War of Canudos

Map of northern Bahia, showing the location of Canudos

Date	1896 – October 2, 1897
Location	Bahia, Brazil
Result	Movement squashed; settlement destroyed and survivors massacred

Belligerents

First Brazilian Republic

Canudos inhabitants

Jagunços
Civil militia

Commanders and leaders

Arthur Oscar de Andrade Guimarães

Antônio Moreira César †

Febrônio de Brito

Virgílio Pereira de Almeida

Pires Ferreira

Antonio Conselheiro †

João Abade †

Strength

12,000 military personnel

25,000

Casualties and losses

less than 5,000 dead

almost 25,000 dead; only some 150 survivors

First Brazilian Republic

Canudos inhabitants

The War of Canudos (Guerra dos Canudos, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɡɛʁɐ duʃ kɐ̃ˈnuduʃ], 1896–1897) was a conflict between the state of Brazil and a group of some 30,000 settlers who had founded their own community in the Northeastern state of Bahia, named Canudos. After a number of unsuccessful attempts at military suppression, it came to a brutal end in October 1897, when a large Brazilian army force overran the village and killed nearly all the inhabitants. This was the deadliest civil war in Brazilian history.

The conflict had its origins in the settlement of Canudos (named by its inhabitants Belo Monte meaning "Beautiful Hill", in the semi-arid backlands ("sertão" or "caatinga", in Portuguese) in the northeast tip of the state (then province) of Bahia. Bahia at this time was a desperately poor zone, with a depressed economy based on subsistence agriculture and cattle raising, no large cities, and a disenfranchised population composed largely of white Brazilians and mestizos. It was a likely background for dissatisfaction with the recently installed Republican regime. (The republic was declared on November 15, 1889 after a military coup against the ruling Emperor, Dom Pedro II, who was still loved by the common people.)

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