Mato Grosso

“ It appears not to exist on Wikipedia, the ree "encyclopedia". Please fix that. I had fixed it by eliminating that redirect and I am but a novice so someone smart can should be able to fix this situation. Anyway, I know about the place as I believe many thousands of other people and yet there in search shows that one spelling, that one area, that one source of Mato Grosso. Wikipedia encyclopedia is the best in the world but can be bettered as we learn and as time and tech passes onward into the future.—Brother OfficerTalk 07:39, 21 September 2009 (UTC) TY4 Thank you for the welcome. ”

“ Next to Amazonas, Matto Grosso is the largest state in Brazil. Its area is 539,092 square miles and its population is estimated at about 245,000. Only three South American republics (excepting Brazil, of which this state is a part) , Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru have a larger area than Matto Grosso. It occupies the very center of South America and its capital, Cuyabá, is more geographically situated in the center of that continent than any other town. The main industry of Matto Grosso is stock raising, there being over 2,500,000 head of cattle within its confines. ”

“ Matto Grosso is second in size, equal to the States mentioned above without Nevada and Colorado. Estimated population 275,000. This State has Amazonas and Pará on the north, Goyaz, Minas Geraes, São Paulo, and Paraná on the east, Paraguay and Bolivia are on the south, and Paraguay and Bolivia west. The State is much more open than Amazonas; its chief industry is cattle. Forest products however abound, with all kinds of rubber and magnificent timber. There are large agricultural possibilities and considerable matte is exported. ”

“ It is not, perhaps, too much to say that the realization of the joint enterprises of the Madeira and Mamoré Railway, and the National Bolivian Navigation Company, will change the entire character, not only of the eastern provinces of Bolivia, but also of the republic itself; whilst, at the same time, the Brazilian provinces of Matto Grosso and the Amazons will be most materially benefited. It may, in the case of Bolivia, seem absurd to say that its mineral wealth can ever appreciably decrease ”

“ It is at any rate certain that this inland region of Brazil, including the state of Matto Grosso, which we were traversing, is a healthy region, excellently adapted to settlement; railroads will speedily penetrate it, and then it will witness an astonishing development. ”

“ Brazil has more head of cattle than has the 161Argentine, and almost illimitable space for scientific breeding; she has areas for cereals which could make her a rival granary of the world. She has room and to spare for one hundred million population.
But her two great interior states, Matto Grosso and Goyaz, the heart of Brazil, with their two million, one hundred and twenty-five thousand square kilometers of land, are traversed by less than five hundred kilometers of railroad. ”

“ This branch of the Paraguay is perhaps one of the most characteristically tropical in South America, the vegetation on its banks growing with a profuse abundance. The State of Matto Grosso is an almost unexplored territory, and although containing a wealth of minerals, hardwoods, and rubber, only a fraction has been gathered and exported. When the half-million square miles that constitute the area of this State are contrasted with the total exports, to the value of about the same number of pounds sterling, the possibilities of enormous developments are apparent. ”

“ The people of the state have always been distinguished for their energy and enterprise, especially during the colonial period. The early population was largely composed of half breeds, known as Mamelucos, and the exploration of the greater part of the interior of Brazil is due to them. Their exploring parties, called bandeiras, discovered the first gold mines of Minas Geraes and Matto Grosso, drove the Jesuit missions from Paraná, and traversed the interior northward into Piauhy, north-westward almost to Quito, westward into Bolivia and southward into Rio, Grande and Paraguay. ”

“ It has Guiana on the north, with the Atlantic northeast; east are Maranhão and Goyaz. Matto Grosso is south, and Amazonas west. Its chief products are of the forest, particularly rubber, also Brazil nuts, medicinal plants, oils and timber. Little is done in agriculture though [Pg 402] many plants grow freely such as cotton, rice, tobacco, and especially cacao, of which 3500 tons a year have been exported. There are large herds of cattle, perhaps 2,000,000 head, and various minerals are found. One railway, with branches, leads from Pará to Bragança, near the ocean, and to other towns ”

“ Brazil’s one state of Matto Grosso could swallow the whole cattle-raising country of the Argentine, without taking into consideration Goyaz, Minas Geraes, S. Paulo, Paraná or Rio Grande do Sul.
Space and climate, however, are not all that goes to make a cattle country fattening fine stock, and it need scarcely be said that much must be done before the cattle lands of Brazil can seriously compete with those of the Argentine: the time is not yet ripe for the wild pastures of Goyaz and Matto Grosso to fatten cattle in the same proportion as Rio Grande State. ”

“ The construction of railways is comparatively easy. The Uruguay River on the western boundary furnishes good communication with Uruguayan and Argentinian ports, and regular steamship service is maintained on it. There are also some rivers emptying into the lake, which are navigable for small craft.
The state of Matto Grosso, (the dense forest) is an empire in itself, for it contains a greater area than the original thirteen colonies. It is one-sixth as large as the United States. It is not only an undeveloped, but practically an unexplored country, whose resources are only half understood. ”

“ In grateful remembrance of many kindnesses received, I have dedicated my labours to the indefatigable worker who, for many years past, has devoted his life to the noble enterprise of opening a way to the markets of Europe for the many and varied products of the Republic of Bolivia and the Province of Matto Grosso in the Empire of Brazil. ”

“ Minas Geraes, the fourth inland State and the fifth in size, has Bahia on the north, Bahia and Espirito Santo east, Rio de Janeiro southeast, São Paulo southwest, and Goyaz west, a small southwest corner about reaching Matto Grosso below. Although without a seaport and with no large city, Minas is the most populous of the States, with an active industrious population. The State leads in mineral riches of almost every kind; it is one of the foremost in agriculture of all varieties, being second to São Paulo in coffee ”

