Caruaru is a Brazilian

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 ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

. The most populous city in the interior of the state, Caruaru is located in the microzone of Agreste and because of its cultural importance, it is nicknamed ''Capital do Agreste'' (

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 ...

for the "capital city of the Agreste region"), ''Princesinha do Agreste'' ("Little Princess of Agreste"), and ''Capital do Forró'' ("the capital city of ''

forró The term forró (*) refers to a musical genre, a rhythm, a dance and the event itself where forró music is played and danced. Forró is an important part of the culture of the Northeastern Region of Brazil. It encompasses various dance type ...

''"). The city is located 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the state capital of

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, which has an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

. However, Caruaru has its own

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

. Caruaru is renowned for its extensive '' Festival de São João'' ("Saint John's Festival"), which takes up the whole month of June, sometimes extending into July. Caruaru had a 2020 resident population of 365,278 inhabitants, living in a land area of 920.61 square kilometers (355.45 square miles). Caruaru is the hometown, among others, of Álvaro Lins, Brazilian journalist, and Lieutenant Brigadier Reginaldo dos Santos, former dean of the Brazilian Technological Institute for Aeronautics.

History

The lands that today comprise the city of Caruaru were originally a cattle ranch owned by family Nunes dos Bezerros. This name was given because of the proximity of the farm to the Bezerros chapel. Some orphans used to live with the Nunes family. One of them, José Rodrigues de Jesus, inherited part of the estate, staying at the location that would later be named Caruaru. There he built a chapel dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

. A village started to grow around this chapel. In 1846, Friar Euzébio de Sales started to build the parish named ''Igreja Matriz'', nowadays a cathedral. In later years, the church was rebuilt twice, the last one in 1883. The geographical position benefited the city, because it was a necessary stopover in the transportation of cattle to the interior of the state.

Geography

* State:

* Region: Agreste of Pernambuco * Bordering municipalities: Toritama, Vertentes, Frei Miguelinho and Taquaritinga do Norte (N);

Altinho Altinho ('' pt, High'') is a hill neighbourhood of Panaji, the state capital of India's smallest state Goa. In the past it has been considered an elite residential colony, with the State's chief minister's residence and the Archbishop's palace ...

and Agrestina (S);

Brejo da Madre de Deus Brejo da Madre de Deus (''Swamp of the Mother of God'') is a city located in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Located at 202 km away from Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco. Has an estimated ( IBGE 2020) population of 51,225 inhabitan ...

and São Caetano (W); Bezerros and Riacho das Almas (E) * Area: 920.61 km² (355.45 square miles) * Elevation: 554 m (1,818 ft) * Hydrography: Capibaribe, Ipojuca and

Una Una and UNA may refer to: Places * 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroid named after the Faerie Queene character * Una River (disambiguation), numerous rivers * Una, Himachal Pradesh, a town in India ** Una, Himachal Pradesh Assembly constit ...

rivers * Vegetation: Hypoxerophilous

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

* Climate:

Semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

* Mean annual temperature: 23.5 °C (74.3 °F) * Main road: BR-232 * Distance to

- 140 km * Distance to

Gravatá Gravatá is a city in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, located about from the state's capital Recife (the distance by road is ). The population of Gravatá in 2020 was 84,699 inhabitants, according with IBGE. Geography Gravatá is located at ...

- 48 km

Economy

The main economic activities in Caruaru are industry (especially

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s),

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

, and

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

, and the

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

, especially the raising of

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

s, and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

, and the production of

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

. Agricultural activity in the Caruaru area also includes

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

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 ...

, and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

. Caruaru also hosts one of the biggest open-air traditional handicrafts markets 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 ...

, the ''Feira de Caruaru''.

Economic Indicators

Health Indicators

Transports

Caruaru has one regional airport, the Oscar Laranjeira Airport, it is located in the west parte of the city, the nearest major international airport is the

Recife/Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre International Airport Aeroporto Internacional do Recife/Guararapes – Gilberto Freyre is the airport serving Recife, Brazil. It is operated by AENA. Some of its facilities are shared with the Recife Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force. History Originally c ...

which is 138 km far from the city. The city is served by two expressways, the BR-232 and the

BR-104 BR-104 is a federal highway of Brazil. The 672.3 kilometre road connects Macau to Maceió Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an ...

Culture

Festa Junina

Every June, as part of the

nativity of St John the Baptist The Nativity of John the Baptist (or Birth of John the Baptist, or Nativity of the Forerunner, or colloquially Johnmas or St. John's Day (in German) Johannistag) is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist. It is observed ...

, Caruaru hosts one of the principal Brazilian

Festa Junina ''Festas Juninas'' (, ''June Festivals'', "festivities that occur in the month of June"), also known as ''festas de São João'' for their part in celebrating the nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24), are the annual Brazilian celebrations ...

. Since 1994, the festival has been held in Pátio de Eventos Luiz Gonzaga.

Sports

There are two

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(soccer) teams in the city:

Clube Atlético do Porto Clube Atlético do Porto, usually known simply as Porto (or Porto de Caruaru or Porto-PE), is a Brazilian football team from the city of Caruaru, Pernambuco state, founded on July 23, 1983. Porto's rival is Central, which is another Caruaru foo ...

, which plays at Antônio Inácio de Souza Stadium (capacity: 6,000), and

Central Sport Club Central Sport Club, usually known simply as Central, is a Brazilian football club. Based in Caruaru, Pernambuco state, the club competes in the Série D. History On June 15, 1919, at Sociedade Musical Comercial Caruaruense, the club was founde ...

, which plays at Estádio Luiz José de Lacerda (capacity: 20,000). Both teams compete in the main series of Pernambuco's state tournament. Caruaru also hosts an annual race of the Brazilian Formula Truck competition, at the Ayrton Senna International Circuit, the state's main motor

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...

Tourism

Video: Saint John's Festival in Caruaru

Video: Caruaru's traditional handicraft market

Video: Caruaru's Formula Truck race

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1849 establishments in Brazil Populated places established in 1849 Municipalities in Pernambuco