bibliography

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  • Melo, Edvaldo Cabral de (1984). O norte agrário e o Império (in Portuguese). Brasília: Nova Fronteira.