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Sergipe (pron. ) (originally Sergipe D'El-Rey), is the smallest state of Brazil, located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the country. It borders on two other states, Bahia in the South and West and Alagoas in the North, and in the East on the Atlantic. Aracaju is the capital and the largest city of the state. Its populations include about three-quarter black and mixed race people. History
São Cristóvão was the site of the first settlement by the Portuguese, in 1591 in Europeans in Sergipe D'El-Rey, what is today Sergipe. (The name Sergipe is actually a Tupi word, meaning river of "crab".) The city, which served as the provincial capital, has been designated a National monument to preserve its colonial architecture. Among the important sacred buildings are the Church and Convent of São Francisco, which date from 1693; the Santa Casa de Miseracordia from the 17th century; the Chapel of Our Lady of Conception, from 1751; the Mother Church of Our Lady of Victory, from 1766; and several other important churches from the 18th century, including the Church of Our Lady of the Black Men's Rosary; the Church of Our Lady of Amparo; and the Monastery of São Bento. The Museum of Sacred Art, in the Church and Convent of São Francisco, is considered the third most important in Brazil. As with other states in the northeast, Sergipe was invaded numerous times by the Dutch, and frequently raided by French buccaneers. During the 1600s, the state was known throughout the Americas for its king-wood, a prized commodity that was the primary attraction in the buccaneer raids, and probably a factor in Dutch military expeditions. By 1700s, the Portuguese military had driven off the pirates permanently. In the 1930s Sergipe became notorious for its outlaws, including Virgolino Ferreira da Silva, - better known as Lampião, the "King of Bandits", who terrorised the state for almost a decade until his beheading by the Brazilian police in 1938. His head was later displayed on a pole in a village square. Research Tips
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