Cuiabá

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Cuiabá
State	Mato Grosso
Area:	3985 km²
Population:	508 156 (Estimate: 07/2003)
Height:	165 m above sea level
Postcode (CEP):	78000-000
Geographic location:	15°35′S 56°06′W
Address of the local government:	Prefeitura Municipal de Cuiabá Palácio Alencastro Cuiabá - MT
Website:	www.cuiaba.mt.gov.br
Contact:	e-mail
Map

Cuiabá is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located in the exact centre of South America and is in conurbation with the neighbouring town of Várzea Grande.

The name is of obscure Indian origin, reportedly meaning "arrow-fishing" and alludes to the Bororo custom of using arrows to fish.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2.1 Rivers 2.2 Climate 2.3 Surface 3 Economy 4 Population 5 Culture 6 Tourism 7 External links

[edit] History

Cuiabá was founded on January 1, 1727 by Rodrigo César de Menezes, then the "capitain" of the capitaincy of São Paulo in the aftermath of the discovery of gold mines. It was given township status in 1818 and became the capital in 1835.

Since the late XVIII century until the time of the Paraguay War the town remained small and in decline. The war, however, brought some infra-structure and a brief period of economic boom, supplying sugar, foodstuffs and timber to the Brazilian troops. After the war the town was once again forgotten by the rest of the country, to such an extent that the Imperial and later the Republican governments of Brazil used to use it as an exile for troublesome politicians. Isolation allowed it to preserve a lot of the oldest Brazilian ways of life until way into the XX century.

Starting from 1930, isolation was broken by road and railway -- and later by aviation. The town became a city and would grow quite rapidly from 1960 onwards, after the installation of the Brazilian capital in Brasilia. In the 1970s and 1980s the pace of growth kept increasing as agriculture became commercialized, using the railways and the roads to sell the soybeans and the rice produced there abroad. The growth was such that from 1960 to 1980 the small town of 50,000 in habitants became a behemoth with more than a quarter of a million inhabitants (including surrounding area and conurbated towns).

Since 1990 the rate of population growth has decreased, as other towns in the state have begun to attract more immigration than the capital. Tourism has emerged as a source of income and environmental issues have become a concern for the first time. There is a huge problem with a lack of basic sanitation, traffic is often congested, violence is at large and poverty is everywhere.

[edit] Geography

Cuiabá confronts the towns of Chapada dos Guimarães, Campo Verde, Santo Antônio do Leverger, Várzea Grande, Jangada e Acorizal. It is the place of intersection of many major roads, railways and waterways. The second most important airport of the Brazilian Central-West region is there, as well as the heart of an important agriculture produce area. It is also the geographic centre of South America and is famous throughout Brazil as the country's hottest metropolis, where temperatures are often above 40 °C.

The town is in the transition zone between three of the most characteristic Brazilian ecosystems: Amazonia, Cerrado and Pantanal. It is also close to the mountain range known as Chapada dos Guimarães (which blocks polar masses and causes the extremely hot weather).

Cuiabá is also known as the Southern gate to the Amazon.

[edit] Rivers

Cuiabá is drained by the river of the same name, belonging to the Paraguay River basin (a secondary basin connected to the River Plate basin). Cuiabá is also exactly on the point where waters either flow northward (to the Amazon basin) or southward (to the River Plate basin). Many other rivers and brooks flow around or close to Cuiabá.

[edit] Climate

The climate is tropical, hot and dry. Average annual precipitation is about 1750 mm, concentrated on December, January and February. The highest temperature, in the hottest months is usually around 43 °C, while the lowest, in the cooler months, is about 13 °C.

During the dry season (May to August) air humidity usually falls to critical levels (sometimes even below 15%), which is circumvented by most people with the keeping of a water jug close to bed at night: evaporation with the heat forms a cloud of humidity within the bedroom, thus preventing symptoms like nosebleed or dry throat at morning.

[edit] Surface

Cuiabá is in the transition between the Brazilian Uplands and the Amazon Basin. The terrain is crystalline and low-lying, with altitudes ranging from 146 to 250 m.

[edit] Economy

�Economy of Cuiabá comprises mostly commerce and agro-industry, both serving the expressive wealth of agriculture elsewhere in the state. Today most of the agriculture found in and around Cuiabá is of subsistence or food gardens.

[edit] Population

The latest IBGE estimation accounts for a population of 533,800 inhabitants in 2005. Várzea Grande, the conurbate town nearby, has 248,728 but is growing faster than Cuiabá itself.

Cuiabá was quite small and pacific until 1960, when Mato Grosso started to receive a growing number of immigrants, mostly from São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul. Population was 57,000 in 1960, 100,000 in 1970, 213,000 in 1980, 402,000 in 1991 and 483,000 in 2000. Today Cuiabá alone has 20% of the population of the state of Mato Grosso.

While located in the heart of a very rich region, Cuiabá is mostly a poor town, lacking most modern infrastructure, especially in the outskirts, where the poor and dispossessed live.

[edit] Culture

Local culture is very rich, due to the multiple influences of many peoples, like the Portuguese, the blacks and the indians. Two long periods of isolation also contributed to its differentiation, which has been a little annullated by the recent period of demographic boom. Cuiabá has got an interesting indian-influenced cuisine, typical dances, craftwork and music.

Dance and music were traditionally connected to the worship of Catholic saints, like Saint Benedict (the city's patron) but has become lay lately.

[edit] Tourism

The main attraction is nature, both Chapada dos Guimarães and Pantanal are excellent places for sightseeing, rappel, skydiving, balooning, trekking, sport fishing and, especially exotic photography. However, the city has got a series of tourist attractions of its own, most of them developed in the hope of retaining some of the tourist dollars that would, otherwise, be all spent elsewhere in the state.

Cuiabá has got fishing places, a mountain located downtown, a zoo, some beautiful religious buildings, old churches, a few museums (some of them quite unsual and worth seeing, like the Gems Museum and the Candido Rondon Museum).

[edit] External links

• Image from Google Maps
• (Portuguese) Official Website
• (Portuguese) Local Newspaper Diário de Cuiabá Site