Cuiabá

Cuiabá
File:Cuiabá, Brasil.jpg
Flag of Cuiabá Flag
Country	Brazil
Region	Central-West
State	Mato Grosso
Government
• Mayor	Wilson Santos PSDB
Area
• Total	3,538 km2 (1,366 sq mi)
Elevation	165 m (541 ft)
Population  (2000)
• Total	542,861
• Density	153.4/km2 (397/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-4 (UTC-4)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
Website	www.cuiaba.mt.gov.br

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. Another version says that there was an indian group called Ykuiapá. Others say that a Portuguese man was taking a bath in the river using a kind of plate made with half coconut (named cuia), and the stream took it, and the man said: Cuia ba (something like "the cuia is gone"). The Metropolitan Area of the Capital, or, Great Cuiabá, has in the Cities of Várzea Grande, Santo Antônio do Leverger, Poconé and Chapada dos Guimarães, the largest pole of tourism, economy, agro industry, trade and culture of the State.

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.

Museum of Image, in Cuiabá.

Rosário and São Benedito church.

Since the late eighteenth 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 twentieth 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 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.

Geography

Cuiabá river, in Cuiabá.

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.

Climate

This climate is tropical climate semi-humid, hot, and notedly seasonal, with a dry winter season from May through September or October. The annual rainfall is 1.500 mm. January is the warmest month, with mean maxima of 45°C and minima of 24°C and more rain; July experiences the coldest temperatures, with mean maxima of 25°C and minima of 15°C and sun.

Vegetation

The "cerrado" landscape is characterized by extensive savanna formations crossed by gallery forests and stream valleys. Cerrado includes various types of vegetation. Humid fields and "buriti" palm paths are found where the water table is near the surface. Alpine pastures occur at higher altitudes and mesophytic forests on more fertile soils.The "cerrado" trees have characteristic twisted trunks covered by a thick bark, and leaves which are usually broad and rigid. Many herbaceous plants have extensive roots to store water and nutrients. The plant's thick bark and roots serve as adaptations for the periodic fires which sweep the cerrado landscape. The adaptations protect the plants from destruction and make them capable of sprouting again after the fire.

Curiosity

Vehicles: 169.626 (jun./2006); Daily newspapers: 3 (jul./2006); Established: 08/04/1719.

Economy

Agro-industry, in Cuiabá.

The economy of Cuiabá is centralized in commerce, services and industry. Commerce and Services based in Cuiabá are important to the whole State, because population is divided in several small agriculture-centered cities; these people often travel to the capital to get these services and buy goods not sold anywhere else. The industrial sector is represented, basically, by the agro-industry, specially food-processing. Many industries, mainly those that should be maintained far from the populous areas, are installed in the Industrial District of Cuiabá (DIICC), created in 1978. Even though it's located in one of the most agriculture-prone States of Brazil, Cuiabá itself has only small vegetable farms, mainly family or cooperative-based.

The city, with a PIB of 4.75 billion reais in 2003, according to the IBGE, is responsable for 21,99% of the total of the State GDP. In the same year the GDP per capita was of 9,209 reais.

Education

Portuguese language is the official language of schools. But English language and Spanish language are part of the official high school curriculum.

Colleges and Universities

• Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) (Public);
• Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (Unemat) (Public);
• Universidade de Cuiabá (Unic) (Private);
• Universidade Cândido Rondon (Private);
• and many others (mostly private).

Culture

Street Art in Cuiabá.

Local culture is very rich, due to the multiple influences of many people, like the Portuguese, the Africans 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.

In August 2007 an important Italian wind orchestra has performed there: the Orchestra Fiati Giovanile Italiana e Coro "I Music Piemonteis" conducted by Ugo Bairo, and his choir, conducted by Carmelo Luca Sambataro. There he premiered his wind composition dedicated to the local government: The Mato Grosso March.

Carnival

The four-day period before Lent leading up to Ash Wednesday is carnival time in Brazil. Rich and poor alike forget their cares as they party in the streets.

Infrastructure

International airport

The runway at Marechal Rondon International Airport was opened to traffic in 1956. In February 1975, Infraero took over the airport's administration and began various upgrades to meet the needs of the airport complex. As of 1996, Marechal Rondon Airport, located 10 km from the city center, started receiving international flights. Currently it serves more than 900 thousand passengers a year.

Tourism

Metropolitan Cathedral

The main attraction is nature, both Chapada dos Guimarães and Pantanal are excellent places for sightseeing, rappel, skydiving, ballooning, 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 unusual and worth seeing, like the Gems Museum and the Candido Rondon Museum).

External links

• Template:Pt icon Official Website
• Template:Pt icon Local Newspaper Diário de Cuiabá Site
• Cuyaba - Catholic Encyclopedia article on the diocese