History of Alagoas

[1] The coast of the current state of Alagoas, recognized since the first Portuguese expeditions, was also visited early on by vessels of other nationalities for the barter of brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata).

The area was also the location of the shipwreck of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help and subsequent massacre of the survivors, among them Bishop Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha, by the Caeté people (1556), an episode that served as motivation for the war of extermination waged against this indigenous group by the Portuguese Crown.

During the Dutch invasions of Brazil (1630-1654), its coastline became the scenario of violent combats, while the quilombos, formed by Africans escaped from the sugar cane mills in Pernambuco and Bahia, multiplied in the highlands of its countryside.

[7] Duarte Coelho, first donee of the captaincy of Pernambuco,[5] made an expedition to the south; there are no documents to prove it, but there is evidence that it took place in 1545 and that it resulted in the foundation of Penedo, a city on the banks of the São Francisco river with a valuable artistic and cultural heritage that was the scenario of important events in Colonial Brazil.

[8] In 1556, the bishop Dom Pero Fernandes Sardinha was returning to Portugal from Bahia when his ship sank in front of the inlet located in the current city of Coruripe.

[3] In 1570, a second expedition sent by Duarte Coelho and commanded by Cristóvão Lins explored the north of Alagoas, where they founded Porto Calvo and five sugar cane mills, of which two remain, Buenos Aires and Escurial.

[5] Beaten by successive setbacks, the Dutch weakened and thought about retreating, when the mamluk Domingos Fernandes Calabar arrived from Porto Calvo and joined them.

[5] In 1645, the population participated in the nationalist movement, joining the fight under the command of Cristóvão Lins, grandson and namesake of the first settler of Porto Calvo.

[20] Palmares, one of the largest strongholds of fugitive slaves in colonial Brazil,[21] initially occupied the wide area that stretched from the Cabo de Santo Agostinho to the São Francisco River, covered with palm trees.

The slaves had organized a true African-style state in the redoubt, with the quilombo consisting of at least 11 different settlements (mocambos) governed by oligarchs under the supreme leadership of King Ganga-Zumba.

After a first punitive expedition, in 1679,[5] and several entries without major consequences, the bandeirante from São Paulo, Domingos Jorge Velho, hired by the governor of Pernambuco, João da Cunha Souto Maior, would finally return.

[23] In the first months of 1694, Domingos Jorge Velho managed to destroy the quilombo, with the help of troops from Alagoas and Pernambuco, commanded by Sebastião Dias and Bernardo Vieira de Melo, respectively.

[24] Zumbi would manage to escape, gathering new combatants, but, betrayed, would find himself surrounded by enemy forces, with about twenty of his men dying in battle, on November 20, 1695.

[25] After more than sixty years, the quilombo of Palmares, "the greatest protest against despotism that an unfortunate race has ever traced on the face of the world," would disappear, in the words of Craveiro Costa.

[5] In 1730, the governor of Pernambuco, proposing the extinction of the decadent captaincy of Paraíba to the king, highlighted the prosperity of Alagoas, with its almost fifty sugar cane mills, ten parishes, and appreciable income for the royal treasury.

[5] Alagoas became a judicial district in 1711 and officially separated from Pernambuco in 1817 to become an independent captaincy, by decree signed by the King of Portugal, Dom João VI.

These acts, added to the importance of Alagoas for the Kingdom of Portugal, were enough to open paths that led the King D. João to sanction the dismemberment.

In 1839 the capital, located in the old city of Alagoas (now Marechal Deodoro), was transferred to the village of Maceió, situated on the coast, on the road between the north, center and south of the province.

[5] In the economic field, it is worth mentioning the foundation, in 1857, of the first fabric factory in Alagoas, the Companhia União Mercantil, in the Fernão Velho neighborhood,[35] idealized by the baron of Jaraguá, contributing to the development of the regional economy.

Education received an incentive with the establishment of the Liceu Alagoano, in 1849, destined for the high school level; today it is known as the State College of Alagoas.

[38] From the end of the empire to the beginning of the republic, the movement for the construction of central mills and the technical improvement of sugar production increased, which would give place to the refineries, with the first one founded, however, already in the republican period.

[5] The abolitionist and republican movements of the last years of the monarchy would reach the province; the first one through the Sociedade Libertadora Alagoana[5] and the Gutenberg and Lincoln newspapers.

[5] On the same day that the republic was proclaimed in Rio de Janeiro, Pedro Ribeiro Moreira, the last delegate of the imperial government for the province, assumed the presidency in Maceió.

Due to Alfredo Rego's pedagogical activity, a teaching reform was carried out, updating the previous one, dated from the end of the empire, guided by Manuel Baltasar Pereira Diegues Júnior, creator of the Teachers Institute, later called Pedagogium, a pioneering initiative at the time.

[5] Portraits of the opposition Democratic leaders were found among prayer papers and cloths with drawn symbols of Ogun, Ifá and Eshu.

Roads were opened towards the north and the center, and later the stretch between Atalaia and Palmeira dos Índios, a penetration road to the sertanejo zone; school groups were built in almost all the cities; Maceió was renewed with the opening of streets and avenues; criminality was fought, especially with the movement against banditry, which culminated, in 1938, with the extermination of the gang of Lampião; petroleum research was promoted.

During this period, among other notable facts, were the research work on oil;[5] the construction of the port of Maceió, inaugurated in 1940;[41] the increase in economic activities, especially with the diversification of agricultural production and the implementation of the dairy industry in Jacaré dos Homens, setting up the dairy cooperative for the production of milk, butter and cheese; the increase in rural education and the expansion of cooperatives.

[5] The revenue shortfall aggravated the state's historic social and economic crisis and generated a bankruptcy situation that led the federal government to an unofficial intervention in 1997.

[53] In July 2009, the president of the Supreme Federal Court, Minister Gilmar Mendes, ordered that eight of the 14 deputies return to the Assembly, including Antonio Albuquerque.

[54] In October 2010, Teotônio Vilela Filho (PSDB) was reelected governor in the first round with 52.74% of the votes against his opponent, candidate Ronaldo Lessa (PDT).