information:extraction, structural:scholar_edition
Ethnic groups

Four ethnic groups were recognized in Imperial Brazil: white, black, Indian and brown. Brown (Portuguese: pardo) was a designation for multiracial Brazilians which is still officially used, though some scholars prefer the term "mixed one" (Portuguese: mestiço). The term denotes a broad category which includes caboclos (descendants of whites and Indians), mulattoes (descendants of whites and blacks) and cafuzos (descendants of blacks and Indians).

The caboclos formed the majority of the population in the Northern, Northeastern and Central-Western regions. A large mulatto population inhabited the eastern coast of the northeastern region from Bahia to Paraíba and were also present in northern Maranhão, southern Minas Gerais, eastern Rio de Janeiro and in Espírito Santo. The cafuzos were the smallest and most difficult to distinguish from the two other mixed-race subgroups since the descendants of caboclos and mulattoes also fell into this category and were found in the northeast sertão (hinterland). These groups may still be found in the same areas today.

White Brazilians descended from the original Portuguese settlers. From the 1870s onwards this ethnic group also included other European immigrants: mainly Italians and Germans. Although whites could be found throughout the country, they were the majority group in the southern region and in São Paulo province. Whites also comprised a significant proportion (40%) of the population in the northeastern provinces of Ceará, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. Afro-Brazilians inhabited the same areas as mulattoes. The majority of the population of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas and Pernambuco provinces (the last four having the smallest percentages of whites in the whole country—less than 30% in each) were black or brown. The Indians, or the indigenous peoples of Brazil, were found mainly in Piauí, Maranhão, Pará and Amazonas.

Because of the existence of distinct racial and cultural communities, 19th century Brazil developed as a multi-ethnic nation. However, there is no reliable information available for the years prior to 1872. The first official national census was compiled by the government in 1872 showing that out of 9,930,479 inhabitants there were 38.1% whites, 38.3% browns, 19.7% blacks and 3.9% Indians. The second official national census in 1890 revealed that in a population of 14,333,915, 44% were whites, 32.4% browns, 14.6% blacks and 9% Indians.