Southern Cone Under the British

Brazil

     The British invasions of the River Plate in 1806-07 have had some major effects on Brazil.  To begin with, through the 19th century, conflicts between the British and Portuguese/Brazilians were overall not as bloody as between the Spanish/Argentines and Portuguese/Brazilians in our world, because the Portuguese liked the British much more than the Spanish.  

     That means, among other things, that Uruguay got to keep more of its northern territories that in our world belong to the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.  This, along with Argentina’s keeping, in 1898, of the easternmost part of Misiones province (that had been grabbed from Paraguay in 1870 and are now located in the western parts of Brazil’s Santa Catarina and Parana states) – unlike in our real life – means that Brazil in Auchmuty-Whitelocke World (AWW) is a little smaller than our Brazil.  The Brazil of AWW is 8,317,169 square kilometres (or 3,211,728 square miles).  Its population in 2000 was 164,308,148 - smaller than that of our world's Brazil by almost 5.5 million. 

     The course of development concerning the abolition of slavery and the collapse of the Brazilian empire was much the same as in our Brazil.  One exception is that slavery got abolished earlier than in our world, since the British had more complete control over the South Atlantic.  The slave trade was outlawed in 1845, slavery was partially abolished in 1861 and 1872, and it was totally abolished in 1876.  (In our world, the respective dates were 1850, 1871, 1885, and 1888.)  As a result, Brazil became a republic in 1878 (not 1889 as in our world).  Thus, large-scale non-Portuguese immigration to Brazil began in the 1880s, a decade earlier than in our world.  Coffee-growing in Sao Paulo state also began earlier as a result.  Moreover, Belo Horizonte was founded in 1886 (as opposed to 1897 in our world), in order to make a less monarchy-linked capital of Minas Gerais state than Ouro Preto was.

      Later on, unlike in our world, neither Getulio Vargas (the populist ruler in the 1930s and early 1940s), João Goulart, nor Emilio Garrastazu Medici were presidents, since they all came from the territory which is located in Brazil in our world but in Uruguay in AWW.  Other people took their place in AWW, with similar though not identical policies, though a few years later each than in our world.  However, in AWW, Getulio Vargas was the prime minister of Uruguay between 1951 and 1954. 

     Meanwhile, the Brazil of AWW, especially the south and southeast, had very considerable British financial influence, thanks in no small part to the nearby presence of the British dominions of Argentina and Uruguay.  Some angloparlant (English-speaking) people and/or people of British ancestry also settled in Brazil, mostly in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Parana, plus Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo; there is still a significant, if highly assimilated, angloparlant presence in the country – they make up just over 1% of the general Brazilian population but 5% of that of Rio Grande do Sul. As well, southern Brazil (south of Rio/Sao Paulo) is slightly more affluent than it is in our world (and in our real life, they have relatively high standards of living), and so is the rest of the country relative to our world's rest of Brazil.  The south, though, is better off than the rest of the country in both worlds. 

     For a very long time, Brazil and Argentina have been rivals in many ways, and now, Brazil’s economy is about the same size as Argentina’s, possibly a bit larger these days.  It is just like China versus Japan in East Asia.  Per capita income in Brazil today is about $6500, 1.5 times more than our world’s Brazil; still, it is just one fourth of Argentina’s.  Also, Sao Paulo competes with Buenos Aires for being a top fashion and lifestyle centre in South (and Latin) America.  Outside Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, the economy of Brazil is perhaps South America’s most dynamic.  Sao Paulo is Brazil's leading financial centre, and the biggest in South America after Buenos Aires.

     As far as sports are concerned, Brazil is every bit as much a soccer powerhouse in AWW as in our world.  Because of the significant angloparlant influence, the national rugby union team has Rugby Union World Cup experience, though it is still in the Third Tier.

     Carlos Gardel had an enormous influence on Brazilian music, especially the one in Rio de Janeiro in the 1920s and 1930s.  (Whereas his family settled in Argentina in our world and had a major impact on tango there, in AWW, they settled in Brazil.)  Osvaldo Pugliese, another famed tango musician, also lived in Brazil in AWW.  Furthermore, two Brazilians have won Nobel Prizes (vs. none in our world).

     Today, in AWW, there is a two-way exchange between Argentina/Uruguay and Brazil.  First of all, Brazil serves as the top warm-weather winter playground for scores of Argentines and Uruguayans, much like North Americans go to Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean, etc. Rio is just as popular among the Southern Cone folks as the area from Miami to Palm Beach is to North Americans, both for winter sunbathing and for “snowbirding” (moving seasonally between their hometowns and a winter warm-weather locale).  The state of Espiritu Santo can be compared to the Bahamas; Sao Paulo state to northern Florida and Georgia; Sao Paulo city to Atlanta, Georgia in terms of a combination of relative geographical position and financial significance; the Brazilian northeast (e.g. Bahia, Pernambuco, and Ceará states) to the West Indies; and so on.  Besides Rio, winter resorts include Buzios, Parati, Cabo Frio, and Angra dos Reis, all around Rio; various resorts in Bahia state, like Porto Seguro, Praia do Forte, Ilheus, Morro de Sao Paulo, and Itacaré, as well as Bahia city itself; and further north, like in the major cities of Recife, Natal, and Fortaleza, as well as smaller areas like the Fernando de Noronha Islands.  Such vacationers appreciate cachaça and caipirinha as much as North American vacationers appreciate tequila, margaritas, and rum.

     Moreover, many senior Argentines and Uruguayans retire in the Rio de Janeiro area, and also in Sao Paulo state (including Santos/Sao Vicente), Belo Horizonte, and along the coast from Espiritu Santo northwards, for the year-round warm weather.  During the summer, many people from the Southern Cone (including also Chile and Paraguay) travel to beaches along the coast in and around Santa Catarina state, in places such as Santa Catarina Island (where Florianopolis is), Camboriú, and Matinhos.  Quite a few retire in Santa Catarina state.  Southern Cone people get much of their orange juice from Brazil much as North Americans get theirs from Florida, though oranges are also grown along the Uruguay River in both Argentina and Uruguay. 

     In return, Brazilians have immigrated to Uruguay and Argentina in large numbers in recent decades, both legally and illegally; they have gone down south in order to work for much higher wages, and send remittances back to Brazil in the process.  They gravitate to hispanoparlant rather than angloparlant circles in their host countries, since their native Portuguese is closer to Spanish than to English and therefore are more comfortable with the former.  In Argentina, there are 2,000,000 Brazilians in total, many of them in Buenos Aires/Plate Province, the Littoral, and the Northeast; Uruguay has 400,000.  In both countries, they have had a huge impact, like in the increase in Brazilian restaurants, more sounds of samba and bossa nova, and a greater need for knowledge of Portuguese.  This impact is comparable to that of the Mexicans in the United States.  Finally, many wealthy Brazilians use Buenos Aires as their investment safe haven and second homes instead of Miami, because in that scenario, the currency situation in Argentina is quite stable (VERY unlike in our world); Uruguay is their offshore financial haven.

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