American Geographical Society

The Sao Francisco Basin: A Brazilian Sertao

Author(s): Preston E. James
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct., 1948), pp. 658-661
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211452
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THE SAO FRANCISCO BASIN: A BRAZILIAN SERTAO
PRESTON E. JAMES

T HE focusing of geographical attention on Brazil is a notable development of the

last twenty year;. From a past as one of the least-known parts of Latin America,
Brazil has emerged as one of the best known. No little of the credit for this is due
to the growth in that country of an active interest in geographical scholarship,an
interest that centers in the Conselho Nacional de Geografiain Rio de Janeiro. Foreign
writers on Brazil, especially those whose study of the many aspects of Brazilian culture
reachesback only a few years,may bring to light new and significantfacts,but they often fail
to interpret these facts adequatelybecause they do not give due weight to the underlying
philosophicalconceptions and moral values, which Brazilianwriters take for granted.There
is somewhat of a gap, then, between the writings of Brazilians,who do not feel the necessity
for discussingthe basic attitudes and objectives so familiar to them, and the writings of
non-Brazilians,who tend to overlook the significanceof these matters.
This gap is nicely illustratedby recent works on the Sao FranciscoBasin. Of major
importanceis a penetratingmonograph by Jorge Zarur, which forms a kind of pilot study
for a seriesof regional analyses.ISeveralother works, by both Braziliansand North Ameri-
cans, deal with different aspects of the Sao FranciscoBasin.2All of them, however, will
leave the picture incomplete for a non-Brazilianunless he understandsthe significance of
the term sertao.For to the average Brazilian,literateor illiterate,the Sio FranciscoBasin is
the sertao.
The word sertao(pronounced "sair-towng") is not easily translated.The sertao is not a
kind of vegetation. It is not just virgin wildernessin the North Americansense of the word.
It is not unexplored:the "backlands"of Brazil have been trampedover again and again for
four hundred years, and again and again they have yielded wealth to any strong enough,
brave enough, and persistentenough to discover and exploit their hidden resources.It is not
empty: all over its vast expanse are small villages and towns lost in leagues of unoccupied
land. But no descriptionof the things physicallypresentin the sertaocan give the full content
of the word; for it is also a state of mind, a belief in the existenceof hidden resources,and of
a people endowed with unusual insights and powers. Even before Euclydes da Cunha3
developed this theme, the sertaoconcept had impresseditself on the Brazilianmind.
'Jorge Zarur:A Bacia do Medio Sao Francisco(Uma analiseregional). xxii and 189 pp. Biblioteca
Geogr.Brasileira,Ser. A, Publ. No. 4. Conselho Nacional de Geografia,InstitutoBrasileirode Geografia
e Estatistica,Rio de Janeiro, 1947 (on cover, 1946).
2Aroldo de Azevedo: A regiao deJuazeiro e Petrolina, Univ. de Sao Paulo, Bol. Faculdade de Filos.,
Cienciase Letras:GeografiaNo. 2, 1946; R. E. Crist: CulturalCrosscurrentsin the Valley of the Rio Sao
Francisco, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 34, 1944, pp. 587-612, and Vol. 35, 1945, p. 174, see map on pp. 590-59I;
GilvandroSimasPereira:ExpediSaoa regiao centro ocidentalda Bahia, Rev. Brasileirade Geogr.,Vol. 7,
I945, pp. 573-620; T. Lynn Smith: Notes on Populationand Social Organizationin the CentralPortion
of the Sao FranciscoValley, Vanderbilt
Univ. Inst.forBrazilianStudiesJournalSer.No. I, Nashville, Tenn.,
1947, also published in Inter-American Econ. Affairs, Vol. I, No. 3, 1947, pp. 45-54.
3 Euclydes da Cunha: Os Sertoes,Rio de Janeiro, 1902; translatedby Samuel Putnam, "Rebellion
in the Backlands,"Chicago, I944.
> PROFESSOR JAMES is professor of geography at Syracuse University, specializing in Latin
America. He is chairman of the Association of American Geographers' Committee on Cen-
tennial Studies.
 SAO FRANCISCO BASIN 659
To the Brazilianof the twentieth century this quasi-mysticalfeeling for the backlands
is not an allurement.The greatcities of the settledregions offer advantages,real or imagined,
that draw people to them. Even from the sertao there is a trickle of migration toward the
settled areas.Yet the Brazilianof the cities is never skepticalof the possibilitythat someone
else will find the key to unlock the riches of the backlandsand starta great inland trek, a
marchaparaoeste.
THE SXo FRANCISCO
BASIN
Zarur writes that "no river system plays a more important role in the consolidationof
Brazilian unity than the Sao Francisco."This is curiously true, even though few literate
Brazilianshave visited the region, only a trickle of productshas ever issuedfrom it, and as a
line of inland communication the river is utterly inadequateto carry even a fraction of the
domestic commerce between different parts of the country. But the Sao FranciscoBasin
bracketsall the scatteredclustersof people near the coast from the southeastnorthward to
the interior of Bahia and Perambuco. The great river rises in Minas Gerais only a little
northwest of Rio de Janeiro; more than a thousand miles to the north it turns sharply to
the east to plunge in numerousfalls and rapidsto the Atlantic. For the people of Pernambuco
and Bahia as well as for those of Minas Geraisand Rio de Janeiro, the sertao behind them
is the Sao FranciscoBasin.
The region is by no meansuniform in its physicalcharacter.Zarurrecognizesfour major
divisions of the "Middle Basin." There is the "Upper Middle," which contains a quarter
of the areaand 21 per cent of the people. It is potentiallythe most productivefor agriculture
becauseit suffersless from drought than the districtsfartherdownstream.Today it is covered
with savanna(camposcerrados)4 and semideciduousforest.In a smallway the productiveactivi-
ties include cotton ginning, the preparationof rice, the milling of manioc flour (farinha,)
the distillationof aguardiente,and the preparationof castor oil, babaiu,cottonseed oil, and
soap. Piraporais the urban center, located near the head of navigation on the middle river
and at the end of a narrow-gauge railroadfrom Belo Horizonte. To the northeastMontes
Claros, also a railhead,is a secondarycenter.
The second district is the "Lower Middle," extending from the borderlandof Minas
Geraisand Bahia to the beginning of the zone of falls and rapids.It contains 4I per cent of
the area and 36 per cent of the people. Because of the increasingrecurrenceof droughts
toward the north, the settlement pattern is more closely attachedto the sources of water
than in the Upper Middle. Small settlementsare separatedby vast areasin which there are
no permanent habitations. The vegetation is predominantly a thorn forest that loses its
leaves in the dry season(caatinga), but there are galeria forests along the riverbanks. The
principal occupations are the tending of herds of cattle and goats, the cultivation of truck
crops on the riverbanks(culturade vazante)near the towns, the collection of carnauiba, caroa,
4In the currentnumberof the Geographical Review,LeoWaibelpresentsevidencethatthe campo
cerrado,and especiallyits densephase,the cerradao,
areimproperlyclassifiedas savanna;they should,
he says,be placedin a new category-neitherforestnor grassland.Waibelraisesan important question
regardingthe conceptsandcategoriesof tropicalgeography.But no finaldecisionson identification
anddefinitioncanbe reacheduntilgeographers arereadyto stateclearlythe purposeto be served.For
somepurposesthe majorcategories-forest and grassland-aresufficient;
for othersthe recognitionof
numeroustransitional typesis necessary.
But how manytransitional types,and how is one to judge
whethera vegetationtypeis significant
ornot?Theanswersto thesequestions dependon theformulation
of preciseobjectives.
 660 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

