Itamaraju is a

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 ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

in the North-East region 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 ...

. "Itamaraju" is a word from 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 the ...

meaning "rock of the trees of Jucuruçu" from the terms itá (rock), mara (woods), and ju (first syllable of the

Jucuruçu River The Jucurucu River is a river of Bahia and Minas Gerais states in eastern Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Bahia *List of rivers of Minas Gerais A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (su ...

).translated from Portuguese Wikipedia

History

On 22 April 1500 a Portuguese fleet under the command of the explorer

Pedro Álvares Cabral Pedro Álvares Cabral ( or ; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in ...

, seen by many as the first European to arrive in Brazil, recorded their sighting of

Monte Pascoal Monte Pascoal is a mountain to the south of the city of Porto Seguro, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. According to history, it was the first part of land viewed by Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, allegedly In law, an allegation is ...

which became a European settlement and, subsequently, the municipality of

Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...

. Itamaraju became and until 1961 remained a piece of the territory of Prado. On 5 October 1961 Itamaraju formally obtained municipal autonomy, its separation from Prado led by José Gomes de Almeida and Antônio Fontes Mascarenhas.

References

Municipalities in Bahia {{Bahia-geo-stub