page_title: Ceará
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ceará / History
caption_attribution_description: Perspecto da villa da Fortaleza
context_page_description: Ceará, is one of the 27 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the main tourist destinations in Brazil. The state capital is the city of Fortaleza, the country's fourth most populous city. The state is home to 4.3% of the Brazilian population and produces 2.1% of the Brazilian GDP.
  Literally, the name Ceará means "sings the jandaia". According to José de Alencar, one of the most important writers of Brazil and an authority in Tupi Guaraní, Ceará means turquoise or green waters.
  The state is best known for its extensive coastline, with 600 kilometers of sand. There are also mountains and valleys producing tropical fruits. To the south, on the border of Paraíba, Pernambuco and Piauí, is the National Forest of Araripe.
context_section_description: The territory of Ceará was originally inhabited by different Indian peoples, such as the Tabajara, Potyguara, Anacés, Kariri, Inhamum, Jucá, Kanindé, Tremembé, Paicaú and others, who had commercial relations with various European people, including the French, before the Portuguese decided to include the area in Brazil.
  The first Portuguese plan for settling in Ceará dated from 1534, but the first attempts to settle the territory failed, and the earliest Portuguese settlement was made near the mouth of the Ceará River in 1603, by Pero Coelho de Sousa. He established the fort of São Tiago, but one year later he and his family abandoned Ceará because of a period of drought, a natural phenomenon that periodically afflicts the province, which the Portuguese settlers were ill-equipped to endure.
  Portugal wanted to form a military base in Ceará to support the Portuguese operations in the war against the French. The first attempt with Pero Coelho de Sousa, in 1603, was not successful, and the French continued operating from Maranhão and Ibiapaba, where they had established a base in 1590. The Indians and French formed political and military alliances. In 1607, two Jesuits, Francisco Pinto and Pereira Figueira, arrived in Ceará with a mission to spy in the area of Ibiapaba. In October, that year Franciso Pinto was killed by the Indians and Pereira Filgueira returned with more information about the area and the French and Indian alliance.
  In 1612, the French were successfully expelled from Ceará and Maranhão by a military expedition under the command of Portuguese Martim Soares Moreno. In the same year he constructed the fortress of São Sebastião on the same site as São Tiago, and one year later he left Ceará for Portugal. It was only in 1618 that Martim Soares Moreno returned to Ceará, and it is from this time that the Portuguese presence dates. This was restricted at first to the area of the Ceará River: Martim Soares Moreno made an alliance with the Indians of the Potiguara tribe. In 1631, he left Ceará to help the Portuguese against the Dutch in Pernambuco and the fort of São Sebastião lost its importance.
  At this time, what is today Brazil was hotly disputed by the Dutch and the Portuguese. The area was invaded twice by the Dutch, in 1637 and in 1649. In 1637, the Dutch and the Indians took the Fort of São Sebastião and dominated Ceará. The Dutch expanded their presence in Ceará and made alliances with different Indian tribes. In 1639, Georg Marcgrave made an expedition in Ceará, but in 1644 the Indians attacked the Dutch Governor of Ceará, Gideon Morris, the Dutch soldiers were killed, and São Sebastião was destroyed.
  There were no Europeans in the region between 1644 and 1649, but in 1649, before negotiations with the different Indian tribes, Matias Beck arrived in Ceará to explore silver mines of Maranguape. Good-quality silver was not found however. In this period the Dutch built another fort, by the banks of river Pajeú, and named it Fort Schoonenborch after one of their commanders. In 1654, the Dutch were expelled from Brazil; the Portuguese took Schoonenborch, changed its name to Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora de Assunção (The Fortress of Our Lady of the Assumption), and the different Indian tribes that had made alliance with the Dutch had to flee from Portuguese persecution.
  In 1661, the Netherlands formally ceded their Brazilian territories to the Portuguese crown, ending conflict in the region. Ceará became a dependency of Pernambuco in 1680; this relationship lasted until 1799, when the Captaincy of Ceará was made independent.
  The fight for Brazilian independence in 1822 was fierce in Ceará, with the area being a rebel stronghold that incurred vicious retribution from loyalists. The captaincy became a province in 1822 under Dom Pedro I.  A revolution followed in 1824, the president of the province was deposed fifteen days after his arrival, and a republic was proclaimed. Internal dissensions immediately broke out, the new president was assassinated, and after a brief reign of terror the province resumed its allegiance 
caption: Panorama of Fortaleza in 1811.
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