andrubber.Fishin the riverarean importantsourceof food.The chiefmarketcenteris the

twin town ofJuazeiroandPetrolina,the formerat the end of the railroadfrom Salvador,
the latterat theendof a highwayfromRecifeandthesiteof animportantairfield.
The thirddistrictis the "Zoneof the Falls,"whichcontains15 percentof the areaand
33 percentof the people.It hasa populationdensityof sevento a squarekilometer-double
thatof anyof the otherdistrictsin the MiddleBasin.On bitsof alluviallandwateredby the
river are smallfarmingcommunities,specializingin the productionof cotton and sub-
sistencecrops.Animalsarepasturedwhereverforagecanbe found.The principalhazardsof
lifeherearetherecurring floodsanddroughts,which,combinedwithpoorhygieneandlack
of capital,keepthe level of livingmuchlowerthanthe potentialresourceswould seemto
suggest.The hydroelectric remainlargelyundeveloped.Clearly,in thisdistrict
possibilities
the economicproblemscannotbe attackedlocally.
The fourthdivisionof the MiddleBasinis the "WesternPlateau."Thisliesto the west
of the LowerMiddlealongthe borderof BahiaandGoias;it contains19 percentof the area
and io per cent of the people.It consistsof extensiveflat-toppeduplandsseparated by the
valleysof two maintributaries of the Sao Francisco.Reflectingthe westwardincreasein
averagerainfall,the vegetationgraduallychangesfromthornforestto open savannas with
galeria forests.This is a pioneer zone,but with largeareasdevoted to cattlerangeon vast
private estates.Barreiras is the chiefcenter.
In no partof the MiddleBasinarepeoplereallyprosperous, not even the largeland-
owners.Povertyis a causeof the prevalenceof largeholdings,writesZarur,not a result.
It hasproduceda kindof democracyin whichno one enjoysan incomesufficientto make
him the objectof envy or imitation.And the poor hygieneand inadequatediet createa
patientresignationor apathyin the face of difficulties. Forthe sertanejo (the inhabitantof
the sertao)thereis no mysteryabouttheprocessof livingin thebacklands: anymovetoward
a solutionof the problemsof development,he feels,mustcomefromwhatto him is indeed
a mysticalpower-the federalgovernment.
The SaoFrancisco is usedas a lineof transportation.
ItsmiddlecoursefromJuazeiroto
Piraporais navigablefor shallow-draft steamers,andthe severalcompetingtransportation
companiescarrysmallquantitiesof goodsup and down the river.In yearspastcountless
drought-harassed peoplefrom the sertaoof Cearahave soughtto bettertheir economic
statusin fabulousSaoPaulo.Fora muchsmallercostthanon the coastwisesteamers,these
poor peopleof the backlands havetrekkedoverlandto Petrolina,traveledthenceby river
steamerto Pirapora,andthenceby railand even motorbusto the fazendasof Sao Paulo.
Thousands haveprobablymadethistrip,andthousands, perhaps,havereturned,discouraged
by the strangePaulistaway of life. But as an inlandconnectionbetweenthe southeastand
the northeast,to supplement,or in time of war to replace,the coastwiseroute,the riveris
of littleimportance.Duringthe recentwar the northeastwas essentiallya strategicisland;
for all buta negligibleproportionof its supplieshadto cometo it by seaor by air.
AN EVALUATION

