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Alagoas and Sergipe are the smallest Brazilian states. Sandwiched between Bahia to the south and Pernambuco to the north, they have traditionally been overshadowed by their neighbours and, to this day, still have a reputation for being something of a backwater. This isn't entirely fair. While it's true that there's nowhere comparable to the cosmopolitan cities of Recife or Salvador, there are the two state capitals of Maceio and Aracaju , together with some well-preserved colonial towns, and exceptional beaches in Alagoas, which many rate as the best in the Northeast. Also, the harshness of the sertao here is much alleviated by the Sao Francisco river valley, which forms the border between the two states. Alagoas is very poor, as you immediately discover from the potholes in the roads and its rickety local buses. Thousands of Alagoanos leave every year to look for work as far afield as Rio, Sao Paulo and Amazonia, giving Alagoas the highest emigration rate of any state in Brazil. Don't let this put you off, however; the coast is beautiful, and Maceio is a lively city, probably the best base from which to explore the state and its neighbour, Sergipe. Sergipe was, for most of its history, in a similar position to Alagoas, but since the 1960s a minor offshore oil boom has brought affluence to parts of the coast. Brazil being what it is, this doesn't mean there's less poverty: it's simply that the rich in Aracaju tend to be richer than the rich elsewhere in the Northeast
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