Piauí
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
||
| Flag of Piauí | ||
 |
||
| See other Brazilian States | ||
| Capital | Teresina | |
| Largest City | Teresina | |
| Area | 250,934 km² | |
| Population - Total - Density |
2,750,000 11 inh./km² |
|
| Governor | Wellington Dias(PT) | |
| Demonym | Piauiense | |
| HDI (2000) | 0.656 – medium | |
| Timezone | GMT-3 | |
| ISO 3166-2 | BR-PI | |
Piauí (pron. IPA: [pi.aw.'i]) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country.
Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the non-landlocked Brazilian states at 66km, and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the north east to be located inland. The reason for this is because, unlike the rest of the area, Piauí state was first colonised inland and slowly expanded towards the ocean, rather than the other way around.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Piauí is bounded on the west by Maranhão, on the east by Ceará, Pernambuco and Bahia, and on the south by Bahia. It has a few miles of Atlantic coastline on the north.
The Parnaíba River forms the boundary with Maranhão throughout its entire length, the state lies almost entirely within the basin of the Parnaíba and its tributaries. Part of the state on the Atlantic coast and along the lower Parnaíba is low, swampy, and historically malarial. South of this the country rises gradually to a high plateau with open campos. This plateau region is watered by numerous tributaries of the Parnaíba, chief of which are, from south to north: The Poti, which has its source in the state of Ceará; the Longa; the Canindé and its tributary the Piauí; the Gurguéia and its tributary the Parahim, which drains the large inland lake of Parnagua; and the Uruçui-Preto. The Parnaíba is navigable for boats of 1 meter draft up to Nova York, a few miles above the mouth of the Gurguéia. The river valleys are separated by flat-topped plateaus called chapadas, including the Serra Uruçui, which lies between the Uruçui-Preto and the Gurguéia, the Serra da Capivara, which lies between the Gurguéia and the Piauí, and the Chapada das Mangabeiras, which forms the southwestern boundary of the state, separating the upper basin of the Parnaíba from that of the Tocantins.
[edit] Ecoregions
The sandy soils along the Atlantic coast are home to the Northeastern Brazil restingas, low evergreen forests adapted to the nutrient-poor conditions. The lower basin of the Parnaíba is home to the Maranhão Babaçu forests, which extend westward into Maranhão. This ecoregion dominated by stands of the Babaçu palm. The eastern portion of the state is dominated by the dry Caatingas shrublands, which extend across much of northeastern Brazil. The Cerrado savannas extend across the southwestern portion of the state, in the basins of the upper Parnaíba and Gurguéia rivers. Enclaves of Atlantic dry forests lie in basin of the Gurguéia, forming a transition between the Cerrado and Caatinga.
Serra da Capivara National Park is located in the Caatinga of the south-central part of the state, and protects numerous caves with ancient cave paintings.
[edit] Climate
The climate is hot and humid in the lowlands and along the lower Parnaíba, but in the uplands it is dry with high sun temperatures and cool nights.
[edit] History
The state has many highly important archaeological sites, including Serra de Capivara National Park and Sete Cidades National Park, which are rich in remains of prehistoric Amerindian civilisations.
The first settlers in Piauí were bandits fleeing from São Paulo, notably Domingos Afonso Mafrense and Domingos Jorge Velho. Mafrense founded what is today Oeiras, whilst the first herds of cattle were taken there by Velho.
In the 1600s, many impoverished noblemen and Jesuit priests, as well as black and Amerindian slaves, settled there. The first large-scale cattle farming also arrived with these settlers. Large estate owners seeking new pastures for their livestock arrived from neighbouring states such as Bahia and Maranhão.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the principal industry of the state was stock-raising, which dates from the first settlement in 1674 by Domingos Affonso Mafrense, who established here a large number of cattle ranges. A secondary industry was the raising of goats, which were able to stand neglect and a scanty food supply. The agricultural products were cotton, sugar and tobacco. Forest products included rubber, carnauba wax and dyewoods. The exports included hides, skins, rubber, wax, tobacco and cotton.
Teresina was the first Brazilian city to be planned. In 1852, an architect designed it, after being inspired by a chessboard. Situated at the mouth of the Parnaíba and Poti Rivers, Teresina was (and still is) known as the Green City because of the countless mango trees that line the city's streets.
[edit] Flag
The flag of Piaui was created on 24 July 1922. The blue canton and a star represents the state itself and the green and yellow bars represent Piauí's union with Brazil.
[edit] Cities
Cities in Piaui include:
See also:
- List of cities in Brazil (all cities and municipalities)
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
