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FORTALEZA (usually called CEARA by fo...

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 677 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FORTALEZA (usually called See also:CEARA by foreigners) , a See also:city and See also:port of See also:Brazil and the See also:capital of the See also:state of Ceara, on a See also:crescent-shaped indentation of the See also:coast-See also:line immediately W. of Cape Mucuripe or Mocoripe, 72 M. from the mouth of the Ceara See also:river, in See also:lat. 3° 42' S., See also:long. 38° 3o' W. Pop. (189o) of the See also:municipality, including a large rural See also:district, 40,902. The city stands on an open sandy See also:plain overlooking the See also:sea, and is regularly laid out, with broad, well-paved, See also:gas-lighted streets and numerous squares. Owing to the aridity of the See also:climate the vegetation is less luxuriant than in most Brazilian cities. The temperature is usually high, but it is modified by the strong sea winds. Fortaleza has suffered much from epidemics of yellow-See also:fever, small-pox and beri-beri, but the climate is considered to be healthy. A small See also:branch of the Ceara river, called the Pajehfi, traverses the city and divides it into two parts, that on its right See also:bank being locally known as Outeiro. Fortaleza is the see of a bishopric, created in 1854, but it has no See also:cathedral, one of its ten churches being used for that purpose. Its public buildings include the See also:government See also:house, legislative See also:chambers, See also:bishop's See also:palace, an episcopal See also:seminary, a See also:lyceum (high school), Misericordia See also:hospital, and asylums for mendicants and the insane.

The See also:

custom-house stands nearer the seashore, 1; m. from the railway station in the city, with which it is connected by See also:rail. The port is the See also:principal outlet for the products of the state, but its anchorage is an open roadstead, one of the most dangerous on the See also:northern coast of Brazil, and all See also:ships are compelled to See also:anchor well out from See also:shore and See also:discharge into lighters. Port improvements designed by the eminent engineer See also:Sir See also:John See also:Hawkshaw have been under construction for many years, but have made very slow progress. The Baturite railway, built by the See also:national government partly to give employment to starving refugees in times of long-continued droughts, connects the city and its port with fertile regions to the S.W., and extends to Senador Pompeu, 178 M. distant. The exports include See also:sugar, See also:coffee, See also:rubber, See also:cotton, See also:rum, See also:rice, beans, fruits, hides and skins. Fortaleza had its origin in a small See also:village adjoining a fort established at this point in See also:early colonial times. In 1654 it took the name of See also:Villa do Forte da Assumpcao, but it was generally spoken of as Fortaleza. In 1810 it became the capital of Ceara, and in 1823 it was raised to the dignity of a city under the See also:title of Fortaleza da Nova Braganca.

End of Article: FORTALEZA (usually called CEARA by foreigners)

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