破衫战争

The Ragamuffin War (Portuguese: Guerra dos Farrapos), also known as the Ragamuffin Revolution or Heroic Decade, was a republican uprising that began in southern Brazil during the regency period, centered in the province of Rio Grande do Sul and, for a time, extending into Santa Catarina. It began on 20 September 1835, when rebel forces seized Porto Alegre, and soon turned into a wider confrontation between Brazil's imperial government and a coalition led by Bento Gonçalves and Antônio de Sousa Neto, who proclaimed the secession of the province and the creation of the Riograndense Republic following the rebel victory at the battle of Seival in 1836.

The war is often situated within the political and institutional instability of Brazil's regency period, when several armed conflicts erupted across the country, exposing the fragility of the imperial authority amid disputes between the Central government and Brazil's provinces over the latter's degree of autonomy. In Rio Grande do Sul, whose economy relied on livestock and the production of jerked beef for the internal market, the immediate cause for revolt lay with the landowners dissatisfaction with high export taxes and import duties on salt imposed by the Imperial government, while Uruguay and Argentina benefited from more favorable taxation in Brazilian markets, thus making the local produce less competitive within the country, but it is also attributed to a desire for greater autonomy and opposition to the government's centralized control over the province.

Once proclaimed, the new republic operated from shifting inland capitals such as Piratini, as Porto Alegre remained in Imperial control for the remainder of the conflict after being recaptured in 1836.……

Etymology

In Portuguese, the term farrapo literally denotes a rag or torn piece of cloth, and by extension can refer to someone shabbily dressed (a "ragamuffin").……

History

Beginning of the war

The uprising is believed to have begun over the difference between the economy of Rio Grande do Sul and that of the rest of the country. Unlike the other provinces, the economy of Rio Grande do Sul focused on the internal market rather than exporting commodities. The province's main product, charque (dried and salted beef), suffered badly from competition from charque imported from Uruguay and Argentina.……

Declaration of independence

Pushing to consolidate their power, Antônio de Souza Neto declared the independence of the Riograndense, or the Republic of Piratini, on 11 September 1836, with Bento Gonçalves as president nominee.……

Participants

Ragamuffins

All of those who revolted against the imperial government were called Ragamuffins (Portuguese: Farrapos).

In 1832, the Ragamuffin Party was founded by Lieutenant Luís José dos Reis Alpoim, deported from Rio de Janeiro to Porto Alegre. The group used to meet at Major João Manuel de Lima e Silva's house. Lima e Silva's home also worked as the headquarters of Sociedade Continentino, the editor of the newspaper called O Continentino, which strongly criticized the Empire.

Minorities in the war

Indigenous

In the years before the Ragamuffin War, the indigenous people were seen as a subdivision of the free population and performed the same jobs as white and free men: livestock and war activities. The most famous village is called São Nicolau and is located in Rio Pardo, consisting of indigenous people from the eastern reductions.

Like the blacks, the indigenous people actively participated in the Ragamuffin War from the first to the last day.……

Legacy

The Brazilian Army reorganized itself to be a proper fighting force during the Ragamuffin War. The military defeated insurgencies that rose up during the Imperial Era of Brazil. However, this reformed military would prove disastrous against the Emperor when they rebelled to create a Republic.