Normandia () is a city located in the northeastern region of the

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which ...

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

. Normandia covers , and has an estimated population of 11,532 as of 2020 with a population density of 1.28 inhabitants per square kilometer. The municipality consists almost entirely of indigenous areas; 98.6% of the land area of the city is part of the

Raposa Serra do Sol Terra indígena Raposa/Serra do Sol (Portuguese for ''Fox/Sun Hills Indigenous Land'') is an indigenous territory in Brazil, intended to be home to the Macuxi people. It is located in the northern half of the Brazilian state of Roraima and is the ...

indigenous reserve. The remaining area consists of the city seat located close to the

Ireng River The Ireng River (or Maú River, generally used in Portuguese) forms part of Guyana's western border with Brazil. It flows through the valleys of the Pakaraima Mountains for most of its length. It is the only major river in Guyana which flows from ...

which forms the

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 ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

border.

Climate

Normandia is located in an

ecotone An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and gras ...

, a transition area between two

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

s. The municipality sits between the great tropical

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

region and the

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

, an open Savanna-type grassland. The transition area is known locally as the ''lavrado''. The ''lavrado'' of Roraima, and of Normandia, is relatively dry compared to the nearby Amazonian rainforest areas; it receives between and of precipitation per year.

History

Normandia takes its name from the region of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the birthplace of settler

Henri Charrière Henri Charrière (; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the novel '' Papillon'', a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a pena ...

, better known as "Papillon". Charrière was sentenced to serve time in a maximum security prison on

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. He and several inmates managed to escape from French Guiana to Brazil and settled in the area of present-day Normandia. While Charrière left the settlement after four or five years, other inmates became permanent residents. The Municipality of Normandia (''Municipio de Normandia'') was created by Federal Law No. 7,009 of July 1982, with land separated from the state capital of Boa Vista.

Lake Caracaranã

Lake Caracaranã Lake Caracaranã (Portuguese: Lago Caracaranã) is a lake in the Normandia municipality of Roraima, Brazil. The lake is located in the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory. Lake Caracaranã is one of the tourist destinations of the state of ...

, located in Normandia, is one of the tourist destinations of the state of Roraima. It has some tourist facilities and is located only from the state capitol of Boa Vista. Lake Caracaranã, with a perimeter of 5.8 km, is surrounded by sandy beaches and native cashew trees. With the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous reserve, access to the lake was closed. It reopened in 2013 and now tourists pay a nominal fee to visit the lake.

Economy and infrastructure

The main sources of income in Normandia are

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 ...

(primarily to Lake Caracaranã),

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, and

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

. The city has one public hospital, Ruth Quitéria, with 22 beds, and a health clinic in the city seat, Health Centre Iracema Galvão. Several health posts serve the indigenous communities of Normandia. There is a special squad (located in Boa Vista) subject to the Jungle Infantry Brigade border that protects the city and controls its sole airport. Normandia has a system of water distribution, electricity (distributed by CER, through thermal), post office, bank branch and telephone network. There are 26 elementary schools and 2 high schools. Normandia has a single television channel, 7-TV Roraima, an affiliate of

Rede Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

Transportation

Normandia is connected to the state capital of Boa Vista by a single highway,

BR-401 BR-401 is a federal highway in the state of Roraima in Brazil. The road connects Boa Vista, Roraima, Boa Vista with Normandia, Roraima, Normandia and the road network of Guyana. The over the Branco River was completed on 29 August 1975. The Ta ...

, a distance of .

Notable people

Telmário Mota Telmário Mota (born February 15, 1958) is a Brazilian politician and journalist. He has represented Roraima in the Federal Senate since 2015. He is a member of the Brazilian Labour Party. References Living people 1958 births Members ...

(b. 1958), politician

References

{{Authority control Municipalities in Roraima