Barbalha is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

in the Northeast region of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Barbalha covers , and has a population of 61,228 with a population density of 100 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located at the south of the state, from the state capital of

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

. The eastern part of the Araripe-Apodi National Forest, established in 1946, is located in Barbalha. The city sits at the foot of the

Chapada do Araripe The Chapada do Araripe, also known as the Serra do Araripe, is a ''chapada'' ( plateau) in northeastern Brazil. The chapada forms the boundary of Ceará and Pernambuco states, and forms the watershed between the Jaguaribe River of Ceará, which fl ...

, a large plateau on the border of Ceará and Pernambuco. The municipality of Barbalha is located in the microregion of the Vale do Cariri, in the south of the state of Ceará. It is bordered by the municipalities of Crato,

Juazeiro do Norte Juazeiro do Norte is a city in the state of Ceará state in northeastern Brazil. It is located 491 km south of the state capital Fortaleza in the semiarid sertão. The municipality has a population of 276,264 (2020 official estimate) and cov ...

Porteiras Porteiras is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At ...

, Jardim, and Missão Velha. In the Portuguese colonial period the larger region of southern Ceará belonged to Francisco Magalhães Barreto (1816-1887), a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

landowner. The small settlement of Barbalha was elevated to parish (''freguesia'') status by Provincial Law No. 91 of August 30, 1838. On August 7, 1846, by Provincial Law no. 374, it was raised to village status and a judiciary seat was created there. Barbalha was then detached from the municipality of Crato. Barbalha was elevated to municipality status by Provincial Law no. 9740 on August 30, 1876. Barbalha is associated with significant events of history in Ceará in the 19th century. Residents of the town participated in the Pernambucan Revolt of 1817 and in the

Confederation of the Equator The Confederation of the Equator ( pt, Confederação do Equador) was a short-lived rebellion that occurred in the northeastern region of the Empire of Brazil in 1824, in the early years of the country's independence from Portugal. The secessioni ...

, a short-lived rebellion that occurred in the Northeastern region of Brazil in 1824. An important festival in Barbalha is the Festa do Pau-da-Bandeira de Santo Antonio (Feast of the Flagpole of Saint Anthony) in June. The municipality produces famous rapadura (

panela Panela () or rapadura (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is an unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Central and Latin America. It is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. Panela is known by other na ...

) (unrefined whole cane sugar) and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

flour. Other industries in the town produce marble, bricks, tiles, and Portland cement.

Former Town Hall

The former town hall of Barbalha (Casa de Câmara e Cadeia) was built during the great drought of 1877. Construction of the building was approved to create work for unemployed farmers. The square at the town hall is the location of Festa do Pau-da-Bandeira de Santo Antonio. The building, according to town residents, was renovated at the beginning of the 1930s. The town hall became a protected structure of the State of Ceará on March 3, 1995.

Notable people

* Hermes Carleial (1904–1954), Brazilian poet, lawyer, accountant and writer

References

{{Municipalities of Ceará Municipalities in Ceará Populated places established in 1846

Former Town Hall

Notable people

See also

References