Ibiraçu is the name of a municipality in the state of

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

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 covers , and has a population of 12,591 with a population density of 66 inhabitants per square kilometer. 73% of the population resides in urban areas and 27% in rural areas. Ibiraçu borders on the municipalities of

João Neiva João Neiva is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. Its population was 16,722 (2020) and its area is 273 km².IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e ...

(N), Santa Teresa (W), Fundão (S). It is located north of the state capital of Vitória. The topography of Ibiraçu consists of rolling hills and some mountainous areas. Noted peaks in the municipality include Monte Negro, Morro Encantado, and Morro da Vargem.

History

Ibiraçu was founded in 1877 by a group of 54 families who departed from the

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

region of northern Italy. After a voyage by steam boat of 35 days the immigrants arrived in the state capital of Vitória, were briefly quarantined, then traveled by boat and canoe to colonize the headwaters of the Piraqueaçu River. The area they settled was then known as Santa Cruz Colonial Nucleus (''Núcleo Colonial Santa Cruz''), since the most accessible town to it was Santa Cruz, at the mouth of the Piraqueaçu. The early settlers of the municipality were affected by the

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

outbreak of 1895, which both suspended further settlement of Espírito Santo and killed 41 members. The capital of this area was first known as Conde D'eu, and was later known by many names such as Bocaiúva (after the proclamation of the republic), Vila Guaraná (after it became a municipality), Pau Gigante in 1892 (meaning ''giant tree'', due to a large tree in the region), and only in 1942 did both the town and municipality gain Ibiraçu as their name. In recent history it is notable to mention the separation of

municipality.

Monastery

Morro da Vargem, a mountain at the south of Ibiraçu, is home to Mosteiro Zen Morro da Vargem, a

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh� ...

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. It was founded in 1974 and claims to be the first Buddhist monastery in South America. The monastery has focused on the reforestation of Morro da Vargem and the restoration of

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

(''Mata Atlântica'') vegetation.

Economy

The cultivation of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

and

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

forms the basis of the economy of Ibiraçu.

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is new to the municipality.

References

Municipalities in Espírito Santo {{EspiritoSanto-geo-stub