Salgado

Salgado is the of Maracatibe. It is not part of any province, having a special status of Federal District. Salgado was estabilished as national capital in 1909, and previously, it was the born city of the patriach of Maracatibean independence, the father Justiniano Salgado, and was called Belém d'Oeste. The Federal District of Salgado is the smallest federative unit in Maracatibe, and the 20th most populous, with an estimated number of 759,737 inhabitants in 2020.

Foundation and first century
The city of Salgado was born under the name Belém d'Oeste, and was recognized in 1798. It is not known who started the settlement of this region, but it is known that the first residents were migrants from the city of Belém Maracatibenha, in São Pedro. The city has developed as an area for. In the year that it was recognized as a municipality, Belém d'Oeste had only 1,789 inhabitants.

In the 19th century, with the, became an item of greater importance in the international market, and for that reason Belém d'Oeste also specialized in the extraction of natural rubber. The construction of Railway n.04 was one of the most important events for the city, as this railroad, which connected São Pedro to Catão, passed through the city. The company chosen to build the railway received payment for part of the land around the line, and that included several lands in Belém d'Oeste. With the investment of the railroad, Belém d'Oeste increased its logging activities and started to cultivate rubber plant on a large scale.

In 1855, three years before the implementation of the railway, Belém d'Oeste had only 3,689 inhabitants. In just ten years, that number would increase to more than 7 thousand, and in 1886, the city had 36,789 inhabitants. It was in the 1880s that the iconic Santo André Parish, one of the city's postcards, was built. At that time, Father Justiniano Salgado, born in 1853, was already doing his charity work, and was quite popular.

Choose to be the capital
After the independence of Maracatibe in 1907, the colonial capital, Porto Real, was renamed Indaiataba. The national capital was later transferred to Barra Vermelha, where the Constituent Assembly met, however, already in the assembly, it was not defined where the capital would be. It was then that in 1910, the newly elected President Paulo Mascarenhas d'Ávila determined that the capital should be Justiniano Salgado's hometown, Belém d'Oeste. For this purpose, several works were carried out during four years, such as the construction of the Government Palace and presidential residence, the Capitol and the seat of the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the national library and the national museum would also be built. The city of Belém d'Oeste went from 39,000 inhabitants in 1910 to 60,000 in 1914, when it officially became the capital of Maracatibe, under the name of Salgado, in honor of the patriarch of independence.

The works lasted much longer, since the government wanted to transform Salgado into a reference city. In this way, several precarious houses were demolished and gave way to better buildings. The city grew in a planned way, and had the best infrastructure possible.

In 1916, the city was the scene of a battle between government troops and the rebels of the Civil War of 1916. In 1944, with the end of the socialist government, more battles took place, and statues of the leaders of the revolution were destroyed or sent to museums. The city suffered attacks during the Maracatibean Conflict, one of which caused the death of dictator Raymundo Cunha in 1973. However, high security made guerrilla attacks rare.

Economy
The city of Salgado has an of 0.856, which is the highest among the federative units of Maracatibe. In addition, it also has the highest , at $50,890, more than double the national figure. Its economy has a large presence in the public sector, and is based almost exclusively on services, although it had a small industrial area. is of great importance for the local economy. Despite the high per capita income, Salgado has one of the highest inequality rates, with his being 61.9, surpassing the national number of 54.

Demography
With a population of 759,737 inhabitants in 2020, it is the 20th most populous federative unit in Maracatibe, having more population than only Serra Verde and Pombal. Virtually 100% of the population is urban, since most of the area is urban, with the rest being a federal environmental preservation unit. Most of its inhabitants, excluding mixed, are of the Jungastian ethnicity (37%), followed by 22% from Guaray and 18% from Kwaba. is the first language of 95% of the population (highest national percentage), and Guaray is the most widely spoken secondary language, followed by Kwaba. Jungastian, Guaray and Kwaba are the local languages.

Salgado has a life expectancy of 82 years, this being the second largest in the country, behind Pioca. Salgado's educational indexes are also the second highest in the country, behind Pioca.

Government
The city of Salgado receives a special status of Federal District, therefore, it is a first level subdivision. For this reason, Salgado has, instead of a mayor, a Governor, and in addition, it has three senators representing the city in the National Congress. Unlike the provinces, Salgado has no second level subdivisions.

Presidential palace
Being the capital of Maracatibe, Salgado concentrates the main headquarters of government institutions, among them, the seat of the national government itself, which is the Justiniano Salgado Palace (Palácio Justiniano Salgado), built in 1918. The Pink Palace, as it is nicknamed, was designed by the architect Joaquim Lemos, and is the seat of the national executive power at the same time as it is the official residence of the President of Maracatibe. The first president to live in the palace was Joaquim Góis, the country's third ruler. Its land is quite large, occupied by the building itself and a large garden with an immense variety of plants. The Palace area is open for visitation, as well as the Presidency Museum, which can be visited on Saturdays and Sundays.

Parliament building


The Evandro Santana Palace, opened in 1918, is the seat of the Maracatibe parliament. Like the presidential palace, it was designed by the architect Joaquim Lemos, following the. The dome gives the building a height of 92 meters, which was the tallest construction in the entire capital until the 1960s (since there was a law on a building height limit of 90m). The building can only be accessed with special authorization, and inside it are the offices of parliamentarians, the Senate, on the left and the National Assembly, on the right. It is one of the largest parliament buildings in the world.

Independence Lake


Independence Lake (Lago Independência) is an artificial, completed in 1925, at the request of President Joaquim Góis. It has almost 50 sqkm of area, and is used for leisure navigation. Balloon rides over the lake, overlooking the Salgado Conservation Unit, are a major tourist attraction.

National museum


The Maracatibean National Museum (Museu Nacional Maracatibenho) is a national history museum opened in 1922 and designed by the same architect of the parliament and the presidential palace, which has the second largest historical collection in Maracatibe, second only to the Museum of Maracatibean History in Barra Vermelha. It has several artifacts from the period of prehistory, ancient age, colonial times and items from the war of independence, in addition to items referring to all periods of the Republic. It is the second most visited museum in Maracatibe.