Ceará-Mirim is a city in

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", re ...

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 ...

. The population is 73,886 and the area is 739.686 km².

Etymology

The origin of the city name is a mystery. Câmara Cascudo, one of the most important historians in Brazil, gives some alternatives from other authors, with all the alternatives leading to the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to ...

. José de Alencar suggests us that Ceará comes from the Tupi expression ''cê-ará'', meaning "the parrot speaks" or "the parrot sings". Teodoro Sampaio gives us ''ceará'' or ''cemo-ará'', which is "the parrot leaves" or "the parrot's departure". There are also the versions of Paulino Nogueira and João Brigido, who suggest, respectively, ''çoô-ará'' and ''ciri-ará'', that are "truly hunting time" and "white crab".

History

The area was inhabited by indigenous people before the arrival of the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. In the 17th century the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

settled here. The founding of the town came in 1755. Initially inhabited by indigenous people ( Potiguars) next to the riverside of the Ryo Seara, later, the Ceará-Mirim River. The Potiguars made their first contacts with the European world by the trade of

pau-brasil ''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood ( pt, pau-de-pernambuco, ; ...

wood with the French and Spanish people. Later, with the consolidation of the colony of

, it was occupied by the Portuguese people. The region of the Ryo Seara was occupied because the land was good for agriculture, and some farming and cattle raising took place. By the 18th century there were many ''sesmarias'' (special Portuguese concession of lands for agriculture and cattle development) completely dividing the region with the biggest or the smallest utility. The first mills of Ceará-Mirim emerged after 1840, but by 1858, when the transference of the headquarters occurred, there were remarkable industrial and livestock developments. In the letters of the Ouvidor Domingos Monteiro da Rocha, in July 1757, he included the Povoação do Ceará-Mirim (Ceará-Mirim village), where he says "with many residents". The first school emerged only in 1858, installed at Bôca da Mata, Extremoz county. The first meeting of the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

occurred on 14 October 1858, in Ceará-Mirim Village.Book: ''Nomes da Terra: História, Geografia e Toponímia do Rio Grande do Norte'', Câmara Cascudo, p. 172

References

Populated coastal places in Rio Grande do Norte Municipalities in Rio Grande do Norte {{RioGrandedoNorte-geo-stub