The Alter Strom, in the sea resort of Warnemünde, Germany.

The Royal Canal in Ireland.

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:

1. Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:
   1. Those connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Included are inter-basin canals, such as the Suez Canal, Erie Canal, and the Panama Canal.
   2. Those connected in a city network: such as the Canal Grande and others of Venice Italy; the gracht of Amsterdam, and the waterways of Bangkok.
2. Aqueducts: water supply canals that are used for the conveyance and delivery of potable water for human consumption, municipal uses, and agriculture irrigation. Rills and acequias are small versions.

Types of artificial waterways[link]

The Danube-Black Sea Canal in Romania

Canals are created in one of three ways, or a combination of the three, depending on available water and available path:

• A canal can be created where no stream presently exists. Either the body of the canal is dug or the sides of the canal are created by piling dirt, stone, concrete, or other building materials. The water for the canal must be provided from an external source like other streams or reservoirs. Examples include canals that connect valleys over a higher body of land, like Canal du Midi and Canal de Briare.
• A stream can be canalized to make its navigable path more predictable and easier to maneuver. Canalization modifies the stream to more safely carry traffic by controlling the flow of the stream with dredging, damming, and modifying its path. Examples include Basse Saône, Canal de Mines de Fer de la Moselle, and Aisne River. Riparian zone restoration may be required.
• When a stream is too difficult to modify with canalization, a second stream can be created next to the existing stream. This is called a lateral canal. The existing stream usually acts as the water source and its banks provide a path for the new body. Examples include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal latéral à la Loire, Garonne Lateral Canal, and Canal latéral à l'Aisne.

Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats, while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal, Panama Canal).

Features[link]

The flight of 16 consecutive locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal, Wiltshire, England

A canal boat traverses the longest and highest aqueduct in the UK, at Pontcysyllte in Denbighshire, Wales

At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on the stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay it is known as puddling.

Canals need to be level, and, while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations, other approaches have been adopted. The most common is the pound lock, which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used.

Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo^[1] and later in Europe in the 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available.

Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches. These include boat lifts, such as the Falkirk wheel, which use a caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway.

To cross a stream or road, the solution is usually to bridge with an aqueduct. To cross a wide valley (where the journey delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the centre of the valley can be spanned by an aqueduct - a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct across the valley of the River Dee.

Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal. Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals.

Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer winding routes, along which the land was a uniform altitude. Other generally later canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level.

Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In some cases such as the Suez Canal the canal is simply open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs - either separate from the canal or built into its course - and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from the canal.

Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods.

When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across the canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach.

History[link]

Ancient canals[link]

The Grand Canal of China at Suzhou

The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia circa 4000 BC, in what is now modern day Iraq and Syria. The Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient India, (circa 2600 BC) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including the reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC.^[2] In Egypt, canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan.^[3]

In ancient China, large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Warring States (481–221 BC), the longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei.^[4] By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China, still the longest canal in the world today, and the oldest extant one. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Beijing and Hangzhou. The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide.

Greek engineers were the first to use canal locks, by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC.^[5][6][7]

Middle Age[link]

Thal Canal, Punjab, Pakistan.

In the Middle Ages, water transport was cheaper and faster than transport overland. This was because roads were unpaved and in poor condition and greater amounts could be transported by ship. The first artificial canal in Christian Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th century under personal supervision of Charlemagne.
More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like the Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257 to connect Milan with the Ticino River. The Naviglio Grande is the most important of the lombard “navigli”^[8] and the oldest functioning canal in Europe.
Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist the transportation of goods.

Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from the 12th century. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks. Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in 10th century in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk, Netherlands.^[9] Another important development was the mitre gate, which was, it is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks.

To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398.

Early Modern Age[link]

Dutch canal in Negombo, Sri Lanka

The first to use pound locks was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers, a 157 metres (515 ft) tunnel and three major aqueducts.

Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers, the Elbe, Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal, which opened in 1563. The oldest canal built for industrial purposes in North America is Mother Brook in Dedham, MA. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills.
In Russia, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic and Caspian seas via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718.

Industrial Revolution[link]

Lowell's power canal system

• See also: History of the British canal system
• See also: History of turnpikes and canals in the United States

Canals were important for industrial development. The greatest stimulus to canal system building came from the Industrial Revolution with its need for cheap transport of unprecedented quantities of raw materials and manufactured items.

In Europe, particularly Britain and Ireland, and then in the young United States and the Canadian colonies, inland canals preceded the development of railroads (1780-1840) during the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution. The opening of the Sankey Canal in 1757, followed by the Bridgewater Canal in 1761, which halved the price of coal in Liverpool and Manchester England, respectively, triggered a period of "canal mania" in Britain so that between 1760 and 1820 over one hundred canals were built.

As well as industrial uses, the Royal Military Canal on the Romney Marsh was built so as create a barrier against invading troops, and hiding places for British troops during the Napoleonic Wars.^[10]

Aqueduct over the Mohawk River at Rexford, New York, one of 32 aqueducts on the Erie Canal.

Canal companies were initially chartered by individual states in the United States. These early canals were constructed, owned, and operated by private joint-stock companies. Three were completed when the War of 1812 broke out; these were the Santee Canal (opened 1800) in South Carolina, the Middlesex Canal (opened 1802) in Massachusetts and the Dismal Swamp Canal (opened 1805) in Virginia. The Erie Canal (opened 1825) was chartered and owned by the state of New York and financed by bonds bought by private investors. The Erie canal runs about 363 miles (584 km) from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie. The Hudson River connects Albany to the Atlantic port of New York City and the Erie Canal completed a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of around 565 ft. (169 m). The Erie Canal with its easy connections to most of the U.S. mid-west and New York City soon quickly paid back all its invested capital (USD $7 million) and started turning a profit. By cutting transportation costs in half or more it became a large profit center for Albany, New York and New York City as it allowed the cheap transportation of many of the agricultural products grown in the mid west of the United States to the rest of the world. From New York City these agricultural products could easily be shipped to other U.S. states or to Europe, etc. Assured of a market for their farm products the settlement of the U.S. mid-west was greatly accelerated by the Erie Canal. The profits generated by the Erie Canal project started a canal building boom in the United States that lasted till about 1850 when railroads started becoming seriously competitive in price and convience. The Blackstone Canal (finished in 1828) in Massachusetts and Rhode Island fulfilled a similar role in the early industrial revolution between 1828–48. The Blackstone Valley was a major contributor of the American Industrial Revolution where Samuel Slater built his first textile mill.

In addition to their transportation purposes, parts of the United States, particularly in the Northeast, had enough fast-flowing rivers that water power was the primary means of powering factories (usually textile mills) until after the American Civil War. For example, Lowell, Massachusetts, considered to be "The Cradle of the American Industrial Revolution," has 6 miles (9.7 km) of canals, built from around 1790 to 1850, that provided water power and a means of transportation for the city. The output of the system is estimated at 10,000 horsepower.^[11] Other cities with extensive power canal systems include Lawrence, Massachusetts, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Augusta, Georgia.

19th century[link]

US canals circa 1825

Competition from the railway network from the 1830s, and in the 20th century the roads, made the smaller canals obsolete for most commercial transportation, and many of the British canals fell into decay. Only the Manchester Ship Canal and the Aire and Calder Canal bucked this trend. Yet in other countries canals grew in size as construction techniques improved. During the 19th century in the US, the length of canals grew from 100 miles (161 km) to over 4,000, with a complex network making the Great Lakes navigable, in conjunction with Canada, although some canals were later drained and used as railroad rights-of-way.