“ The country along this river is a fine natural cattle country, and some day it will surely see a great development. It was opened to development by Colonel Rondon only five or six years ago. Already an occasional cattleranch is to be found along the banks. When railroads are built into these interior portions of Matto Grosso the whole region will grow and thrive amazingly—and so will the railroads. The growth will not be merely material. An immense amount will be done in education ”

“ Towns were built—for instance, Villa Rica—and people flocked from all regions. The province of Matto Grosso, after the year 1720, ceased to produce gold, and in the eighteenth century Brazil occupied the place of California in the nineteenth. Minas Geraes alone, in the middle of the eighteenth century, produced seven, and Brazil ten, million dollars per year, but the deposits were soon exhausted, and toward 1820 the entire production of Brazil had dwindled to five hundred thousand dollars. ”

“ Altogether the constitution of government in Brazil seems to combine happily the principles of local self-government and centralisation, and only requires a proper degree of virtue and intelligence in the people to lead the nation to great prosperity.
The province of Pará, or, as we may now say, the two provinces of Pará and the Amazons contain an area of 800,000 square miles; the population of which is only about 230,000, or in the ratio of one person to four square miles. The country is covered with forests, and the soil fertile in the extreme even for a tropical country. ”

“ Goyaz, the fourth State in size, following Pará, has Maranhão on the north, Maranhão, Bahia, and Minas Geraes are on the east, Minas and Matto Grosso are south, and Matto Grosso and Pará west. Three hundred thousand is the estimated population with a guess at the number of Indians of many tribes. The principal industry is stock raising and many cattle are exported to neighboring States. The forests have the maniçoba and the mangabeira rubber, also a vegetable silk, paina. There are great mineral riches, placer gold in many streams, and veins in the hills ”

“ There are a few small lakes in Maranhão and Piauhy, some in Goyaz in the great valley of the Araguaya, and a considerable number in Matto Grosso, especially in the Paraguay basin, where the sluggish current of that river is unable to carry away the rainfall in the rainy season.
The coast of Brazil is indented with a number of almost landlocked bays, forming spacious and accessible harbours. The larger and more important of these are Todos os Santos, on which is located the city of São Salvador or Bahia, and Coast. Rio de Janeiro or Guanabara, beside which stands the capital of the republic. ”

“ From the geographical position of the Tapajos, it is evident that this river facilitates navigation and commerce from the maritime city of Pará to the mines of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba, by means of its large branches, the Juruena and Arinos; if the short passages over-land should be found troublesome to drag canoes, the goods may be forwarded immediately on mules. This navigation to Matto Grosso is at least two hundred leagues shorter than that performed through the Madeira and Guapore ”

“ In fact, the neighbourhood produces scarcely anything; the provincial government is supplied with the greater part of its funds from the treasury of Pará; its revenue, which amounts to about 50 contos of reis (5,600l.) , derived from export taxes on the produce of the entire province, not sufficing for more than about one-fifth of its expenditure. The population of the province of the Amazons, according to a census taken in 1858, is 55,000 souls; the municipal district of Barra, which comprises a large area around the capital, containing only 4500 inhabitants. ”

“ The sertões of Matto Grosso and Goyaz will not attract foreign settlers until there is better communication; the land is there, but the markets are not available. But there is land and to spare still in São Paulo with its network of railways and good riverways, and there is excellent cereal and cattle land in Paraná, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul, for the northern-born, who cannot face a semi-tropical climate: for him who can face it—as the Texas cotton grower should do—there are extensive regions farther north in Pernambuco and her sister states. ”

“ The Rio Branco entered from the left at 9 degrees 38 minutes. We camped at 8 degrees 49 minutes or approximately the boundary line between Matto Grosso and Amazonas. The confluence with the upper Aripuanan, which entered from the right, was in 7 degrees 34 minutes. The mouth where it entered the Madeira was in about 5 degrees 30 minutes. The stream we have followed down is that which rises farthest away from the mouth and its general course is almost due north:
My dear Sir, I thank you from my heart for the chance to take part in this great work of exploration. ”

“ Of the great inland region, which includes the arid campos of the north, the partially-wooded plateaus of Minas Geraes, Goyaz and Matto Grosso, the temperate highlands of the south, and the tropical lowlands of the Paraguay basin, no adequate description can be given without taking each section in detail, which can be done to better advantage in describing the individual states. In general, the carrasco growth extends over the whole central plateau, and heavy forests are found only in the deep river valleys. Those opening northward have the characteristic flora of the Amazon basin. ”

“ Brazilian manufacturing already depends considerably upon the water power accessible, especially in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas. There is enough hydraulic force available in Brazil to turn the wheels of the world but the majority of these wonderful cascades are scarcely known by name, and many were not charted in the interior of Matto Grosso and Amazonas until the work of the Rondon Commission opened great tracts of those unknown lands. It is not possible here to do more than mention one or two of the most important falls. ”

“ With the population of the Republic gradually increasing—it could be centupled and there would still [23] be plenty of room for as many people again—the São Paulo State will one day supply most of the meat for the principal markets of Brazil. A good deal of the cattle which will eventually be raised on the marvellous campos of Matto Grosso and Goyaz, and destined to Southern Brazilian markets, will find its way to the coast via São Paulo. The rest will travel perhaps via Minas Geraes. ”

“ Large parts of them are believed to be fit only for ranching, but settlement has in the western districts not gone far enough to determine their capacity for agriculture, though it is known that some are unprofitable because marshy and others because sandy. On the other hand the country south of latitude 20° is for the most part fertile and well watered, and more developed than any other part of Brazil except the coast strip.
There remains another and still larger region which lies in the northwest part of the republic; I mean the vast plain of the Amazon and its tributaries. ”