Catalão () is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

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 ...

located in the south of the state of

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

, in

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 ...

. It is a large producer of grains, cattle, and phosphates and has a John Deere and Mitsubishi factory.

Demographics

*Population density: 17.85 inhabitants/km² (2003) *Population growth rate 1991/2000: 1.86.% *Population in 1980: 39,172 *Urban population in 2003: 60,830 *Rural population in 2003: 6,616

Political information

*Eligible voters in 2004: 50,160 *City government in 2005: mayor (Adib Elias Júnior), vice-mayor (João Sebba Neto), and 10 councilmembers

Location and communications

Catalão is the seat of the

Catalão Microregion Catalão () is a city and municipality located in the south of the state of Goiás, in Brazil. It is a large producer of grains, cattle, and phosphates and has a John Deere and Mitsubishi factory. Demographics *Population density: 17.85 inhab ...

which includes 11 cities with a total population of 114,686 inhabitants in an area of 15,238.60 km². Located in a region of fertile soil rich in

phosphates In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

, with excellent highway and railway connections, and watered by several rivers, the municipality has been experiencing rapid growth in recent years and is the third largest payer of state taxes. The city lies a short distance north of the border with the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

where a large dam over the

Paranaíba River The Paranaíba River is a Brazilian river whose source lies in the state of Minas Gerais in the Mata da Corda mountains, municipality of Rio Paranaíba, at an altitude of 1,148 meters; on the other face of this mountain chain are the sources of t ...

, the Barragem de Emborcação, separates the two states. It is connected by paved highway with

Goiânia Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...

(253 km.),

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

(330 km.), and

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fou ...

(114), in the rich Mineiro Triangle. Highway connections with

are by BR-352 /

Bela Vista de Goiás Bela Vista de Goiás is a city located in central Goiás state in Brazil. Location It is 45 kilometers from the state capital of Goiânia The municipality has boundaries with Hidrolândia, Caldazinha, Aparecida de Goiânia, Senador Canedo, and ...

/ Cristianópolis / GO-020 / BR-352 /

Pires do Rio Pires do Rio is a municipality in Goiás state, Brazil. It is a prosperous town and a major producer of poultry. Location It is located in the Pires do Rio MicroregionCitybrazil It is located 144 kilometers from the state capital and is serve ...

/ GO-330 / Ipameri. Municipal boundaries are with: *North:

Campo Alegre de Goiás Campo Alegre de Goiás is a municipality in southeastern Goiás state, Brazil. It is the largest producer of coffee in the state and an important producer of soybeans, corn, and wheat. Geography Campo Alegre is located in the statistical micro-re ...

*South: Davinópolis, Ouvidor, Três Ranchos, and Cumari *East:

*West: Goiandira and Ipameri Catalão is connected to the East West railroad system and to the future North-South system, which begins in Anápolis. It also has an airport with a runway for small and medium-sized planes, 1,400 meters long, paved, and lit at night.

Prosperity

The municipality is one of the most prosperous in the state. In a study carried out by Seplan of competitivity in municipalities in the state of

Catalão was ranked third after Anápolis and Rio Verde. Se
Seplan
Catalão got a score of 0.818 on the UN Human Development Index, ranking it 3 out of 242 municipalities in the state. Nationally it was ranked 253 out of 5,507 municipalities. (All data are from 2000.) For the complete list se
Frigoletto.com

Economy

Traditionally a land of cattle raising, Catalão is still a great producer of meat and dairy products (150,000 head of cattle in 2003) and poultry (424,000 head in 2003). There is large production of corn, soybeans, and wheat, with the latest technology of central pivot irrigation being used extensively. Recently the cultivation of garlic has played an important role in the economy.