In the United States, navigable canals reached into isolated areas and brought them in touch with the world beyond. By 1825 the Erie Canal, 363 miles (584 km) long with 82 locks, opened up a connection from the populated Northeast to the Great Lakes. Settlers flooded into regions serviced by such canals, since access to markets was available. The Erie Canal (as well as other canals) was instrumental in lowering the differences in commodity prices between these various markets across America. The canals caused price convergence between different regions because of their reduction in transportation costs, which allowed Americans to ship and buy goods from farther distances for much lower prices compared to before. Ohio built many miles of canal, Indiana had working canals for a few decades, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system until replaced by a channelized river waterway.

Three major canals with very different purposes were built in what is now Canada. The first Welland Canal, which opened in 1829 between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, bypassing Niagara Falls and the Lachine Canal (1825), which allowed ships to skirt the nearly impassable rapids on the St. Lawrence River at Montreal were built for commerce. The Rideau Canal, completed in 1832, connects Ottawa, on the Ottawa River to Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The Rideau Canal was built as a result of the War of 1812 to provide military transportation between the British colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada as an alternative to part of the St. Lawrence River, which was susceptible to blockade by the United States.

In France, a steady linking of all the river systems — Rhine, Rhône, Saône and Seine — and the North Sea was boosted in 1879 by the establishment of the Freycinet gauge, which specified the minimum size of locks so that canal traffic doubled in the first decades of the 20th century.^[12]

Many notable sea canals were completed in this period, starting with the Suez Canal (1869) - which carries tonnage many times that of most other canals - and the Kiel Canal (1897), though the Panama Canal was not opened until 1914.

In the 19th century, a number of canals were built in Japan including the Biwako canal and the Tone canal. These canals were partially built with the help of engineers from the Netherlands and other countries.^[13]

Modern uses[link]

Canals can disrupt water circulation in marsh systems.

Large-scale ship canals such as the Panama Canal and Suez Canal continue to operate for cargo transportation, as do European barge canals. Due to globalization, they are becoming increasingly important, resulting in expansion projects such as the Panama Canal expansion project.

The narrow early industrial canals, however, have ceased to carry significant amounts of trade and many have been abandoned to navigation, but may still be used as a system for transportation of untreated water. In some cases railways have been built along the canal route, an example being the Croydon Canal.

A movement that began in Britain and France to use the early industrial canals for pleasure boats, such as hotel barges, has spurred rehabilitation of stretches of historic canals. In some cases, abandoned canals such as the Kennet and Avon Canal have been restored and are now used by pleasure boaters. In Britain, canalside housing has also proven popular in recent years.

The Seine-Nord Europe Canal is being developed into a major transportation waterway, linking France with Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Canals have found another use in the 21st century, as easements for the installation of fibre optic telecommunications network cabling, avoiding having them buried in roadways while facilitating access and reducing the hazard of being damaged from digging equipment.

Canals are still used to provide water for agriculture. An extensive canal system exists within the Imperial Valley in the Southern California desert to provide irrigation to agriculture within the area.

Cities on water[link]

An intersection of two canals (Grachten) in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Griboyedov Canal in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of…". The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that the land is man-made rather than the waterways. The islands have a long history of settlement; by the 12th century, Venice was a powerful city state.

Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. It became a city around 1300.

Other cities with extensive canal networks include: Alkmaar, Amersfoort, Bolsward, Brielle, Delft, Den Bosch, Dokkum, Dordrecht, Enkhuizen, Franeker, Gouda, Haarlem, Harlingen, Leeuwarden, Leiden, Sneek and Utrecht in the Netherlands; Brugge and Gent in Flanders, Belgium; Birmingham in England; Saint Petersburg in Russia; Hamburg and Berlin in Germany; Fort Lauderdale and Cape Coral in Florida, United States.

Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the centre of Liverpool, England, where a system of intertwining waterways and docks is now being developed for mainly residential and leisure use.

