SAO LEOPOLDO

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 198 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAC-SAR

SAO LEOPOLDO , a city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on the left bank of the Rio dos Sinos, sod m. by

rail

RAIL

N. of

Porto

PORTO

Alegre. It is the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

town of a municipio (commune) of the same name, having an area of about 347 sq. m. and inhabited chiefly by German colonists. Pop. (1900) of the city, 11,015; of the municipio, 32,600. Sao Leopoldo has river and railway communication with

Porto

PORTO

Alegre. It is a prosperous industrial town, with broad straight streets and substantial buildings. It has good schools, and its

Jesuits

JESUITS

' college ranks high throughout northern Rio Grande. Among its manufactures are matches, hats, boots and shoes, soap, liqueurs and artificial drinks,

leather

and

leather

work

WORK

and earthenware. In the sur-rounding districts cattle and hogs are raised, and jerked beef, hides, pork,

lard

LARD (Fr. lard, from Lat. laridum, bacon fat, related to Gr. Naptvos fat, Napos dainty or sweet)

, potatoes, beans, farinha de mandioca (cassava flour), Indian corn, tobacco and a

great

GREAT

variety of vegetables and fruits are produced.
The city was originally a German colony founded by the emperor Pedro I. in 1824 and established at a place known as the Feitoria Real de Canhamo (Royal flat factory). The first colonists (26 families and 17 unmarried persons, or 126 souls) arrived on the 25th of June 1825, and were followed a few months later by another party of 909 colonists. These were the first German colonists in Rio Grande do Sul. Up to 1830 the arrivals numbered 3701, but the civil war which broke out in 1835 checked further arrivals and nearly ruined the colony, its inhabitants being forced to serve in the contending forces and their property being seized. Sao Leopoldo was occupied by the revolutionists for some years and was practically ruined at the termination of the war in 1844. The introduction of colonists was immediately resumed, however, and the colony was soon as prosperous as ever. The early colonists were engaged in Germany by a representative of the Brazilian government, and were given free transportation, 130 acres of

land

LAND

each, farming implements, seeds, and a subsidy of 320 reis a day for the first year and half that for the second year. Subsequent settlers received less, but the

system

SYSTEM

of assisting colonists and making contracts with companies and individuals for their introducton became the settled policy of the national arid provincial governments.

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