Ibiraçu is the name of a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''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 attracti ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. 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 (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 ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

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 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 João Neiva 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 school, Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Caodong school, Cáodòng school, which was founded during the ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

. 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 (''Mata Atlântica'') vegetation. In August 2021, the 35-meter-tall Buddha of Ibiraçu was inaugurated at the monastery's Torii Square.

Economy

The cultivation of

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

forms the basis of the economy of Ibiraçu.

Fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

is new to the municipality.

References

Municipalities in Espírito Santo {{EspiritoSanto-geo-stub