Canal Estates (commonly known as bayous) are a form of subdivision popular in cities like Miami, Florida, Texas City, Texas and the Gold Coast, Queensland; the Gold Coast has over 700 km of residential canals. Wetlands are difficult areas upon which to build housing estates, so dredging part of the wetland down to a navigable channel provides fill to build up another part of the wetland above the flood level for houses. Land is built up in a finger pattern that provides a suburban street layout of waterfront housing blocks.

Boats[link]

Two Panamax ships in the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal, Panama.

Inland canals have often had boats specifically built for them. An example of this is the British narrowboat, which is up to 72 feet (21.95 m) long and 7 feet (2.13 m) wide and was primarily built for British Midland canals. In this case the limiting factor was the size of the locks. This is also the limiting factor on the Panama canal where Panamax ships are limited to a length of 294.1 m (965 ft) and a width of 32.3 m (106 ft). For the lockless Suez Canal the limiting factor for Suezmax ships is generally draft, which is limited to 16 m (52.5 ft). At the other end of the scale, tub-boat canals such as the Bude Canal were limited to boats of under 10 tons for much of their length due to the capacity of their inclined planes or boat lifts. Most canals have a limit on height imposed either by bridges or by tunnels.

Lists of canals[link]

Amsterdam gracht

• Europe
  • Canals of France
  • Canals of Amsterdam
  • Canals of Germany
  • Canals of Ireland
  • Canals of Russia
  • Canals of the United Kingdom
• North America
  • Canals of Canada
  • Canals of the United States

See also[link]

UK Waterways portal

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: canals

• British Waterways' leisure website - Britain's official guide to canals, rivers and lakes
• Leeds Liverpool Canal Photographic Guide
• Triumphs of Canal Building
• Information and Boater's Guide to the New York State Canal System
• "Canals and Navigable Rivers" by James S. Aber, Emporia State University
• National Canal Museum (USA)
• London Canal Museum (UK)
• Canals in Amsterdam
• Canal du Midi
• Canal des Deux Mers
• Canal flow measurement using a sensor.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Portuguese Wikipedia. (August 2011) Don't speak Portuguese? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the Portuguese article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|pt|Fernando Henrique Cardoso}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso
34th President of Brazil
In office January 1, 1995 – December 31, 2002
Vice President	Marco Maciel
Preceded by	Itamar Franco
Succeeded by	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Minister of External Relations
In office 1992–1993
President	Itamar Franco
Preceded by	Celso Lafer
Succeeded by	Celso Amorim
Minister of Finance
In office 1993–1994
President	Itamar Franco
Preceded by	Eliseu Resende
Succeeded by	Rubens Ricupero
Personal details
Born	(1931-06-18) June 18, 1931 (age 81) Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Political party	Brazilian Social Democracy Party – PSDB
Spouse(s)	Ruth Corrêa Leite Cardoso (1953-2008, her death)
Alma mater	Universidade de São Paulo
Profession	Sociologist
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]

Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Portuguese pronunciation: [feɾˈnɐ̃dw ẽjˈʁiki kaʁˈdozu]; born June 18, 1931), also known by his initials FHC ([ˈɛfjɐˌgaˈse]), was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil and served for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. An accomplished sociologist, professor and politician,^[2] Cardoso was awarded in 2000 with the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.^[3]

Personal and professional life[link]

Cardoso descends from wealthy Portuguese immigrants. Some of his ancestors were politicians during the Empire of Brazil.^[4] He is also of Black African descent, through a Black great-great-grandmother and a mulatto great-grandmother.^[5] Cardoso described himself as "slightly mulatto" and allegedly said he has "a foot in the kitchen" (a nod to 19th century Brazilian domestic slavery).^[6][7]

Born in Rio de Janeiro, he has lived in São Paulo for most of his life. Cardoso is a widower (he was married to Ruth Vilaça Correia Leite Cardoso until her death June 24, 2008) and has four children.^[8] Educated as a sociologist, he was a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Universidade de São Paulo.^[9] He was President of the International Sociological Association (ISA), from 1982 to 1986. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton),^[10] an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has penned several books.

