Bernd
08/25/2022 (Thu) 18:56
No.48563
del
I looked up the definition of "tellurocracy" and found this on Wikipedia:
>In Alexandr Dugin's theory of tellurocracy,[1] the following civilizational characteristics are traditionally attributed: a sedentary lifestyle (not excluding migratory colonization), conservatism, the permanence of legal norms, the presence of a powerful bureaucratic apparatus and central authority, strong infantry, but a weak fleet.[2] Traditionally, tellurocracy is attributed to the Eurasian states (Qing Empire, Mongol Empire), Mughal Empire, etc. although some, such as the early United States and the Brazilian Empire, have come into being elsewhere
That last part is completely unsourced, and clearly the writer's personal thoughts. Whoever wrote this must've been thinking "it has a big land area, therefore it's a tellurocracy", without regard for the stated features.
The Brazilian Empire only fits that definition by its sedentary lifestyle, conservatism and I guess legal permanence. Otherwise it was a thin veneer of a centralized constitutional monarchy over a feudal society. The central government named governors, but it did so balancing local political factions. The bureaucratic apparatus was weak, there was little demographic information available and enforcement of authority and services de facto relied on local powers. The naval officer class was aristocratic, while the regular army was tiny and counterbalanced by a militia.
Most of the population, and the entire coffee production, wasn't far from the coast, and sea traval was the main form of long-distance transport. There was trade on packs of mules into the continental interior, but it was slow. The railway network was limited and there are no internal waterways of note around the capital. The two major river basins are the Amazon (very convenient transport, everything else is the problem) and the Prata (which goes through other countries, and sections of the Paraná cut off navigation). Mato Grosso, which is accessed by the Prata basin, was weeks away from the capital. As late as World War II, reinforcements from Rio de Janeiro to the northeastern salient had to go by sea. It's easier to see this empire as a kind of archipelago.