Zarur'smonographis exploratory in thatitspurpose,whichis clearlystated,is to marshal

the relevantfactsconcerningpresentconditionsin the region,to identifyproblems,andto
suggestfurtherprocedures. It startswith a problem-humanpoverty,one of the basicprob-
Here
lemsof all socialscience. is a region,writesZarur,in whichthe inhabitants do not live
as well as the resourcesmight permit.But beforeremedialprocedurescan be determined
 SAO FRANCISCO BASIN 66I

and adopted, it is essentialto provide a backgroundof informationand to make clear what

it is that needs to be remedied.
Zarur follows the outline suggested by the Land Committee of the National Resources
Planning Board.5After a general descriptionof the physical and social characteristicsof the
region and an outline of the major contrastingparts,he proceedsto a detaileddescriptionof
the economic life-of the population and their manner of making a living. Then he lists
and discusses49 factorsthat affect the regional economy. Finally, a concluding chapterpre-
sents recommendationsleading toward desirablereadjustmentsin the economic life. The
recommendationshave to do with political administration,the organizationof a detailed
inventory of resources,and possible changes in the economic life, in the efficiencyof trans-
portation, and in the social institutionsof the valley communities. Because of the need for
a coordinatedover-all attackon the problems,as opposed to the traditionallocal and piece-
meal attack, Zarur envisions a regional "authority"set up for the specific purpose of plan-
ning a more effective use of the resourcesand putting its plans into operation.
How can we evaluate Zarur'swork? Compared with non-Brazilianswho have written
on this area,Zaruroffersnot only greaterdetail but also greaterinsight;he has the advantage
of greater familiarity with his subject, and also-perhaps more important-he is better
able to select the relevantfrom the irrelevant.But what about his recommendations,which,
if carriedout, would cost an enormous sum of money?
The region unquestionablypresentsboth opportunitiesand seriousobstacles.For small
farmers there are probably greater opportunities elsewhere, notably in southern Brazil,
where there is less climatic risk and where, also, there is less competition with the traditional
social system of the large estate.But a regionalauthoritymight locate and develop additional
truck-gardenzones near the town markets within the region where small farmers might
be settled-if land titles could be cleared. There is a considerablearea of land in the basin
suitable for cotton and sugar cane; but could this region, even with better transportation,
ever compete with the plantationsof the northeastand of Sao Paulo in terms of costs?There
is definite promise of profit in the spreadof castor-beanproduction;for castor oil seems to
enjoy a steady demand on world markets. The Sao FranciscoBasin could compete with
other regions, especially if large acreageswere cultivatedby machinery;but this would not
provide for a large increase of population-perhaps just the opposite. Castor-bean pro-
duction with a large labor requirementwould be as costly and speculative as most other
tropical plantationventures.
For Brazilians,however, the Sao FranciscoBasin offers a special challenge. The fact
that the region embracespartsof severalstatesprovides the setting for action by the federal
government. The assumption that strategy demands the development of an inland com-
munication system between the northeastand the rest of Brazil points strongly to the desir-
ability of federal action in this region. The fact that the Sao Franciscobracketsthe two
traditionalcenters of Braziliannational life, the southeastand the northeast,and that most
Braziliansare ready to support the development of any sertao, and especially this sertao,
means that in no other region could the federalgovernment begin an attackon the problem
of the backlandswith so little opposition. It is interestingto observe that it is a Brazilian
geographerwho is pointing the way.
5 "Area
Analysis-A Method of Public Works Planning,"by a Special Subcommitteeof the Land
Committee, National ResourcesPlanningBoard, Tech.PaperNo. 6, Washington, D. C., revised, 1943.