_Divisions and Towns._--The republic is divided into twenty states and one federal district, which are the same as the provinces and "municipio neutro" of the empire. Their names also remain unchanged, except that of the federalized district in which the national capital is located, which is called the "districto federal." The republic has no territories, although Amazonas, Matto Grosso, Pará and Goyaz cover an immense region of uninhabited and only partially explored territory. The states are subdivided into _comarcas_, or judicial districts, and into _municipios_, or townships, which is the smallest autonomous division. The constitution provides for the autonomy of the municipalities in order to safeguard the permanence of representative institutions. The _parochia_, or parish, an ecclesiastical division, is often used for administrative purposes, but it has no political organization. The names, areas, and populations of the states, together with the names and populations of their capitals, are as follows:--
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+-----------------------+--------+ | |Area,[1] | Population[2] | |Popula- | | States. | Sq. +-----------+-----------+ State Capitals. |tion,[3]| | | miles. | Census | Census | | Census | | | | 1890. | 1900. | | 1890. | +--------------------+---------+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+--------+ | Alagôas | 22,584 | 511,440 | 649,273 | Maceió | 31,498 | | Amazonas | 742,123 | 147,915 | 249,756 | Manáos | 38,720 | | Bahia | 164,650 | 1,919,802 | 2,117,956 | São Salvador[4] |174,412 | | Ceará | 40,253 | 805,687 | 849,127 | Fortaleza | 40,902 | | Espirito Santo | 17,313 | 135,997 | 209,783 | Victoria | 16,887 | | Federal District | 538 | 522,651 | 691,565 | Rio de Janeiro |522,651 | | Goyaz | 288,549 | 227,572 | 255,284 | Goyaz[4] | 17,181 | | Maranhão | 177,569 | 430,854 | 499,308 | S. Luiz do Maranhão[4]| 29,308 | | Matto Grosso | 532,370 | 92,827 | 118,025 | Cuyabá | 17,815 | | Minas Geraes | 221,961 | 3,184,099 | 3,594,471 | Ouro Preto[5] | 59,249 | | Pará | 443,922 | 328,455 | 445,356 | Belem[4] | 50,064 | | Parahyba | 28,855 | 457,232 | 490,784 | Parahyba | 18,645 | | Paraná | 85,455 | 249,491 | 327,136 | Curityba | 24,553 | | Pernambuco | 49,575 | 1,030,224 | 1,178,150 | Recife[4] |111,556 | | Piauhy | 116,529 | 267,609 | 334,328 | Therezina | 31,523 | | Rio de Janeiro | 26,635 | 276,884 | 274,317 | Nictheroy | 34,269 | | Rio Grande do Norte| 22,196 | 268,273 | 1,149,070 | Natal | 13,725 | | Rio Grande do Sul | 91,337 | 897,455 | 926,035 | Porto Alegre | 52,421 | | Santa Catharina | 28,633 | 283,769 | 320,289 | Desterro[6] | 30,637 | | São Paulo | 112,312 | 1,384,753 | 2,282,279 | São Paulo | 64,934 | | Sergipe | 15,093 | 310,926 | 356,264 | Ararajú | 16,336 | | +---------+-----------+-----------+ | | | Brazil |3,228,452|14,333,915 |17,318,556 | | | +--------------------+---------+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+--------+