He was also Associate Director of Studies in the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and then visiting professor at the Collège de France and later at the Paris-Nanterre University.^[11] He later lectured at United States' universities including Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.^[11] He is fluent in four languages: Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish.^[11]

After his presidency, he was appointed to a five-year term (2003–2008) as professor-at-large at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, where he is now on the board of overseers. Cardoso is a founding member of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy's Advisory Board.^{[citation needed]} In February 2005, he gave the fourth annual Kissinger Lecture on Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, Washington DC on "Dependency and Development in Latin America.^[12] In 2005, Cardoso was selected by the British magazine Prospect as being one of the world's top one hundred living intellectuals.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Education[link]

Cardoso is a well-known professor and intellectual. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from Universidade de São Paulo in 1952, from where he also earned a Master's and a Doctorate in Sociology. Cardoso has also received the Livre-Docência prize in 1963, the most important award given to an academic in Brazil, also from Universidade de São Paulo. In 1968, he received the title of Cathedratic Professor, holding the chair of Political Science at Universidade de São Paulo.^[17] In 1986 Cardoso was selected as a Fulbright Program 40th anniversary distinguished fellow and in that capacity was a visiting scholar and lectured at Columbia University on democracy in Brazil.^[18] Cardoso currently gives speeches and classes abroad.^[19]

Elections[link]

In the beginning of his political life, Fernando Henrique was elected Senator of the state of São Paulo for the former Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), in 1982. In 1985, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of São Paulo against former President Jânio Quadros. Ahead in the polls, he let himself be photographed in the mayor's chair before the elections. Some attribute his loss in the election to this episode.^{[citation needed]}

Re-elected for the Senate in 1986 for the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), which substituted MDB after Brazilian re-democratization, he helped a group of parliamentarians of PMDB to abandon the party in order to create the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). As a Senator, Cardoso took part in the 1987-1988 National Constituent Assembly that drafted and approved Brazil's current Constitution in the wake of the country's re-democratization. In early stage the Constituent Assembly's work (from February to March 1987), Cardoso led the committee that drafted the Assembly's internal rules of procedure, including the procedural rules on the drafting of the Constitution itself. The Rules of Procedure were adopted by the Assembly and published on 25 March 1987. Until 1992, Cardoso served as Leader of the PSDB in the Senate. From October 1992 to May 1993, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Itamar Franco (PMDB).

From May 1993 to April 1994, he was Minister of Finance and introduced the Plano Real (Real Plan) to end hyperinflation. Buoyed by the success of the Plano Real, Cardoso decided to run for the Presidency and, backed by President Franco, won in the first round of elections, on October 3, 1994. Four years later, on October 4, 1998, after a Constitutional Amendment that allowed reelection, Cardoso won the Presidency again, with approximately 53% of the vote, while his closest challenger, Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party), had about 32%.

Cardoso was succeeded in 2003 by Lula da Silva, who was running for President for the fourth time. Lula won in the runoff against the Cardoso-supported candidate José Serra. Lula's election has since been interpreted as a result of Cardoso's growing unpopularity in his second term.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso's Administration (1995–2003)[link]

President Putin with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in January 2002.

Cardoso, often nicknamed "FHC", was elected with the support of a heterodox alliance of his own Social Democratic Party, the PSDB, and two right-wing parties, the Liberal Front Party (PFL) and the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). Brazil's largest party, the centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), joined Cardoso's governing coalition after the election, as did the right-wing PPB, the Brazilian Progressive Party, in 1996.

Party loyalty was weak, and deputies and senators belonging to the parties in the coalition did not always vote with the government. Cardoso had difficulty, at times, gaining sufficient support for some of his legislative priorities, despite the fact that his coalition parties held an overwhelming majority of congressional seats.

