IBGE releases today the Milton Santos National Atlas of Brazil, which updates the geographical information about the Brazilian territory.

The piece articulates texts and satellite images obtained by advanced techniques, enabling an enlarged observation of the complex reality of the country. The Atlas grasps two important process of the Brazilian dynamics in the first decade of this century: the improvement of life conditions for a great part of the population and the valorization of the territory potential. 

Responsible for the dissemination of the geographical knowledge of Brazil among students of all educational levels, the Atlas converges the largest set of data assessed by the public institutions, contributing as a strategic tool for future planning. 

The publication is organized around four major axes:

Brazil in the world; Territory and environment; Society and economy; and Geographical networks. 

The first one concerns the insertion of Brazil in the world scenario. It tackles social inequality, access to information, geographical networks and energy sources. It highlights that the several froms Brazil is included in the world scenario affect the geography of the country, as most of the activities developed here are related to the world competition. 

The relation between Territory and environment is also approached. The highlight is that geographical space is fundamental for the national identity, being the map a central reference of that identity and its acknowledgement in the world. This axis concerns political division, regionalization and environment. Specifically, it discusses the constant tension between inland territory occupation and the historical trend for shore occupation. 

The theme Society and economy highlights that economic and social formation is a fundamental category to understand space. It approaches geographical dynamics, urbanization, social inequality, health, education, sanitation, citizenship and economic space. 

The last axis, Geographical networks, considers networks as central elements to understand the dynamics and change of the contemporary geographical space. It includes geodetic, cartographic, urban, road, energy, telephone and information networks.

The texts examine the dynamics of the country and reflect on ways to overcome inequalities. They focus on sustainable development not as a state to reach but as a process of continuous and improving transformation, which involves the economic, social, environmental and political dimensions.

Including 548 maps, 237 more than the previous edition (2000), 76 graphs, eight tables, six photos and 14 satellite images, the Atlas can be obtained in the Virtual Shop of IBGE (https://www.ibge.gov.br/lojavirtual/default.php) and in the partner bookshops (https://www.ibge.gov.br/lojavirtual/livrarias.php). The highlights are the maps relative to the productive chain (meat, herbaceous cotton and cassava) and to the distribution of agricultural establishments, published for the first time in this edition. 

Tension between shore occupation and inland occupation marks Brazilian reality

Brazil has had its geography changed towards inland occupation in the last decade. That is expressed by the expansion of the productive chains of meat, grains and cotton towards Central-West and North, in Sorriso and Lucas do Rio Verde, for instance, both in Mato Grosso.

In this region, the expansion of an agriculture characterized by the employment of machines and producer goods leads to the increasing urbanization as support to this activity that little absorbs labor force. That reveals changes in the Brazilian geography in the last decade: intensification of inland occupation and modification of the national urban network outline, the population mobility and density, the articulation of the economic space and the use of natural resources.

Conversely, there was a revalorization of the shore due to the expansion of tourism, petroleum exploration and aerial and port logistics. All these factors increase population and urban centers located next to the sea, reinforcing a historical process of shore territory occupation. Examples for that are the growth of the cities of Macaé and Rio das Ostras, in Rio de Janeiro, due to the increase in petroleum exploration; the demographic expansion of Espirito Santo’s shore, due to the increase in industrial and port activities and of Santa Catarina’s shore, due to tourism. 

The interstate migration flows are also an example of the strength of the big cities and areas next to the shore in contrast with inland flows. The great exception is the area surrounding Brasília, which continues registering high migration attraction. 

An analysis of the first results of the 2010 Census corroborates the existence of this tension. It reveals that while the shore areas of South, Southeast, Northeast and North continue recording a higher growth of the absolute population, Central-West and North stand out as to a relative increase (percentage). 

The publication also highlights that the regional inequalities of development were not completely overcome. The organization of the national territory, implemented by corporations and guided by exports, intensified the difference between shore and inland and between South and North-Northeast. Population, activities, ports and ore exporting companies are located along the shore and in the South, whereas in the North half inland networks and services gradually decrease. 

Brazil has its inclusion in the world geopolitical scenario consolidated

The National Atlas of Brazil also analyzes the insertion of Brazil in the contemporary world system through a multidimensional vision of the international affairs. For that, it uses the classical cartography of the world, according to the territorial and population sizes of the countries, and the cartography relative to natural diversity and socioeconomic inequality.

The natural diversity (climate and temperature, hydric and forest resources) revealed in the Atlas points to a geopolitical revalorization of the environment in the contemporary world system. This process, framed by the new technologies, makes nature a source of information for biotechnology, opening ways to the scientific-technological development, specially in the field of new sources of energy. 

In addition to maps depicting natural diversity and renewable and non-renewable energy resources, world geography is also concerned with social, economic and technological inequality. It reveals that globalization in the financial and economic universes lead to the enlargement of the differences in those fields.

Territory underpins national identity in Brazil 

Territory is one of the pillars and symbols of the national identity. Its maps are a reference for this identity and its acknowledgement in the world. The Atlas reveals how the geographical space of Brazil was influenced by power and actions. It was constrained by a set of interconnected circumstances relative to its tropicality, socioeconomic occupation and State actions. Specifically, Brazil’s occupation process and economic activities were considerably related to the exploration of its natural resources and potentials.

Urban network is polarized by major cities

Urbanization is the process that leads to the concentration of increasing population groups in restricted spaces. In Brazil, the magnitude of that process reaches 80.0% of the population. Brazilian urbanization grew in unequal proportions: few cities concentrating population and wealth and several small urban centers encompassing poorly-qualified labor force, associated with primary activities.

Urban conglomerations and 49 cities with more than 350 thousand residents account for 50.0% of people in urban condition in the country, holding, approximately, 65.0% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At the opposite extreme, 4,295 municipalities with less than 25 thousand residents account for 12.9% of GDP.

In Brazilian urban network evolution, there is the predominance of twelve centers leading the urban system between 1966 and 2007.

On top, in addition to São Paulo, there stand Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. The picture is completed with Manaus, Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Goiânia. The major cities are preferred for the convergence of the most modern networks, specially communication (transportation, energy and telephone) and information networks. They have a large population concentration and influence areas that drain the production of their regions and present strong interrelationships.

The Atlas concluded that, concerning the spatial organization of the Brazilian urban picture, the enlargement and densification of networks are a mark. Although Brazilian urbanization is concentrated along the shore, when considering density, the size of centers and the location of the main city network diffusion knots, it is possible to observe changes in the territorial organization of work, with the decentralization of production and the reinforcement of spatial inequalities.