nfluenced by the prevailing economic conditions in the country. At
first the Portuguese outnumbered all other nationalities in the
immigration returns, but since the abolition of slavery the Italians
have passed all competitors and number more than one-half the total
arrivals. Of the 700,211 immigrants located in the state of Sao Paulo
from 1827 to the end of 1896, no less than 493,535 were Italians, and
their aggregate throughout the republic was estimated in 1906 at more
than 1,100,000. The German immigration, of which so much has been
written for political ends, has been greatly over-estimated; trustworthy
estimates in 1906 made the German contingent in the population vary from
350,000 to 500,000. They are settled chiefly in colonies in the southern
states, and form a most desirable body of settlers.

_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, Para 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. |
+--------------------+---------+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+--------+
| Alagoas | 22,584 | 511,440 | 649,273 | Maceio