Recife is the fourth-largest urban area in Brazil with 4,054,866 inhabitants, the largest urban area of the North/Northeast Regions, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco in the northeast corner of South America. The population of the city proper was 1,653,461 in 2020. Recife was founded in 1537, during the early Portuguese colonization of Brazil, as the main harbor of the Captaincy of Pernambuco, known for its large scale production of sugar cane. It was the former capital Mauritsstad of the 17th century colony of New Holland of Dutch Brazil, established by the Dutch West India Company. The city is located at the confluence of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers before they flow into the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a major port on the Atlantic. Its name is an allusion to the stone reefs that are present by the city's shores. The many rivers, small islands and over 50 bridges found in Recife city centre characterise its geography and led to the city being called the "Brazilian Venice". As of 2010, it is the capital city with the highest HDI in Northeast Brazil and second highest HDI in the entire North and Northeast Brazil.
The federative units of Brazil are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Republic of Brazil. There are 26 states and one federal district. The states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time. The states are divided into municipalities, while the Federal District assumes the competences of both a state and a municipality.
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 19th-largest in area among federative units of the country, it is the sixth-most densely populated with around 89 people per km². Its capital and largest city, Recife, is one of the most important economic and urban hubs in the country. Based on 2019 estimates, the Recife Metropolitan Region is seventh-most populous in the country, and the second-largest in northeastern Brazil. In 2015, the state had 4.6% of the national population and produced 2.8% of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
The Praieira revolt, also known as the Beach rebellion, was a movement in the Pernambuco province of the Empire of Brazil that lasted from 1848 to 1849. The revolt, influenced by revolutions taking place in Europe, was due in part to unresolved conflicts left over from the Regency period and local resistance to the consolidation of the Empire of Brazil that had been proclaimed in 1822. The movement was led by radical elements of the Liberal Party of Pernambuco against the ruling Conservatives.
The Captaincies of Brazil were captaincies of the Portuguese Empire, administrative divisions and hereditary fiefs of Portugal in the colony of Terra de Santa Cruz, later called Brazil, on the Atlantic coast of northeastern South America. Each was granted to a single donee, a Portuguese nobleman who was given the title captain General.
In Brazil, the mayor is the chief executive of the smallest territorial unit — the municipality — and holds executive powers of the local government, in a "strong mayor-council" arrangement. In Portuguese, the mayor is called the prefeito or prefeita, while the government itself is termed the prefeitura.
Geraldo José Rodrigues Alckmin Filho is a Brazilian physician and politician who has served as the 26th vice president of Brazil since 1 January 2023. He previously served as the Governor of São Paulo from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2011 to 2018, the longest term served in that state since the end of the Military dictatorship in Brazil. He was the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) presidential nominee for the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, when he finished in fourth place, as well for the 2006 Brazilian presidential election, when he came in second place, losing in the runoff to then president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Pernambucan revolt of 1817, also known as The Priest's Revolution, occurred in the province of Pernambuco in the Northeastern region of Brazil, and was sparked mainly by the decline of sugar production rates and the influence of the Freemasonry in the region. Other important reasons for the revolt include: the ongoing struggle for the independence of Spanish colonies all over in South America; the independence of the United States; the generally liberal ideas that came through all of Brazil the century before, including many French Philosophers, such as Charles Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; the actions of secret societies, which insisted on the liberation of the colony; the development of a distinct culture in Pernambuco.
The State of Brazil was one of the states of the Portuguese Empire, in the Americas during the period of Colonial Brazil.
The Pernambuco Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology (Portuguese: Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco, IFPE) is a Brazilian institution of higher education located in Pernambuco State, Brazil. Its rectory is headquartered in Recife, Pernambuco. The IFPE is one of the oldest and most traditional among the Federal Institutes, it has 9 campuses and offers Technical, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as researches and scientific production.
Armando Monteiro is a Brazilian politician and lawyer. He has represented Pernambuco in the Federal Senate from 2011 to 2019. He was the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade from 2015 to 2016, during the second term of president Dilma Rousseff. Previously he was a Deputy for Pernambuco from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party.
Sônia Bone de Souza Silva Santos, usually known as Sônia Guajajara, is a Brazilian indigenous activist, environmentalist, and politician. A member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), she was initially a candidate for President of Brazil in the 2018 Brazilian general election, before being chosen as the vice presidential running mate of nominee Guilherme Boulos. This made her the first indigenous person to run for a federal executive position in Brazil. In 2022, Guajajara was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time.
Raquel Teixeira Lyra Lucena is a Brazilian lawyer, politician and the current governor of Pernambuco since 2023. Lyra was mayor of Caruaru from 2017 to 2022. A member of a political family, she previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco. She is affiliated to the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) but was a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB).
Marília Valença Rocha Arraes de Alencar is a Brazilian politician, member of Solidariedade (SD) since 2022. She was a federal deputy for Pernambuco for one term (2019-23).
João Henrique de Andrade Lima Campos is a Brazilian politician who has been the mayor of Recife since 2021. He was first elected as a federal deputy to the Chamber of Deputies for the state of Pernambuco during the 2018 general election as a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB). He is the son of former government minister and governor of Pernambuco Eduardo Campos.
The 2022 Pernambuco state elections took place in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil on 2 October 2022. Voters elected a governor, vice governor, one senator, 25 representatives for the Chamber of Deputies, and 49 Legislative Assembly members. Paulo Câmara, the incumbent governor of Pernambuco, was reelected in the first round in 2018 Pernambuco gubernatorial election, with 1,918,219 votes, the equivalent to 50.70% of the valid votes. He wasn't eligible for a new term, since he ran for governor in 2014 and 2018. In a crowded field, former mayor of Caruaru Raquel Lyra (PSDB) defeated Federal Deputy Marília Arraes (Solidarity) by close to 20 points in the second round. She was inaugurated on 1 January 2023.
Floods and mudslides occurred in the Northeast region of Brazil in 2022. Its cause was the rains that hit mainly the state of Pernambuco, but also Sergipe, Alagoas, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. Precipitation volumes surpassed the historical monthly average in several cities in just three days.
José Múcio Monteiro Filho is a Brazilian civil engineer and politician, affiliated with the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), and is currently Brazil's Defense Minister. He had previously been Minister and president of the Federal Audit Court (TCU) during the first Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government and Minister of Institutional Relations during the same government.
General elections will be held in Brazil on 4 October 2026 to elect the president, vice president, members of the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de Noronha. If no candidate for president—or for governor in some states—received more than half of the valid votes in the first round, a runoff election for these offices will be held on 31 October.
The politics of Pernambuco is the direction of Pernambuco's territory and the determination of the powers that make up its government structure. It is governed by three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary, and its current constitution was enacted on October 5, 1989; the first constitution was enacted in 1891 and after that there were three others.
