Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 19:17:14 -0600 From: <jnorgard@Prodigy.Net.mx>
http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbr.htm http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbrhv.htm
Thanks for those pointers; I'll put them somewhere in my next proposed patches.
Since the TZ database for Brazil has been elaborated per state, we have an obligation to document the exceptions from that.
Yes, I think we should add a new entry, since as far as I can see, west Amazonas observed DST in 1993/1994, whereas Acre did not; so it's not the case that the two regions' clocks have been the same since 1970.
Therefore I suggest to put a second entry in the TZ database for Amazonas as "America/Atalaia_do_Norte" or something like that.
The above-listed web page mentions Atalaia do Norte, Boca do Maoco, Benjamin Constant, Eirunepé, Envira, and Ipixuna as being in west Amazonas. I don't know offhand whether these are cities or districts. I can't access the Brazilian Census Bureau pages at <http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibge/default.php> (my Netscape 4.76 Solaris browser rejects it with javascript errors), but <http://www.dcc.ufrj.br/~cristina/dadosam.html> gives the following cities in Amazonas, in decreasing order of population: MANAUS 1157357 PARINTINS 71574 MANACAPURU 65577 ITACOATIARA 64937 TEFE 62616 COARI 53327 MANICORE 37704 MAUES 36628 TABATINGA 32009 LABREA 27517 SAO GABRIEL DA CACHOEIRA 26992 IRANDUBA 26612 EIRUNEPE 25776 ... BENJAMIN CONSTANT 23633 ... ENVIRA 18192 ... IPIXUNA 11120 ... ATALAIA DO NORTE 8108 ... So it appears that America/Eirunepe would be a better choice than Atalaia do Norte. However, I don't see a population entry for Boca do Maoco, and I'm not sure what that is (perhaps a district?).
According to these official pages, Fernando do Noronha has been on DST for some while back (e.g. before October 15 where the status probably changed).
I don't read the pages that way. http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbr.htm and http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbrhv.htm both list Fernando de Noronha as being 2 hours behind UTC. It is a little tricky, since the pages also list the offset from Brasilia, and this offset does differ between winter and summer.