The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the "
hinterland
Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...
" or "
backcountry
In the United States, a backcountry or backwater is a geographical area that is remote, undeveloped, isolated, or difficult to access.
Terminology Backcountry and wilderness within United States national parks
The National Park Service (NPS) ...
". 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
The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
" 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 Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. 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
Euclides da Cunha (, January 20, 1866 – August 15, 1909) was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is '' Os Sertões'' (''Rebellion in the Backlands''), a non-fictional account of the military expeditions ...
.
Originally the term referred to the vast hinterlands of Asia and South America that
Portuguese explorers
Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of Eu ...
encountered. In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, 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-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
[http://antigo.sudene.gov.br/images/arquivos/semiarido/arquivos/mapa-semiarido-1262municipios-Sudene.pdf] region in
northeastern Brazil
The Northeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Nordeste do Brasil; ) is one of the five official and political regions of Brazil, regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six state ...
, comprising parts of the states of
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. It ...
,
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
,
Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...
,
ParaÃba
ParaÃba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'Ãba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. ParaÃba ...
,
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", ref ...
,
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
,
Maranhão
Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of PiauÃ, Tocantins and ...
,
PiauÃ
Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...
,
Sergipe
Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...
, and
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
.
Geographically, the ''sertão'' consists mainly of low uplands that form part of the
Brazilian highlands
The Brazilian Highlands or Brazilian Plateau ( pt, Planalto Brasileiro) are an extensive geographical region, covering most of the eastern, southern and central portions of Brazil, in all approximately half of the country's land area, or some 4,5 ...
. 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
The Serra de Ibiapaba (Ibiapaba mountain) also known as Serra Grande, Chapada da Ibiabapa e Cuesta da Ibiapaba, is an upland in northeastern Brazil, which lies on the boundary of Piauà and Ceará states. The range runs north and south, extending f ...
in western
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
and in the Serro do Periquito of central
Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...
. 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
A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...
, and to the south, the larger
São Francisco River
The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...
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
Música sertaneja () or sertanejo () is a music style that had its origins in the countryside of Brazil in the 1920s. '', roughly "
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
". 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
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
, 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 Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
, the
intertropical convergence zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ ), known by sailors as the doldrums or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge. It encircles Earth near the thermal e ...
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
Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...
, 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
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
, 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
Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...
vegetation, consisting generally of low thorny bushes adapted to the extreme climate. Several species of tree in the caatinga, such as the
cashew
The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cult ...
, 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
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
farming.
Parts of the ''sertão'' are recognized as a
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
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). CÃcero Dantas, Bahia, Brazil.
File:2003SertaoNordestino.jpg, The Sertão (desert) of Brazil
See also
*
Agreste
*
Brazil Socio-Geographic Division
The Brazil socio-geographic division is a slightly different division than the Brazilian Division by Regions. It separates the country into three different and distinctive regions:
*Amazônia Legal
*Centro-Sul
*Nordeste
Historically, the diff ...
*
Brazilian literature
Brazilian literature is the literature written in the Portuguese language by Brazilians or in Brazil, including works written prior to the country's independence in 1822. Throughout its early years, literature from Brazil followed the literary t ...
*
Caatinga
Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...
*
Drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
*
History of Brazil
The history of Brazil begins with indigenous people in Brazil. Europeans arrived in Brazil at the ending of the 15th century. The first European to claim sovereignty over Indigenous lands part of what is now the territory of the Federative Republ ...
* ''
Os Sertões'', a classic book about the ''sertão''.
* ''
Tieta do Agreste
''Tieta'' (Portuguese: ''Tieta do Agreste'', lit. "''Tieta from Agreste''") is a novel written by the Brazilian author Jorge Amado, published on August 17, 1977. Set in the 1970s, it narrates the return of Tieta to the remote village of Santan ...
'', 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
Euclides da Cunha (, January 20, 1866 – August 15, 1909) was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is '' Os Sertões'' (''Rebellion in the Backlands''), a non-fictional account of the military expeditions ...
,
''Rebellion in the Backlands'' (''Os Sertões''), 1902
Fiction
*
Graciliano Ramos
Graciliano Ramos de Oliveira () (October 27, 1892 – March 20, 1953) was a Brazilian modernist writer, politician and journalist. He is known worldwide for his portrayal of the precarious situation of the poor inhabitants of the Brazilian ''sertà ...
, ''
Vidas Secas'' ("Barren Lives"), novel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sertao
Brazilian literature
Climate of Brazil
Droughts
Northeast Region, Brazil
Words and phrases with no direct English translation