9th Military Region (Brazil)

9th Military Region
Coat of arms
Active	1821
Country	Brazil
Allegiance	Brazilian Army
Part of	Western Military Command
Garrison/HQ	Campo Grande, Brazil
Nickname(s)	Mello e Cáceres Region
Website	9rm.eb.mil.br
Commanders
Current commander	Col. Pedro A. L. Varandas
Place

The 9th Military Region (Portuguese: 9.ª Região Militar, 9.ª RM) is an administrative command of the Brazilian Army based in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, with jurisdiction over that state and Mato Grosso. It corresponds to the area of the Western Military Command, to which the region is subordinated, currently tasked with personnel management and oversight responsibilities.

The states under its jurisdiction originated as a distant, militarized frontier during the colonial period, with demographic development beginning around bases and fortifications along the Paraguay and Guaporé rivers. The Arms Government of the province of Mato Grosso, established in 1821, is considered the precursor of the modern Military Region. After the Paraguayan invasion (1864–1868), the province became the third-largest military contingent in the Empire of Brazil. However, in the early decades of the First Brazilian Republic, military service in Mato Grosso was stigmatized; it was a region with poor accessibility and harsh working conditions, often used as a transfer destination for dissenters and "incorrigibles". Military personnel serving there were typically outsiders.

On the other hand, officers in Mato Grosso held significant social, economic, and political influence, often participating in the frequent armed struggles for the state government during Brazil's early republican period. The regional command underwent several reorganizations, becoming the 7th Military District (1891), the 13th Military Region (1908), the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso (1915), the 1st Military Circumscription (1919), and finally the 9th Military Region (1934). The arrival of the Northwest Brazil Railway in the southern part of the state (which was not yet separated from the northern part) in 1914 improved transportation but did not eliminate the logistical challenges. However, it prompted the transfer of the headquarters to its current location, Campo Grande, in 1919. The southern part of the state then became the primary concentration of troops.

In the 1920s, Mato Grosso was a focal point of tenentist conspiracies, and in the following decade, it became an important theater of operations during the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932. From 1946 to 1985, the Military Region was subordinated to the Central Military Zone/II Army, based in São Paulo. The brigades and divisions created in Mato Grosso were not subordinated to the 9th Military Region, which currently does not command combat units.