Economic facts in 2005

*Industrial establishments: 193 *Industrial district: Distrito Mínero-Industrial – DIMIC *Packing houses: Mayor Ind. e Comércio de Carnes Ltda. *Dairies: Cooperativa Agropecuária de Catalão Ltda *Banks: 06 *Retail establishments: 912

Main crops in planted area (2003)

*coffee: 5.2 km² / 1,144 tons *oranges: 1 km² / 2,000 tons *palmito: 0.2 km² / 60 tons *garlic: 3 km² / 1,400 tons *rice: 18 km² / 4,320 tons *sugarcane: 2 km² / 12,000 tons *beans: 7 km² / 1,830 tons (three harvests a year) *corn: 110 km² / 77,000 tons (2 harvests a year) *soybeans: 650 km² / 238,500 tons *wheat: 15 km² / 7,500 tons Data are furnished b
IBGE
The economic success story of Catalão has been partly attributable to the installation of an industrial park where major enterprises like John Deere (producing sugar cane harvesters) and Mitsubishi, with capacity to produce 27,000 cars a year. This first automobile assembly plant in the Centerwest of Brazil generates 900 direct jobs and approximately 2,700 indirect. In addition there are three major fertilizer plants, Copebrás, controlled by the Anglo-American group, Fosfértil, and Mineração Catalão De Goiás, which extract phosphate rocks from the

subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and it ...

and transform them into fertilizers.

Motor vehicles

*automobiles and pickup trucks: 15,209 (2004) *trucks: 1,207 *motorcycles: 5,687

Main economic activities of employment

*agriculture: 383 workers *extractive industries: 12 with 323 workers *transformation industries: 267 units with 3,025 workers *construction: 53 units with 218 workers *commerce: 1,629 units with 4,553 workers *hotels and restaurants: 145 units with 477 workers *transport and storage: 181 units with 712 workers *public administration: 1,788 workers

Health and education

In the social area the city is showing signs of continuous development. It is already a medical center for the southeast region of Goiás, with several hospitals and specialized clinics.

Health data

*Health establishments (2002): 33 (16 public) *Hospitals: 04 (02 private) *Hospital beds: 347 (275 available for public use) *Public doctors, nurses, and dentists: 132 / 12 / 46

Educational data

*Pre-primary school enrollment and schools (2004) : 2,327 (967 private), 31 (18 private) *Primary school enrollment and schools: 12,402 (2,835 private), 49 (18 private) *Middle school enrollment and schools: 3,520 (747 private), 12 (6 private) *Higher education: 2,864 in one public school (UFG). Th
Federal University of Goiás
has a campus which offers several courses, such as: Computer Science, Physical Education, Geography, History, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Superior Studies in Letters, Pedagogy (Education), Psychology and Business Administration.

History and the Festival of Congadas

Catalão began to be occupied around 1722 or 1723 when one of the

bandeirantes The ''Bandeirantes'' (), literally "flag-carriers", were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 1494 ...

, Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva planted crops for his supply. The settlement began around 1728, with the construction of a few huts to support the troops who were penetrating this region. Near Catalão, one of the chaplains of the force, Frei Antônio, a native of Catalonia and called "o Catalão" decided to start a rest point near a small stream. By 1828, the settlement had five houses with tile roofs and twenty grass covered huts. In 1859, Catalão became a legally constituted city. Today the municipality has an area of 3,789 km²,. corresponding to 1.1% of the state territory The story of the , Catalão's popular festival began in 1820, when semi-free slaves arrived in the Vila of Catalão to work in the coffee plantations. The slaves brought with them their customs, one of which was the cult of Our Lady of the Rosary. Her commemoration included a mixture of Afro and Catholic rites. Now these dances, with strong influences from the

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

and Moçambique, are celebrated in Catalão in the largest festival of Congadas in Brazil. The festival takes place on the last Friday of September and lasts until the second Sunday of October, when the dancers go to the streets in their colorful costumes, filling the city streets with their songs, which give thanks to their patroness for the blessings given.

References

Frigoletto

External links

City Hall of Catalão website

Government of the State of Goiás website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catalao Municipalities in Goiás