In 2000, Cardoso demanded the disclosure of some classified military files concerning Operation Condor, a network of South American military dictatorships that kidnapped and assassinated political opponents.^[20]

A feature of Cardoso's administration was the continuity of the privatization program, launched by his predecessor Fernando Collor de Mello, of several government-owned enterprises such as Acesita, Telebras and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, thus starting the deepest process of denationalisation in Brazilian history. Economists still contend over its long-term effects; research shows that the companies sold by the government achieved better profitability as a result from their disengagement from the State.^[21]

The years 1995 to 2002 witnessed a rise of the total public debt from 30% to 55.5% of GDP. It has been argued that this was due to external factors outside the control of the administration at the time, such as the devalorisation of the Brazilian real and the growth of the share of the debt denominated in US dollars.^[22] However, the greatest achievement of Cardoso was his landmark lowering of inflation. The month before the Plano Real started, June 1994, monthly inflation averaged 31.2%; it declined to monthly rates of between 1% and 3% in 1995, for a yearly total of 25.9%. It further dropped to 15.6% in 1996 and 7.2% in 1997.^[23]

As a result, major reforms planned by the executive branch, such as changes in the tax system and in social security, were only partially approved and only after long discussion. On January 8, 1996, he issued the controversial Decree 1775, which created a framework for the clear demarcation of indigenous reservations, which as part of the process opened indigenous territories to counterclaims by adjacent landowners.

Using his previous experience as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his prestige as an internationally famous sociologist, he was greatly respected on the world scene, building friendships with such leaders as Bill Clinton and Ernesto Zedillo. Although he was respected abroad, in Brazil, he had problems explaining his government priorities to Congress and people in general. Although claiming to be a leftist and supporter of social democracy, he took some decisions in economy that led people to believe he became a neoliberal (neoliberal policies in Latin America are highly perceived or identified as right-wing, and often carry a very negative connotation, even in academical circles).

He also experienced personal problems with former ally Itamar Franco, his predecessor that later became Governor of Minas Gerais. Cardoso was also criticized for transforming the Constitution to his own benefit – creating reelection and allowing him to stay eight years in office. Most people think that his popularity in his first four years was gained with the continuation of Plano Real, but decreased in his last four years after different crisis in politics and in the energy department. He also publicly admitted that he could have done more for public security and for the creation of new jobs.

After the Presidency[link]

Former Presidents (from right), Sarney, Collor and Cardoso, 2008

After stepping down from office, he has been giving lectures at Brown University, about Brazilian economic policy, urban development, and deforestation [2]. Also, he dedicates his time to a personal institute created by him in São Paulo, based on the model of bodies created by former Presidents of the United States. He has written two books about his experience as President of Brazil and has given many interviews. In 2006, he helped the campaign of the PSDB candidate for the Presidency, Geraldo Alckmin, and has said many times that he does not wish to run for office again. In 2007, he became a member of the editorial board of the Latin American policy publication Americas Quarterly, for which he is a regular contributor.

He has also taught as a guest lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris.

After leaving the Brazilian presidency, Cardoso joined the Club of Madrid ,^[24] The Elders and chaired the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

He is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee,^[25] ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He is a member of the board of directors of World Resources Institute.^[26]

Awards[link]

• Order of the Bath, United Kingdom
• Order of Infante D. Henrique, Portugal
• Order of Liberty, Portugal
• Order of the Elephant, Denmark
• Order of the Star of Romania, Romania
• 1978 Honorary Doctor of Laws, Rutgers University
•  Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2001)^[27]
• Kluge Prize, 2012^[28]

Selected works[link]

• Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2006) The Accidental President of Brazil, PublicAffairs, ISBN 1-58648-324-2
• Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2001) Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0-7425-0893-5
• Goertzel, Ted G. (1999) Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Reinventing Democracy in Brazil, Boulder: Lynne Rienner.

References[link]

	Brazil portal
	Biography portal

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fernando Henrique Cardoso