Cangaço

Cangaço (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐ̃ˈɡasu]) was a form of "social banditry" in the Northeast of Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hard way of life, and in a form of reaction against the domination of the land owners and the government, many men and women decided to become nomadic bandits, roaming the hinterlands seeking money, food and revenge.

By 1834, the term cangaceiro was already used to refer to bands of poor peasants who inhabited the northeastern deserts, wearing leather clothing and hats, carrying carbines, revolvers, shotguns, and long narrow knives known as peixeiras ().

"Cangaceiro" was a pejorative expression, meaning a person who could not adapt himself to the coastal lifestyle.

By this time in that region, there were two main groups of loosely organized armed outlaws: the jagunços, mercenaries who worked for whoever paid their price, usually land-owners who wanted to protect or expand their territorial limits and also deal with farm workers; and the cangaceiros, "social bandits", who had some level of support from the poorest population: the bandits sustained some beneficial behaviors such as acts of charity, buying of goods for higher prices and giving free parties ("bailes"), and the population provided shelter and information which helped them escape from police forces, known as volantes, sent by the government to stop them.

The most famous cangaceiro of them all, the one who is often associated with the whole history of the cangaço, was a man called Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, also known as "Lampião" ("Oil Lamp", because, according to his fellows, he could shoot so quickly that he could illuminate the place). He began when he was just a boy, amongst vendetta plots of the Pereira and Nogueira-Carvalho families. When his parents were killed because of these disputes, some of his brothers ran away, but Antônio, Livino, and Ezequiel followed Virgulino into the cangaço.

Seen as a mixture of hero and bandit, Lampião became one of the most representative icons of Brazil.

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