Rio Grande (

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 "great river") is a river in south-central

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 rises in the

Mantiqueira Mountains The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: ''Serra da Mantiqueira iterally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain') are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It rises abruptly from the ...

in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

and descends inland, west-northwestward. Its lower course marks a portion of the Minas Gerais-

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

border. At the

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

state border, after a course of , it joins the

Paranaíba River The Paranaíba River is a Brazilian river whose source lies in the state of Minas Gerais in the Mata da Corda mountains, municipality of Rio Paranaíba, at an altitude of 1,148 meters; on the other face of this mountain chain are the sources of t ...

to form the Upper Paraná River. Major tributaries of the Rio Grande are: * Rio Aiuruoca, whose source is in

Itamonte Itamonte is a city in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its population was 15,714 (2020) and its area is 432 km². Location Itamonte is a touristic city in the Serra da Mantiqueira mountains. The territorial area is 430,597 km² big. The ci ...

; *

Rio das Mortes The Rio das Mortes ("River of the Dead") is a river of Mato Grosso state in western Brazil. It has a length of 580 km. See also *List of rivers of Mato Grosso List of rivers in Mato Grosso (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drai ...

, whose source lies between

Barbacena Barbacena is a municipality in the States of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As of 2020, the municipality had 138,204 inhabitants. The total area of the municipality is . It is in the foothills of the Serra da Mantiqueira south of the ...

and Senhora dos Remédios; * Rio Jacaré, whose source is in the Serra do Galba; * Rio Sapucaí, whose source is in the

in São Paulo; *

Rio Pardo Rio Pardo is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in 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 ove ...

, whose source is in Ipuiúna. The basin of the Rio Grande belongs to the Paraná River basin. It has a total area of , of which are located within Minas Gerais, which is equivalent to 17.8% of the state territory. The basin of the Rio Grande is responsible for about 67% of all energy generated in the state. The Grande is interrupted by several

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s and

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s; in the upper Grande the river forms

Furnas Dam The Furnas Dam ( pt, Usina Hidrelétrica de Furnas) is a hydroelectric dam in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil. A small settlement was built near the dam with the same name to house the workers during the dam construction. The main purpose of the ...

, then

Peixotos Dam Peixoto Dam, also known as Mascarenhas de Moraes Hydroelectric Plant, is a hydroelectric dam on the Grande River in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, about west of Delfinópolis. Studies for a dam at the Peixoto site were first carried out in ...

, and downstream,

Luiz Barreto Dam The Luiz Carlos Barreto de Carvalho Dam is an embankment dam on the Grande River near Fronteira in São Paulo, Brazil. The dam serves an associated hydroelectric power plant with a installed capacity. Background Owned and maintained by Eletro ...

, Jaguara Dam,

Volta Grande Dam The Volta Grande Dam is an embankment dam on the Grande River about west of Água Comprida, Brazil. The dam is on the border of Conceição das Alagoas municipality in the state of Minas Gerais to the north and Miguelópolis municipality in the ...

, Marimbondo Dam and

Água Vermelha Dam The Água Vermelha Dam is an embankment dam on the Grande River near Iturama in Minas Gerais/São Paulo, Brazil. It was constructed for hydroelectric power production and flood control. Construction on the dam began in 1973 and it was completed a ...

. The river plays a major role in production of electricity and, due to

rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

s and

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s, and absence of locks, is only navigable by small craft in limited stretches. However the

Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas The Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas (EFOM) was a narrow-gauge railway located in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. At its peak the railway's route totalled . A portion of the railway still operates as a heritage railway, and one ...

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

) operated a passenger and

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

steam navigation A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

service between 1889 and 1963. The EFOM met the Rio Grande at

Ribeirão Vermelho Ribeirão Vermelho is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Campo das Vertentes and to the microregion of Lavras. In 2020, the estimated population was 4,047. See also * List of muni ...

, from where the service ran down the river for , as far as Capetina. There were six stations on the river between Ribeirão Vermelho and Capetinga, and the railway operated a fleet of 6 stern-wheel

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

s, together with

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s and launches. The service was halted by the completion of the

References

External links

Rio Grande at Wikimapia
Google terrain view, centered on the site of the photo above {{DEFAULTSORT:Grande Rivers of Mato Grosso do Sul Tributaries of the Paraná River Rivers of São Paulo (state) Rivers of Minas Gerais